Totie Nalani Tauala of Aiea, Hawaii is the whistleblower of the sexual assaults of inmates by prison guards at Otter Creek Correctional Facility in Kentucky. Totie reported being sexually assaulted by a guard in Oct.2007. The Hawaii Dept.of Public Safety covered up her assault to protect their CCA prison contract with Otter Creek. While the rapist guard was fired and convicted, his ignorant, southern redneck buddies who worked at the facility continuously harassed Totie for the next 22 months. She was put "in the hole" for false allegations for weeks at a time only to be told the incident report was "lost." After another Hawaiian inmate reported being brutally raped by a guard in June 2009, the conviction of Totie's assailant substantiated the allegations and the Hawaiian inmates from Otter Creek returned home to Hawaii- except Totie. At a Public Safety Hearing on Aug. 18, 2009, DPS publicly stated that a few maximum status, long-term inmates might remain in a West Coast prison. Totie did not qualify. However, Deputy of Corrections Tommy Johnson secretly reclassified Totie to a maximum status and sent her to a maximum security prison in Denver. Totie replaced several other inmates who already held maximum status, inmates with multiple consecutive life terms and inmates with numerous altercations at Otter Creek, including one woman who was returned early as a managerial problem. Totie's treatment by DPS has consistently been unfair and unjust. This petition will support our request for an investi-gation of Tommy Johnson's biased reclassification of Totie and will help us to "Bring Totie Home." Mahalo and Aloha, Dias-Tauala Ohana

Sponsor

Links