Column: New governor must reform prisons system

The litany of troubles throughout the state’s jail and prison system raises the possibility of a federal government takeover if changes are not made. Gov.-elect Josh Green has expressed a desire to reform our correctional system, and has the opportunity to do so when he chooses new leadership for the Department of Public Safety. It is important that his appointees are committed to a dramatic and creative paradigm shift in how we treat justice-involved persons, especially women.

Whether it’s riots and inhumane overcrowding at the Maui and Big Island jails, the recent federal conviction of a corrections officer who brutally beat an inmate and lied to cover up the attack, or the abhorrent 53 sexual assaults against women by male guards at the Women’s Community Correctional Center (WCCC), it is highly likely that the federal government will not stand by while the basic human and civil rights of Hawaii’s prisoners are repeatedly violated.

Our state’s corrections system is broken, has been for years, and those in a position to do something about it are well aware of the problems.

A Prison Reform Task Force headed by Supreme Court Justice Michael Wilson spent two years studying Hawaii’s correctional system. It delivered a detailed report to the Legislature in 2019 outlining needed reforms. The report stated that its diverse membership agreed “Hawaii’s correctional system is not producing acceptable, cost-effective, or sustainable outcomes and needs immediate and profound change.”

That was nearly four years ago and yet there have been neither immediate nor profound changes. For example, the lack of surveillance cameras at the women’s prison has been raised repeatedly, yet they have not been funded. The lack of cameras was highlighted in the recent lawsuit filed in federal court against the state involving the 53 sexual assaults at WCCC. The state did not deny that the assaults occurred, but was found not liable.

It is especially disheartening that Hawaii incarcerates more women as a percentage of its incarcerated population than any state in the nation. Native Hawaiian women are 44% of the female incarcerated population, yet make up only 19% of the general female population. The Native Hawaiian disparity is greater for women than for men.

Most of the women in prison today were convicted of nonviolent offenses, and nearly all of them have drug and alcohol problems.

Half of all women released from WCCC return to prison within three years. This 50% recidivism revolving door shows that the system is broken. We clearly need to focus on rehabilitative services and other assistance to help these women transition back into the community.

The Women’s Prison Project feels a sense of urgency in addressing this issue. We are focused on stopping the overincarceration of women, especially Native Hawaiian women; increasing the opportunities for education, employment and life skills at the women’s prison; massively increasing funding of community-based transitional programs for women leaving prison; and addressing the total lack of permanent supportive housing to help women and their children live independent lives.

We have worked with dedicated people at the Judiciary, the Hawaii Paroling Authority and at WCCC, but having a few dedicated people will not by itself change our state’s dysfunctional and failing corrections system.

All of us who call Hawaii home like to believe we are a more caring community than most. We freely use words such as ohana (family), aloha spirit, kokua (to help) and malama (to take care of), and yet we have fallen far behind other states and countries in recognizing that a new approach to corrections is needed in order to help prisoners become good neighbors since nearly all of them will return to our community.

We are optimistic about Gov.-elect Green’s comments on the need for reform, and hopeful he will reach out to the Women’s Prison Project and other knowledgeable groups. Let us begin living up to our image of ourselves by dramatically changing how we treat justice-involved women and their children.

Lynn Babington is president of Chaminade University; Dr. Laurie Tom is an endocrinologist and community volunteer; Linda Rich is a retired social worker and social services administrator. They submitted this on behalf of the 40-member Women’s Prison Project, of which they are members.