Editorial: Correcting Corrections in Hawaii

Hawaii’s Department of Public Safety (PSD) has a long and disturbing history of complaints about its correctional centers: severe overcrowding, inmate rioting, crumbling and unsafe living quarters, lack of guards (especially on Super Bowl Sunday), and rehabilitative services that run from poor to nonexistent.

These persistent problems and the state’s apparent inability — or lack of will — to address them prompted the Legislature in 2019 to form an independent commission to oversee the troubled department, and perhaps lead it out of the wilderness.

The five-member Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission should be deep into its work by now. But Gov. David Ige stands in the way. He has refused, for the second year in a row, to release the funds needed to hire a full-time administrator and staff to conduct the day-to-day work of the all-volunteer board.

Ige’s refusal means the commission can’t do its job. It can’t properly investigate complaints. It can’t monitor correctional facilities and their operations. In short, it can’t gather the information necessary to recommend broad reforms for a system that has seen a rise in inmate suicides, a serious jail disturbance on Maui, and most recently, a extensive outbreak of COVID-19.

Ige offered the Star-Advertiser a weak rationale: “Starting new programs doesn’t really make a lot of sense right now, considering the state of the economy,” he said.

It’s penny-wise and pound-foolish. The Attorney General’s Office had requested $369,250 in funding for four commission staff for the next two fiscal years, beginning in July — a drop in the leaky bucket of PSD’s nearly $300 million operating budget. Furthermore, a strong commission can stimulate much-needed open discussion on important public safety issues. Look no further than the current Honolulu Police Commission, which is taking a hard look at how HPD’s use-of-force policies disproportionately affect Black, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

Perhaps Ige just doesn’t consider the commission a priority. Perhaps he believes the department’s new director, Max Otani, can succeed where previous directors have failed. Perhaps he has no faith in the commission, which is headed by Mark Patterson, the administrator of the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility who was just fined $1,500 for violating the state ethics code. Perhaps.

What’s not in question are PSD’s problems: They are real, persistent, immediate and deadly serious. They need to be addressed. Ige should release the money at once.