During a tour of the Halawa Correctional Facility last week, one legislator was surprised to learn that the staff isn’t scanned for drugs before entering the prison.

Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, organized the visit with several other legislators after receiving an email from an inmate’s family member, complaining about mold, asbestos and a lack of air conditioning.

Espero, (D, Ewa Beach-Waipahu), said despite the building’s age, he is satisfied with the condition of the prison.

"I didn’t see any Third World issues," Espero said. But he found some policy concerns, such as the lack of screening for staff members, the need for more re-entry programs for inmates and the cost of phone calls.

At the beginning of the tour, Warden Nolan Espinda pointed out a visitor scanner that can pick up the presence of drugs, which was being recalibrated for crystal methamphetamine and still not working properly. Espinda later said the scanner was for visitors and not staff because requiring correctional officers to pass through a drug scanner was a negotiable issue under the union’s contract.

Espero said the issue could be a concern during negotiations and asked a governor’s aide to look into the issue.

The United Public Workers union, which represents prison guards, is still in contract negotiations with the state and did not return a call for comment.

A spokeswoman for the Hawaii Government Employees Association, which represents the prison’s non-security staff such as social workers, nurses, clerical staff, psychologists, physicians and facility maintenance supervisors, said scanning employees for drugs is not part of the contract, and the union doesn’t oppose it. But problems could arise if the department demands employees be searched for drugs, such as requiring body searches.

Espero said he was concerned about contraband reaching prisoners through correctional officers who aren’t scanned, especially since it has happened before.

"Knowing that, why wouldn’t you have a system that would check everybody coming in?" he asked Espinda, who replied again that it was a union issue.

During the tour, the group of legislators also visited module B of the maximum security building, which houses convicts with long-term sentences or a history of violence in the institution.

Legislators spoke with two inmates, Edward Dean and Chris Grindling, who shared a list of grievances including: not getting recreational time; small meals; mold in the facility; broken air conditioning; a lack of space in the eating area; no access to educational classes, jobs or programs; and exorbitant prices for phone calls.

Dean said the mold around the shower and air vents had been cleaned by work crews and prison staff only days before the legislators visited. Grindling said since he arrived seven weeks ago, the air conditioning was fixed for the first time a day before the legislators’ tour.

"It was a sauna in here," Grindling said. "It smelled nasty."

Espero said he would look into Dean’s claim that a 10-minute call to the mainland costs him $20.

The inmates also complained about a change in the grievance process, but officials told the lawmakers that the procedure was amended for a quicker response to concerns. The goal of the new system is to have the staff address a complaint at the lowest level before an official grievance is filed, said Alan Asato, state inmate grievance officer.

He said the process has reduced grievances at Halawa from 8,000 a year about five years ago to 2,000, with half of those found to be legitimate.