Prison officials ordered to accommodate Native Hawaiian religion

The state Department of Public Safety violated federal law when it ignored a Halawa Correctional Facility inmate’s requests to engage in certain Native Hawaiian religious practices, according to a court ruling.

First Circuit Court Judge James Ashford last week ordered the department to conduct a review of Robert Holbron’s requests and to offer reasonable alternatives if they can’t be accommodated in full.

The ruling on the class-­action lawsuit could have implications for other inmates who chose to practice the traditional Hawaiian religion.

“To have a court of law say it is protected and respected — that is a landmark moment for us,” said Sharla Manley, the former Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. attorney who represented Holbron in his complaint.

Holbron, 69, a felon once convicted for kidnapping, was among six inmates who filed a class-action federal lawsuit in 2011 that ended with similar findings against Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, which houses inmates from Hawaii.

But then Holbron was transferred to Halawa in 2015 and found himself facing the same obstacles to practicing the Native Hawaiian religion.

“It was shocking to Robert that he would meet the same resistance back home,” Manley said. “It was like he was starting over again.”

Holbron, she said, made formal requests at Halawa to observe the Hawaiian religion in the following way: by gathering daily outside for 30 minutes during sunrise with other Hawaiian inmates for chanting and prayer, by conducting worship outdoors at a permanent stone altar and by accessing Hawaiian sacred items for daily use.

The state ignored Holbron’s requests, according to his 2016 complaint. The case went to trial for three days in December 2017.

During the trial state attorneys argued that no other religions meet more than three times a week at the prison, and it would cost about $421,824 per year in additional guards to accommodate the outdoor dawn worshipping.

In addition, they said, not only is there limited space for a stone altar, there are security concerns, with rocks potentially used as weapons or to damage prison property.

In making his ruling, Ashford found Holbron to be a sincere practitioner of the Native Hawaiian religion and his requests rooted in authentic religious beliefs.

The state’s failure to adequately respond to Holbron’s requests created “a substantial burden” on his religious exercise and a violation of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the court found.

Under Ashford’s order the state has 28 days to launch a review of three Holbron’s requests: for certain religious items, daily outdoor group worship and a stone altar. The state must offer reasonable alternatives where the requests cannot be accommodated in full.

“At the core of this case is this: The Department of Public Safety cannot turn a blind eye to Native Hawaiian religious practices,” Manley said. “These are the indigenous spiritual practices here. They are a part of the fabric that makes Hawaii Hawaii, whether you are Hawaiian or not.”

“This ruling is important because the Hawaiian religious practices at issue are instrumental to the well-being of men like Robert Holbron, who need to know they not only can practice their faith, but have it recognized and treated with respect,” she said.

The state Department of the Attorney General said in a statement Friday that it will be working with Public Safety officials to address the court’s findings and orders.

At the same time, however, “the attorney general is gratified that the court’s findings make clear that inmates at Halawa Correctional Facility, before this lawsuit was filed, already had been allowed to participate in Native Hawaiian religious practices to the same extent as any other religion.”

Testimony during the trial indicated that all religions, including Native Hawaiian, are allowed access to the prison’s chapel or gymnasium up to three days a week.

Additionally, Ashford did not order any changes to the Department of Public Safety’s policies because he found no “widespread pattern/practice” of violating federal law.

“The court’s findings have also recognized that plaintiff’s demands were inflexible, impractical and remarkably different from prior requests,” the attorney general’s statement added.

Native Hawaiians make up about 40 percent of the prison population in Hawaii while representing just 21 percent of the general population.

Manley said at one time at Halawa as many as 60 men were either practicing the Native Hawaiian religion or were on a waiting list to join the weekly meetings for lack of space.

In a news release, Native Hawaii Legal Corp. Executive Director Moses Haia said, “Robert has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to his religious beliefs. His legacy is that he and other men who are incarcerated at Halawa may follow the spiritual practices of their ancestors. Given the court’s ruling, there can be no doubt that Native Hawaiian religious beliefs and practices are worthy of the protection afforded to them by law.”