Editorial: Maui jail can’t be put off any longer

Maui is faced with a worst-case scenario at its local jail. It’s one of the state’s own making, to be sure, but it appears there’s finally movement to address at least one of its critical problems: overcrowding. Plans are underway to add housing capacity at correctional centers on Maui, Hawaii island and Kauai.

That is encouraging, but it is a midrange solution for a situation that is rapidly deteriorating, demanding some costly, near-term interventions: Guards from other islands are being requested to fly into Maui to provide emergency support.

Adopting such an all-hands-on-deck stance, frankly, is long overdue in this dangerous situation.

The lack of capacity is only one of the shortcomings that have ballooned into a crisis at Maui Community Correctional Center. The worst of it is understaffing — which presents real risk in the management of an overcrowded, aging facility that now is severely damaged.

In March the crowded conditions were factors leading to a riot, and now repairs costing more than $5 million are required. In fact, a new facility with an updated, more efficient design has been a longstanding imperative.

That unmet need has languished for years. Partly due to community opposition, a plan to relocate the center to a Puunene site, which involved studies between 2004 and 2012, was shelved.

Official indecision has led now to this critical stage, in which the old, inefficient facility runs up against recruitment challenges. The full complement of adult corrections officers (ACOs) now required for supervision stands at 170 — a difficult target to hit in a tight employment market.

According to the state Department of Public Safety, last month as few as 83 guards were regularly on duty; more recently, that count is down to 52. It’s not uncommon for many to be pulling double shifts.

Thirty-three slots are vacant, according to DPS figures provided Monday, and 22 employees are on workers’ compensation. A total of 63 staffers have taken leave under the federal Family Medical and Leave Act — up from 32 a mere month ago.

This is simply unsustainable, and again, dangerous; the only successful alternative involves a multipronged approach.

Immediately, Nolan Espinda, department director, has issued the staffing call in a memo sent to ACOs, offering hotel, airfare, ground transportation and a per diem.

This infusion of help is necessary as short-term relief, but going forward, diverting guards from off-island is only going to strain capacity elsewhere.

An environmental assessment was filed in May for a medium-security housing unit proposed for the Wailuku site — a good step to ease crowding at MCCC. No expansion of the current population is being contemplated, according to the document, filed with the Office of Environmental Quality Control.

The target opening date is 2021. Similar additions are proposed for the Kauai and Hawaii island correctional centers, which in the short term likely will be considered as alternative sites for some Maui correctional detainees as well.

The immediate, stop-gap solutions are as expensive and impractical as they are now necessary, so it’s incumbent on the state administration and the Legislature to plan for long-range course corrections as well.

DPS needs to ramp up its recruitment strategy on all islands, even across the ocean. Further, the state must implement bail reforms to reduce the number of pretrial detainees at the centers.

And ultimately the existing Maui jail facility must be overhauled, or replaced. A public-private partnership to take that on has been proposed before. It’s time to muster the political resolve to get that done at last.