Does each Hawaiian island have its own state prison? (Hilo: 2014, home)

[Ericthebean]

Or if you get arrested and convicted in Kauai could you end up doing time in Oahu?

How does that work?

[mdand3boys]

All 3 prisons are located on Oahu. However, some prisoners are sent to mainland, contract facilities.
They do have jails, one for each of the 4 counties, for short-term and pre-trial prisoners.

Here is a list and description:

Department of Public Safety | Corrections Division

[WannabeCPA]

You make some weird posts, kind of reminds me of that other guy who was asking things like how long it would take for him to die in the Hawaiian sun.

[akpls]

Originally Posted by mdand3boys

All 3 prisons are located on Oahu. However, some prisoners are sent to mainland, contract facilities.
They do have jails, one for each of the 4 counties, for short-term and pre-trial prisoners.

Here is a list and description:

Department of Public Safety | Corrections Division

Is there not a prison on the Big Island near Hilo? Kulani?

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

The one near Hilo is called a Community Correctional Center. I have no idea what the difference is between a correctional center, a jail, and a prison.

Maybe we should send Ericthebean there to find out!

[OpenD]

Yes, Kulani reopened this summer as a minimum security facility after being closed since 2009, a result of former Gov. Linda Lingle's misguided cost cutting. She thought sending prisoners to Arizona prisons would be cheaper.

This is a facility to help prisoners transition back into society after serving most of their sentences with good behavior at other prisons, with job training and counseling, etc.

This article tells the story...

Kulani Correctional Facility reopens on Hawaii Island | KHON2

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

The one near Hilo is called a Community Correctional Center. I have no idea what the difference is between a correctional center, a jail, and a prison.

Maybe we should send Ericthebean there to find out!

The one, IN HILO, is a jail, a county facility for short term and pre-trial prisoners.

Kulani, is not a prison, but is an alternative to prison. It is a minimum security facility.

The former governor did not mistakenly close it. It had an extreme high cost ratio due to the union pay structure.

[akpls]

The photos in the article definitely show a big difference between what one might think of as a "prison" and Kulani.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by akpls

The photos in the article definitely show a big difference between what one might think of as a "prison" and Kulani.

Yeah, that's the idea of a minimum security prison, to provide a transitional facility to help prepare prisoners for a return to society, as a way to reduce recidivism. Just dumping prisoners back on the street at the end of their terms without the kind of training and counseling that can enable them to get jobs and survive in the real world without returning to lives of crime... that simply doesn't work very well.

Unfortunately the bean-counter mentality that triggered the simplistic cost cutting that closed Kulani in 2009, by sending more than 200 prisoners and all the money for their incarceration to Arizona, completely missed this important point.

As the article said:

Ted Sakai, the director of Public Safety, said the 280-acre facility in Hilo should never have been shut down in the first place.

“I believe it was a mistake, not only in terms of the employment, but also in terms of the void in our correctional programming,” he said.

Governor Linda Lingle approved the shutdown back in 2009, saying then it was cheaper to send inmates to the mainland.

But in the end, Sakai said losing Kulani’s programs that helped inmates acquire job skills was a bigger loss.

The Hilo facility also plans to eventually hire 91 staff members, and that’s money that stays here.

Sakai said Kulani will now help bring home some of the inmates presently held in Arizona prisons. The first 25 inmates will move back in two weeks and 200 more will be moved in by year’s end.

Kulani Correctional Facility reopens on Hawaii Island | KHON2