New concerns about the care of inmates with mental illnesses at the O'ahu Community Correctional Center in Kalihi mirror problems highlighted 20 years ago after investigations by the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a January 1985 letter to then-Gov. George Ariyoshi detailing the findings of a one-year federal investigation at OCCC, investigators alleged that unconstitutional conditions existed at the facility in a variety of areas, including "inadequate medical, dental and psychiatric care."

Vanessa Chong, executive director of the ACLU in Hawai'i, said after state officials conceded there were issues at OCCC in 1985 and avoided trial by signing a consent decree to address the issues, a panel of experts brought in to monitor the facility pointed out problems with the manner in which inmates were screened for mental illness, the lack of division between mentally ill inmates and the general population, inmate health appraisals, suicide watches and nurse training.

"For the DOJ to show interest in the prison system means that we have a serious problem, and therefore the state should not be trivializing intervention by the federal government," Chong said yesterday. "The state only takes remedial measures when there is a threat of federal intervention or an investigation. The federal government doesn't enter into investigations lightly, so they should take this seriously."

Alvin Bronstein, an attorney and then head of the ACLU's National Prison Project, in a letter dated July 20, 1984, described mental healthcare at OCCC as "grossly inadequate" and said it "constitutes deliberate indifference to serious medical needs." The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit against the state later that year.

The Justice Department notified Gov. Linda Lingle in a letter dated June 16 that it has launched an investigation into the "provision of mental-health services to inmates and detainees," according to the letter. The letter did not give additional detail about the investigation, which could lead to a federal lawsuit under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, or CRIPA.

Nolan Espinda, warden at OCCC and Lisa Ginoza, Hawai'i's first deputy attorney general, said yesterday they did not know what prompted the current federal probe and declined to speculate on specific mental-health issues that could draw the attention of federal investigators.

"We are in the early stages of addressing the investigation," Ginoza said. "It certainly was not expected."

Espinda said Verlin Deerinwater, the Justice attorney handling the investigation, did not appear to "have any preconceived notions" during a two-hour visit to OCCC in July, and spoke with several corrections officers, a paramedical staff member and the head of the mental-health unit. Espinda said Deerinwater was very interested in the policy and procedures that govern OCCC's mental-health operations.

Deerinwater did not return a message left at his Washington, D.C., office yesterday.

Espinda said Deerinwater did not share any concerns with him. Espinda acknowledged yesterday that crowding is a problem in sections of the facility that house inmates with mental illnesses.

"Like every other module, our mental-health modules are overcrowded," he said.

In 1984, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit against the state on behalf of men and women imprisoned at OCCC and the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua.

The lawsuit claimed the two prisons were crowded, lacked medical care for inmates, had little staff training, were unsafe and unsanitary, and had a host of other substantial problems.

In June 1985, the day before the lawsuit was to go to trial, the state conceded there were major problems at the two prisons and signed an agreement to fix them.

The agreement, known as the Spear consent decree in reference to inmate Agnes Spear on whose behalf the original suit was filed, led to changes and improvements that were monitored by a team of nationally recognized experts.

The situation at the women's prison improved to the point that the case against it was dismissed in 1998.

And in March 1999, ACLU representatives agreed with state officials that all consent-decree requirements had been sufficiently met at OCCC.

Today, OCCC has one full-time psychiatrist, one full-time psychologist and five psychiatric social workers assigned to mentally ill inmates.

OCCC separates male inmates requiring mental healthcare from the general population but does not do the same for women.

Of the 1,121 inmates at OCCC, 119 require mental-health services, Espinda said. The men requiring care are divided into two modules, one housing 60 inmates, the other 35.

The 24 women requiring mental healthcare are housed in the female general population, which numbers 120. Espinda said a module to house the 24 women will be open by the end of the month.

The investigation is in its preliminary stages and no findings have been reported to the state. It is not criminal in nature but is aimed at finding whether the constitutional rights of inmates are being violated.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.