The Honolulu Federal Detention Center could be back on the table to replace the deteriorating and overpopulated Oʻahu Community Correctional Center.
Gov. Josh Green has asked the president's administration to consider allowing the state to acquire the underutilized federal prison.
“They're only using about 200 of the 900-plus cells there, and it might be a way for us, if they would agree, to move towards a facility that's already built so we don't have to come up with nearly as much money,” Green said.
“I know that the people of Hawaiʻi are a little reticent about spending a lot of money on new prisons. I share their feelings, but some of our facilities are so run down, we have no choice. This would help us kind of go over that hurdle.”
This comes as the proposed budget being considered by Green includes $30 million for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to continue planning and designing a new jail to replace OCCC.
That’s in addition to the nearly $25 million that the Legislature has already appropriated over the last decade to the department for new jail planning. DCR wrote that it has spent about $12 million so far.
The department estimated that the actual cost to build a new jail is about $1 billion.
OCCC has a designed capacity of about 600 beds, but an operational capacity of about 950. The actual population of the jail is about 1,300.
The new jail would further increase capacity by another 350 beds.
Prison reform vs. prison building
But the Reimagining Public Safety Coalition, a group of Hawaiʻi organizations working to reform the correctional system, said that building a bigger jail is not the answer and that the state should instead focus on diversion and bail reform.
The coalition delivered a petition of over 1,000 signatures to the governor, urging him to veto the $30 million allocation and pause the development of a new jail.
“Diversion to housing and services will significantly reduce the jail population and recidivism, not to mention save millions in taxpayer dollars,” said Liam Chinn, a coalition leader.
“We often hear judges and law enforcement ask the question: divert to where? There's nowhere to take people. Instead of an unnecessary new $1 billion jail, the state must prioritize investing in a historic expansion of community-based treatment and supportive housing.”
Funding for supportive housing was a top priority in the budget recommendations the coalition submitted to the Legislature this year. The coalition pointed out that many of those in jail are homeless, as many as 40% — referring to numbers given by the DCR intake administrator from 2020.
In a more recent presentation by the Hawaii Correctional Oversight Commission, the number was about 30%.
However, DCR wrote in an email that only about 7% of inmates described themselves as homeless, but that 53% had no address on file.
Green said he intends to allow the $30 million for new jail planning to remain in the budget, but that he also wants any new jail facility to be smaller than OCCC.
“Whatever facility we do build is going to be smaller, and the footprint is going to be based more on health care, social work, behavioral health healing,” he told HPR.
In a January informational briefing to the Legislature, DCR Director Tommy Johnson explained that the pre-trial and misdemeanor population in state facilities is about 87%. The rest are serving time for convicted felonies.
"We have people in our custody who probably should be on supervised release in the community. ... We're spending approximately $307 a day to keep people in custody who may have a $50 bail," he said.
"We also have people in our custody who clearly have mental health issues who, if it weren't for their mental health illness, probably would not be involved in the criminal justice system, and the jails are the worst place for these folks because it's the least effective, most costly."
The Federal Detention Center has been proposed before
This is not the first time the state has considered acquiring the Federal Detention Center to replace OCCC. In 2019, the state Legislature considered a measure that would have set aside funds to purchase the facility located near Honolulu airport. The bill failed.
But Green said legislative leadership has been receptive.
ACLU Hawaiʻi Policy Director Carrie Ann Shirota was concerned about the idea because of the increased use of the Federal Detention Center by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"Right now our FDC has increased numbers of people who are suffering there because of the fact that federal government is literally pulling people from their homes and communities and coffee farms and putting them in FDC," she said.
"That sort of plan is a recipe for disaster, that you would be mixing people who are charged, from state crimes, convicted of state crimes short-term, one year or less, federal detention short-term, and then ICE — that is a trauma-inducing recipe."
In a written statement, DCR Director Johnson said that OCCC must be replaced and is working to create a system focused on rehabilitation.
“The DCR is focused on transforming its unified correctional system into a rehabilitative and reentry-focused system from what has long been perceived as a punitive model of justice,” Johnson wrote.
“Support services and programs are available to individuals at the facility to give them an opportunity to change their lives for the better. The current design of OCCC, however, doesn’t support the space and structure to implement extensive rehabilitative programs and wraparound reentry services that we envision for those in our custody.”
However, the Hawaii Correctional Oversight Commission wrote in a letter to Green earlier this year that the department has not addressed issues such as adequate mental health care and a lack of rehabilitation programs for inmates.
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