HONOLULU -- A cry for help from a teenager at the Youth Correctional Facility has triggered the temporary reassignment of two prison administrators, as well as a separate criminal probe.

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"The allegations are so serious, we can't leave management in place at this time," Gov. Linda Lingle said. Lingle transferred youth prison director Melvin Aldo, along with corrections specialist Glenn Yoshimoto, pending the outcome of a state investigation.

The probe began when a letter smuggled out of the prison reached the American Civil Liberties Union.

"It was a cry for help, and what we discovered were horrendous conditions," ACLU attorney Brent White said.

The report details overcrowded conditions where the children live in a constant state of "fear."

The boys' prison, which houses 70, was built for 30. Housed in rooms with no toilet, the youths are sometimes forced to relieve themselves in a bucket.

The report alleged that at the hands of certain guards, some teens were "humiliated," forced to squat naked in their holding cells for hours. Others were beaten and then sent to lockdown until their bruises "healed," the report said

"The guards are in control of the facility. The resulting atmosphere is one of desperation and terror," the report said.

The report points out that primarily males staff the girls' facility and that at night, there are no female guards on duty.

"We found reports of rape and sex assault at the girls' facility," White said.

"Some of the allegations that are in the ACLU report are allegations that would be, if true, criminal conduct," state Attorney General Mark Bennett said.

Lingle has tapped Deputy Public Safety Director Jim Propotnick to run the facility and get to the bottom of the allegations:

"We take each and every one very, very seriously," Lingle said.

At this point, the ACLU has chosen not to sue the state, but it has proposed a list of 47 changes.