10 prison pitches include new facility in West Oahu

Replacing Hawaii’s largest jail, Oahu Community Correctional Center, with a larger one in West Oahu is one of 10 proposals being considering to help alleviate a crisis of inmate overcrowding.

Public Safety Director Ted Sakai told lawmakers Wednesday that officials are evaluating the design-build proposals and alternative funding ideas submitted by private firms and partnerships hoping to help the state build new jails and more prison space.

Sakai didn’t offer up much detail on any of the proposals to a joint meeting of the state Senate and House Public Safety committees. But he did say that the West Oahu jail, as proposed, would be built on land a developer owns and that a "justice center" would also be built in downtown Hono­lulu where inmates could be staged for court appearances.

Asked whether the land was in Kalaeloa, he responded, "possibly."

Sakai said building from scratch offers an opportunity to create a superior facility, but he also cautioned that the approval process could be complicated due to opposition from neighbors.

"That’s always difficult," he said.

Sakai said two proposals call for expansion of the Halawa medium-security prison, including combining it with OCCC to take advantage of the efficiencies of consolidation.

The state formally issued a request for information in November, seeking potential new ways to design, build, maintain and finance enough new space to house a total of 4,425 prisoners. That includes construction of a jail to replace OCCC, plus new jails for Kauai and Maui and two for the Big Island, one in East Hawaii and one in West Hawaii.

The prison system is now too small, too old and poorly designed to properly house the state’s 5,500 or so inmates, Sakai said Wednesday.

The newest facility, Halawa, was built in 1987, and the system is now home to roughly 1,400 more prisoners than the overall design capacity, resulting in lack of program space, deteriorating conditions, increasing utility costs and other pressing problems.

In addition, Gov. Neil Abercrombie has made it a priority to bring home the roughly 1,500 Hawaii inmates housed at prison facilities in Arizona.

Sakai said Wednesday that the new prison facilities could cost as much as $1 billion and that’s why officials are looking for help in the form of alternative financing options, including public-private partnerships and sale/leaseback arrangements.

Thirteen firms or partnerships, all with correctional experience, responded to the state’s request for information, he said.