State sends 16
female inmates from
Kailua to Oklahoma

Even with 1,200 inmates on
the mainland, Hawaii prisons are
still above capacity by 500

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The state has sent 16 female inmates to an Oklahoma prison, bringing the total of women incarcerated out of state to 72.

Ted Sakai, state corrections spokesman, said the inmates left the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua last night.

That means Hawaii will have more than 1,200 inmates in mainland prisons. The transfer program, which began in 1995, was initiated to help the state cope with a prison overcrowding problem. The state is 500 inmates above its operational capacity of 3,200.

The 72 women are being housed at the Central Oklahoma Correctional Facility run with the intent of having all Hawaii inmates in prisons managed by the Correctional Corp. of America.

by the Correction Services Corp. at McLoud, Okla.

Meanwhile, the state plans to transfer all the inmates housed in Texas to the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Okla. The intent is to have all Hawaii inmates in prisons managed by the Correctional Corp. of America.

Sakai said the state will not disclose when the transfer will be completed.

This means that Hawaii no longer will have inmates housed in Texas, but will have them spread out in the south and Midwest in prisons in Minnesota, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Sakai said the move is based on economics, security and better programs in the Oklahoma facility.

By consolidating all Hawaii's inmates under the program run by the Corrections Corp. of America, the state hopes to bring the cost of housing inmates on the mainland down to $42 a person. In Hawaii, it has been estimated, it costs $76 a day to house an inmate in Hawaii.

Currently, Hawaii has:

420 men at Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minn., managed by the Correction Services Corp.

167 men at Newton County Correctional Facility in Beaumont, Texas, managed by the Correctional Services Corp.

45 men at Mansfield Law Enforcement Center in Mansfield, Texas, managed by the Correctional Services Corp.

136 men at North Folk Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., managed by Correctional Corp.

126 men at Hardeman County Correctional Center in Whiteville, Tenn., managed by Correctional Corp.

72 women at Central Oklahoma Correctional Facility in McLoud, Okla., managed by Correctional Corp.

211 men at Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Okla., managed by Correctional Corp.