A report by the Public Safety Department (PSD) estimates the jail population to balloon to 670 in 2013.
The planned Maui Regional Public Safety Complex, a 607-bed facility to be constructed in Pu‘unēnē at the cost of $235 million to replace MCCC, is facing considerable opposition and no funding.
Netra Halperin, a candidate for the State House of Representatives for District 11 (South Maui), said, “Justice Reinvestment, a program of the Council of State Governments (of which Hawai‘i is a member), has helped numerous states to divert tax dollars out of the black hole of incarceration into the communities from which most inmates come. This both saves money and increases public safety.”
Retired Maui Police Captain George Fontaine, another candidate for the District 11 seat, has a different point of view. “The new jail will allow the expansion of drug treatment programs and other rehabilitative efforts aimed at turning petty offenders towards becoming honest and productive citizens. The new jail will also be used to prepare prison inmates returning from lengthy incarceration elsewhere to re-enter the community.”
District 11 State Rep. Joe Bertram, who is running for the office again, did not respond.
The question remains: How does Hawai‘i protect the public’s safety, manage a burgeoning prison population and not bankrupt the taxpayer while respecting the rights of the offender population? Attorney Lorenn F. Walker, a former deputy attorney general who works with Hawai‘i Friends of Civic and Law Related Education, which has been developing, researching and writing about rehabilitation programs for incarcerated people, believes that we need to decrease our prison population.
Sen. Will Espero (20th District), chair of the Public Safety and Military Affairs Committee, which oversees the PSD, said he would like to see the prison population decreased by exploring alternatives to incarceration for non-violent criminals. Alternatives include home detention, work furloughs and electronic monitoring.
With the funds saved, “We could provide drug rehabilitation and other rehabilitation programs,” Espero said. “The governor has not paid much attention to the PSD—they had six or seven directors in the eight years. It was thought that Clayton Frank, with his social work background, would be a good fit, but his leadership has fallen short.”
Walker thinks organizations like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a private, for-profit business managing Hawai‘i’s outsourced prison population, have “an inherent conflict of interest.” They are getting paid to house Hawai‘i’s prison population and they are supposed to prevent recidivism.
“There is no incentive for them to do that,” Walker said. “We need to compare the recidivism rates for outsourced inmates and those who remain in Hawai‘i.” She would like to see the PSD make “CCA’s contract dependent on recidivism reduction.”
Statements in CCA’s annual report seem to support Walker’s position. CCA stated that its growth could be adversely affected by “relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws. Similarly, reductions in crime rates could lead to reductions in arrests, convictions and sentences requiring incarceration at correctional facilities.”
Allegations have surfaced at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona—where two Hawai‘i inmates were recently murdered—that call into question CCA’s management and the safety and well-being of the inmates. These allegations come from prisoners, who wish to remain anonymous. The most serious of these concerns is whether one week prior to his murder, Clifford Medina actually requested to be moved because he feared for his safety.
PSD Deputy Director Tommy Johnson denied the allegation. Johnson said that Mr. Medina was already in involuntary “administrative segregation for a violent incident that he had committed” and it was presumed that he and Mahinauli Silva, Medina’s alleged murderer, were friends “because they went to school together on the Big Island ” and would be compatible cellmates. Both the Hilo Police and the PSD are conducting investigations. Johnson said that he did not know when the investigations would be done. Calls to the Hilo Police Department and the PSD director’s office were not returned as of press time.
Owen pointed out that CCA had procedures for inmates to anonymously report abuses of policies or procedures. However, inmates said that inevitably, their anonymity is compromised and they suffer reprisals from the guards and the staff.
One inmate said a prison employee “physically threatened me and called me a ‘cry baby’ and said that he’d bury me in segregation and in Special Housing Incentive Program after he intercepted mail I sent to my attorney.”
An inmate also said the facility is seriously understaffed.
Another inmate felt that as it came time for him to return to Hawai‘i to finish his sentence, he was being goaded to misbehave so he could be retained by CCA.
The CCA’s annual report shows a declining occupancy rate—from 98.2 percent in 2007 to 90.7 percent in 2009, “which could cause a decrease in revenue and profitability.” This lends credibility to the inmate’s allegation.
“Transferring our incarcerated population to for-profit prisons thousands of miles away from home does not assist those who have committed wrong to reform and become better members of our community,” said Attorney Carrie Ann Shirota, George Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow. “It simply breeds bitterness and despair, promotes exposure to gang culture and violence, weakens family ties and increases challenges associated with successful re-entry.
“Returning our incarcerated population to Hawai‘i sends a message that our community believes in rehabilitation, not simply punishment, as a guiding principle of our criminal justice system,” she continued. “Returning our incarcerated population home to Hawai‘i signals a commitment to transform our criminal justice system, and reunite and strengthen ‘ohana as the foundation of building safe and healthy communities.”
“We’d rather come home,” an inmate commented. “We’d prefer to be in a rehab facility, but if we can’t do that, we’d rather be in jail in Hawai‘i than Arizona.”
