Plans for three separate new prisons are under way at the state Department of Public Safety, but it is too early to say when, where or how these facilities will be built. State safety director
plans 3 new prisonsBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comLt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona is spearheading a public-private prison deal to help Hawaii inmates on the mainland who need substance-abuse treatment rather than incarceration.
But that is just one of the three new facilities envisioned by state Public Safety Director James Propotnick: a new secure drug treatment facility, a transition center for inmates nearing scheduled release and a prison to replace the Oahu Community Correctional Center.
"We are attempting to locate the primary spots to put these actually three different institutions that would have to be built," Propotnick told legislators at a hearing yesterday.
This session, he said, the agency has asked in its 2003-2005 budget for planning funds to replace the outdated OCCC, which serves as a jail for inmates awaiting trial or sentencing and those serving short-term sentences.
Propotnick and others testified yesterday on a bill that called for an expansion of Halawa Correctional Facility, which houses convicted felons, so it could also house OCCC inmates. House Bill 298, backed by all House Democrats, then requires OCCC be razed and a new drug treatment center be built on the Kalihi property.
The House Public Safety Committee will vote on the measure Thursday.
Propotnick said he has serious concerns about the idea because the bill places pretrial inmates with convicted felons. He said these populations of inmates should be separated.
"In short, if a facility were built to relocate OCCC, the same facility could not also house the sentenced-felon population on the mainland," he said. "The state needs both a new secure treatment facility that houses sentenced felons in a treatment environment, and a new replacement jail that houses the jail population at OCCC."
Lawmakers also questioned Propotnick about the 90 percent recidivism rate of Hawaii parolees who served their time in mainland prisons. He said most of those parolees returned to jail for technical violations, such as testing positive on drug tests that are part of their probation. He believes these inmates would have a better chance if there were treatment facilities locally to help them with their substance abuse problems.
The state spends about $25 million a year to house 1,347 inmates out of state. An additional 3,722 inmates are housed in state. The total inmate count at the end of 2002 was 5,093.
While the Public Safety Department had problems with the bill, others supported it. Larry Meacham, legislative liaison for the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, said the state should do its best to give treatment instead of incarceration for nonviolent drug users.
Kat Brady, coordinator of the Community Alliance on Prisons, a coalition working on behalf of Hawaii's nonviolent offenders, said Hawaii inmates need to be returned home. She said inmates with substance-abuse problems need to be treated in a hospital-like facility rather than a prison atmosphere.
