Three years ago, after the state had already spent close to $14 million on consultants and design and engineering services to relocate Maui’s overcrowded and rundown Wailuku jail to a larger facility in Puunene, the project was relegated to back-burner status as Gov. David Ige pushed for plans to relocate another jail beset with the same sorts of problems.
The focus in pivot to the larger Oahu Community Correctional Center did not touch off much public outcry, in part, because Maui Community Correctional Center’s proposed move to state-owned land had been complicated by infrastructure snags and pushback from county leaders balking at placing a new jail in clear view of visitors and residents traveling between Kahului Airport and the South Maui resort area.
The upshot at MCCC is that a lot of taxpayer money was poured into plans for much-needed upgrades, but we have next to nothing to show for it. What’s more, long-simmering problems roiled to a boil on March 11, when an hours-long riot erupted at the jail.
Tensions tied to overcrowding was a factor — the occupancy rate was at 136 percent — as was short-staffing and facility flaws, including ineffective cell locks. In response, Ige recently signed a bill appropriating $5.1 million to repair damage from the riot, while the Legislature allocated another $8 million for longer-term security fixes and improvements at the site.
Stop the frittering of funds and boiling-point incidents. Ige must task the state Department of Public Safety to devise and publicly release a plan and timetable for spending, and a strategy for improvement. In MCCC’s case, stepped-up accountability is in order after the riot heightened public safety concerns.
Chief among them is short-staffing. While not a new problem, it has increased to an alarming level in the riot’s aftermath. There are supposed to be 170 adult corrections officers at MCCC — but these days, as few as 83 are regularly at work, with some pulling double shifts three to five days a week.
According to two corrections officers interviewed by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (both requested anonymity for fear of retaliation for speaking out about the jail’s conditions), the situation has become so unsafe the National Guard may need to be brought in — a possibility DPS did not dispute. Such a red flag should pivot more attention toward correcting
MCCC’s problems and moving forward with tenacity in implementing long-term fixes for its future.
Jails and prisons are generally regarded as closed institutions, operating far from public view. It’s encouraging then that state lawmakers last month passed a set of measures that hold potential to improve transparency as well as safety and equity in corrections and criminal justice matters.
Among them is House Bill 1552, which creates the Hawaii Correctional Oversight Commission to monitor DPS. Among the commission’s powers: conducting independent investigations and making unannounced inspections. Also, the bill puts in place requirements to speed the bail process. Currently there is no time limit.
Another measure that can help ease overcrowding — and more fairly address the low-risk cash-strapped accused — is Senate Bill 192, which authorizes the court to release a defendant in custody on unsecured bail. In Hawaii and many other states, a “money bail” system unfairly penalizes the low-income defendant who poses no apparent flight risk or public danger. Ige should sign the full set of reform-minded bills into law.
MCCC, along with the rest of the state’s jails and prisons, and Hawaii’s residents stand to benefit from more DPS-related vigilance, as well as state policies that open the door to more humane corrections and justice systems.
