State seeks $10 million
to ship out isle inmates

More funding would put more
than 2,000 on the mainland

CORRECTION Saturday, January 22, 2005 » Thirty-nine percent of Hawaii prison inmates would serve their time in mainland prisons if the Legislature approves a budget increase requested by the Department of Public Safety. A story on Page A1 in some editions yesterday incorrectly stated that more than half of the inmates would be housed on the mainland. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.

More than half of Hawaii's prison inmates would serve their sentences on the mainland if the Legislature approves a request by the state Department of Public Safety.

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State officials asked lawmakers yesterday to approve a budget increase of $10.2 million to pay for transferring Hawaii inmates to mainland correctional facilities.

"The prisoners are coming in faster than they are going out," said Richard Bissen, acting public safety director.

The increased funding would help send 526 prisoners to mainland prisons. Bissen said yesterday that there are about 1,600 Hawaii inmates serving time in prisons in Colorado, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arizona.

The state houses 3,852 prisoners in state facilities.

The state also wants to put an additional 140 prisoners in the local federal detention facility, where there are already 120 inmates, Bissen said.

"We are asking for additional money because we don't have enough space here. We sent out as many as we are budgeted to send out, but we need to send out more because we are over capacity," he said.

The state expects the extra cost for mainland prison transfers to grow by $22 million next year. The total budget for the Public Safety Department is $160 million.

Bissen, who has been nominated by Gov. Linda Lingle to a seat on Maui Circuit Court, said his predecessor, John Peyton, had a policy of no more than two prisoners per cell.

That policy is needed, Bissen said, but it forces Hawaii to send prisoners to the mainland.

"We can leave more of them here if we put three or four in a cell, but we are just asking for more problems. The reason we send people to the mainland is so we can alleviate the overcrowding," he said.

The state's prison system is already 10 years behind in building enough prisons to hold the growing number of inmates, Bissen told the House Finance Committee yesterday.

The number of mainland transfers has been steadily increasing. In 2000 there were 1,200 Hawaii inmates on the mainland. In May 2004 there were 1,445, and now there are 1,600.

Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, Judiciary Committee chairwoman, said she is concerned that the state's crowded prisons could come under federal supervision if someone sues, claiming that overcrowding is unconstitutional.

Last year, the Legislature approved increased funding for the prison system, but Hanabusa (D, Nanakuli-Makua) said the only specific proposal to come from the state has been a request for $500,000 for a new jail study on the Big Island.

"If anything is going to be considered unconstitutional, it is going to be the physical condition of the prisons," Hanabusa said.

Bissen said the West Hawaii jail proposal would be one way to ease overcrowding.

The state is also asking the Legislature for $8.5 million in the next two years for repairs and improvements in the correctional facilities.