HONOLULU (AP) – Two years after issuing a scathing report alleging abuse and harassment at the state’s youth prison, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii filed a class action lawsuit alleging that the state has failed to protect the inmates at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court seeks a court order to appoint a monitor who has expertise with youth facilities to “design, implement and oversee policies and procedures” at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, said Lois Perrin, legal director for the ACLU of Hawaii.

The ACLU’s August 2003 report alleged young inmates were abused and kept in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions.

Perrin said little has been done since to correct the problems.

“The unfortunate reality is that it has become apparent that when left to its own devices the state is incapable of fixing the problems at HYCF,” she said. “The state has been aware for over two years of a multitude of problems. The state should be embarrassed that this lawsuit is necessary.”

The state instituted some reform measures at the facility two years ago after the ACLU’s report. The facility’s two top administrators were removed, and the attorney general’s office launched an investigation into the allegations.

Perrin also said a memo issued last month by Kaleve Tufono-Iosefa, the facility’s administrator, ordered the staff at the youth prison to return to policies and procedures that were in place from 1984 to 1990.

“They’re moving backwards not forwards,” she said.

State officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the lawsuit.

In August, the U.S. Justice Department released its own highly critical report, which said the young inmates’ constitutional and federal statutory rights were violated at the youth prison, and described the Kailua facility as “existing in a state of chaos.”

Sharon Agnew, executive director of the state Office of Youth Services, said in August that aggressive changes had been made since the Justice Department’s investigation in October of last year, including implementing a detailed incident-reporting system, launching criminal investigations, reducing the prison population, opening a new housing unit and hiring consultants and additional guards.

The lawsuit filed last week was the second legal action taken against the troubled youth prison this year.

Last month, the ACLU filed a lawsuit accusing guards at the youth prison of harassing and discriminating against inmates because of their sexual orientation. The federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the state on behalf of three teenage prisoners who said prison officials allowed an atmosphere of harassment, humiliation and fear for lesbian, gay and transgender inmates.