The politicians and government officials who will help shape Oahu’s landscape for the coming generations have an important opportunity at hand to simultaneously make progress on two fronts: transit-oriented neighborhood redevelopment and the necessary overhaul our inadequate prison system.

The neighborhood in question is Kalihi in urban Honolulu, and the prison is the aging, overcrowded Oahu Community Correctional Center, situated on 16 acres there, along the future route of the Honolulu rail transit project. The largest jail facility in the state, OCCC is located at Kamehameha Highway and Puuhale Road, right between what will be stations 14 and 15 on the rail route.

Gauging the feasibility of moving OCCC is a major element of a request for information (RFI) the Department of Public Safety has issued in its drive to implement a comprehensive, statewide plan to improve and efficiently manage the prison system. The RFI, open to all interested parties with relevant project experience, seeks site-specific solutions, as well as innovative ideas about financing construction. (The deadline to respond is Dec. 16; to read the full request, including instructions on how to submit information, see http://1.usa.gov/1e5szBU.)

On Oahu, DPS seeks:

» A new, larger OCCC at a different, unspecified site, with about 1,125 beds, which would allow the return of about 300 inmates now housed at the Federal Detention Center near the airport.

» Construction of a separate 500-bed transitional facility for inmates on work release as they near parole, to replace the Laumaka Work Furlough Center, which is located on OCCC grounds and has a long waiting list.

» Expansion of the Halawa Correctional Facility by about 1,200 beds so that Hawaii inmates now sent to Arizona to serve their time can be brought home, where there’s a better chance they’ll stay connected to family who will help them reintegrate into society when they are released — as 95 percent of Hawaii’s inmates eventually are.

There’s no price tag attached to this vision, but recognizing that it will be high, perhaps prohibitively so, DPS also seeks information about new ways to finance the construction, such as a private-public partnership that has a private company financing and building a facility and leasing it to the state. Any reasonable alternative to the usual route of seeking full funding through the state Legislature will gain serious consideration, DPS assures.

The RFI was issued Nov. 14, and early reaction has been predictable: Moving OCCC will be too expensive; it will be too hard to get inmates to court on time from out of town; nobody will want a new jail on their side of the island. Those are all valid concerns, and the question of where to relocate OCCC is paramount. But now is not the moment to stick with the status quo, especially with transit-oriented development such a high priority for the city. Redeveloping neighborhoods into places where folks can live, work and play is a major thrust of the TOD philosophy, and relocating OCCC would open up 16 acres of state land on which to help fulfill that vision.

Built in 1916, with neighbors that now include a school, a park and thriving small businesses, OCCC no longer properly serves the needs of its overall inmate population nor the surrounding community. Relocating OCCC presents an opportunity to also revitalize Kalihi, and that opportunity should not be squandered.