After three years of planning, the state has awarded a $140 million contract for the building of a new 144-bed psychiatric facility at the overcrowded Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe.

Hensel Phelps Construction Co., based in Colorado, won the contract for the building, which will have round-the-clock security on about 5 acres.

“Our community has needed a new forensic mental health facility for years, and we are accelerating its design and construction. I’m pleased to be moving ahead with a project that will help some of our most vulnerable community members,” Gov. David Ige said in a news release.

In the most recent high-profile case, State Hospital escapee Randall Saito walked off the grounds Nov. 12, took a taxi to the airport and boarded a charter flight to Maui and then flew to San Jose, Calif.

Saito was committed to the facility in 1981 after being acquitted of murder by reason of insanity for killing a 29-year-old woman in Ala Moana Center’s parking lot. He was reported missing about eight to 10 hours after his escape and was captured three days later in Stockton, Calif.

Lawmakers granted the state Department of Health, which oversees the hospital, $160.5 million for the project, which will have roughly 180,000 square feet of space and 255 parking stalls. The new security system will include cameras, secure entry and exits as well as a “highly secure outdoor yard area with no-climb fencing” that will cost the state $17 million. The DOH said the price tag is high because it will enclose the entire 91-acre campus with a 12-foot-high fence.

The project addresses “long-standing concerns about adequate services and safety” and is urgently needed, said House Health and Human Services Vice Chairman Bertrand Kobayashi.

“Security has been on the discussion plate for a long time. There have been many situations where you had unauthorized leaves or escapes,” Kobayashi said. “The hospital’s just one part of the mental health system. There are many things that are needed, including better services and options for the Judiciary … more community-based services for the mentally ill, as well as further improvements at the Hawaii State Hospital.”

In addition, there will be a secured and separate area for staff; door and elevator access control systems; outdoor lighting; controlled exterior doors and gates; and a separate gated area for patient drop-off and pickup, the Health Department said.

Virtually all the patients treated at the state’s only public adult psychiatric hospital for serious mental illness are ordered there by the court. The facility was built with a 178-bed capacity but routinely exceeds its now 202 licensed beds and another 40 beds at the privately operated Kahi Mohala, which contracts with the state for overflow patients.

Health Department officials said safety is a primary concern for patients, staff and the community as the census continues to grow.

“The contract award is a major milestone to improve patient care and provide a safe work environment for our employees,” DOH Director Virginia Pressler said in the news release.

The facility will have 24 beds for admissions, a separate 24-bed unit for high-risk patients, another 96 beds for routine care and an area for occupational, recreational and rehabilitation therapy.

The project is expected to begin in March and be completed in 2021.