Inmates at Halawa Correctional Facility can no longer touch or kiss their loved ones now that the medium-security prison has become the state’s first no-contact prison.
State prison officials said Tuesday that they hope the no-contact visitation center will reduce contraband in the prison and give prisoners more visitation time.
Department of Public Safety Director Ted Sakai said in the past year six visitors have been caught trying to smuggle drugs into the prison. He said the prison is most concerned about drugs and weapons.
"When that happens it makes the facility an unsafe place, and the general populace understands this," he said. "It’s unfortunate that it’s just a few people who do it. When they do it they affect everybody else."
He said the inmates are taking the change in stride.
Inmates helped build the wood-and-Plexiglas partition that divides the area, which previously housed tables and benches where inmates sat with their visitors. The partition has 47 windows and screens that inmates and visitors can speak through.
Prison officials hope the partition also reduces visitation cancellations.
Already this year, Halawa has canceled nine visitations, which are held on weekends, because of a lack of staffing, said Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz.
Maj. Lyle Antonio, Halawa’s chief of security, said the no-contact project allows the prison to hold visitations with four staff instead of six, because guards no longer have to worry about prisoner attacks on visitors.
He said the partition was completed last month, and the prison has been holding no-contact visitations for the past three weekends.
"I haven’t had a lot of complaints," Antonio said. But some have said the loss of contact affects the inmates psychologically.
"To me, psychologically, if we cancel and you can’t see (your visitors), pick one," he said.
Schwartz said the partition also gives prisoners more time with visitors because the staff no longer needs 30 to 45 minutes of prep time.
"They basically can start on time," Schwartz said.
Sakai said implementing no-contact visitations at other facilities is unlikely because officials don’t think it’s necessary at lower-security facilities, and some facilities have configurations that make conversion too difficult.
The project cost $100,000 with money coming from savings over the past two years, Schwartz said.
Sakai said the number of prisoners testing positive for drugs began to decline in December, but the prison still hasn’t bottomed out. There were 1,054 inmates at Halawa Tuesday, but statistics on drug use were not readily available.
Visitors, however, are not the only source of contraband. In January two Halawa guards were arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs into the prison. James Sanders III of Kailua pleaded guilty to drug and bribery charges and faces a sentence of up to 50 years in prison when he is sentenced June 26. Mark Damas of Wahiawa is scheduled to begin his trial for drug and bribery charges in August.
Sakai said a drug scanner at the prison acquired through grants has been out of service for years because of the cost to maintain it. Getting a new scanner will require funding from the Legislature. For now, visitors are patted down and passed through a metal detector.
"Even with the scanner, they find ways to get it in," he said.
