Big Island divided
on Kau prison
Senate Judiciary Committee
By Gregg K. Kakesako
hearing, public opposition runs
2-to-1 against it
Star-BulletinPAHALA, Hawaii -- Gov. Benjamin Cayetano has another major political headache.
If battling Hawaii's economy didn't give him enough problems, he has to find a new prison or face the prospect of freeing inmates. Hawaii's correctional system was designed tomr6 Gov. Ben
Cayetano
house 2,900 inmates, but it now holds 4,200 convicts with another 600 incarcerated in Texas.
Hawaii's Democratic governor chose Kau, a remote, rural Big Island district located 60 miles south of Hilo.
The district physically dwarfs the island of Oahu but lacks adequate water, sewer and electrical lines and roads.
But if Saturday's 4-1/2-hour Senate Judiciary Committee hearing is any indication, the Big Island is divided on the prison proposal. Even some of the 6,000 Kau residents, who at one time favored the construction because of possible economic benefits, feel betrayed because of the way the issue has been handled.
If Cayetano makes good his promise to visit with the citizens of Naalehu, Ocean View and Pahala before the legislative session ends in May, he will face an angry, hostile crowd bent on preventing a prison.
He has already been shouted at at another Big Island event during the controversy surrounding the state-backed eucalyptus plantation by Oji Paper Co. Cayetano has said "if the people of the Big Island don't want it (prison) there (Kau), then we won't put it there."
Eddie Andrade, a displaced Kau sugar worker, said he initiated a survey where he found 700 residents were willing to support a 1,000-bed medium-security facility which he believed would employ 300 people.
But when the talk changed to doubling the capacity of the facility and upgrading it to a maximum-security prison, he became concerned.
"All I am asking is for him (Cayetano) to be honest with the people," said Andrade, who says he will have to leave Kau soon if he can't find a job. "We are fighting among ourselves because we don't have the facts."
Senate Judiciary Co-chairman Avery Chumbley agreed after sitting through Saturday's hearing.
But Chumbly said "the state has got to have a prison. . . . The issue is just where."
Cayetano can pick any place in the state to locate a prison, Chumbley said.
What he needs is the authorization for the $200 million facility to be built by a private contractor and leased back to the state. The Senate is inclined to support the governor. The House has rejected his proposal and backs legislation to expand Kulani Correctional Facility, a low-security prison outside Hilo.
Before the session adjourns in May, a joint conference committee made up of legislators from the House and Senate must devise a compromise bill.
The Legislature already has shot down a Cayetano proposal that would have allowed the administration to bypass state and county environmental and building restrictions and codes in an attempt to "fast track" the construction of the prison, with ground to be broken this fall.
More than 300 people attended the hearing at the Kau High and Pahala Elementary School cafeteria. The opposition ran 2-to-1 against the prison.
Three possible sites
Some Kau residents are upset that Cayetano toured three possible sites Thursday without warning. The three sites, all on state land, include:
2,100 acres at Palima Point south of Pahala, which were once considered by Gov. John Waihee for a spaceport.
