The state Legislature this year has authorized a delayed resumption of work to replace Oahu’s woefully obsolete jail.

Hawaii lawmakers included $10 million in their budget bill for the state Department of Public Safety to continue planning and design work on a replacement for Oahu Community Correctional Center.

But the money won’t be available until mid-2024, adding more delay and likely higher costs on a project where initial work began about a decade ago.

DPS had sought $25 million over the next two fiscal years — $15 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1 followed by $10 million the following fiscal year — but it appears that continued resistance in the House of Representatives scuttled much of what the agency described to lawmakers in January as its top priority.

Toni Schwartz, DPS public information officer, said in a statement that the project is essentially stalled for at least a year, though the agency is reviewing options to see if it can continue some planning and design work.

“Every year this project is delayed means an escalation of costs and no relief for the current overcrowded and inhumane conditions at OCCC,” she said.

The correctional center in Kalihi houses short-term inmates, including people awaiting trial or sentencing on Oahu for misdemeanor crimes as well as convicted people with no more than two years or so left on their sentences. The facility is described as being 48 years old, though some parts date back to 1912 and conditions require a lot more staffing and maintenance expense than modern jails.

DPS has been trying for close to a decade to replace OCCC with a safer and more efficient modern facility in Halawa near the state prison. But funding has been spotty.

The Legislature appropriated an initial $5 million in 2014 followed by $5.4 million in 2016 to fund such items as site analyses and selection, a master plan, community outreach, an environmental impact statement and a request for private developers to convey interest in largely financing and delivering such a project for state use.

Last year, DPS under then-Gov. David Ige requested $15 million to develop a detailed request for proposals and negotiate a development agreement with a winning bidder, among other things.

But members of the House aligned with criminal justice system reform advocates opposed the funding request, and the $15 million last year wasn’t appropriated.

One vocal opponent of the funding last year was then-Rep. Sylvia Luke, who chaired the House Finance Committee at the time and in December became lieutenant governor in the new administration of Gov. Josh Green.

“Criminal justice reform continues to be a priority for the House,” Luke said last year on the floor of the House where she praised colleagues for rejecting the proposed appropriation to help replace OCCC.

Criminal justice reform advocates contend that new policies and programs need to be developed that keep people from being in jail so that a larger facility sought by DPS isn’t needed.

Critics of last year’s funding request included the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii and the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission, the latter of which reiterated a position it took in late 2020 that planning for a new jail estimated to cost over $500 million should be paused.

DPS officials say they support criminal justice reform efforts but also stress that waiting for the Legislature, law enforcement, prosecutors and judges to take actions that alter incarceration rates will only extend poor conditions at OCCC and lead to a higher future cost for a new jail.

Conceptual plans for a new jail envision 1,012 detention beds and 393 pre-release beds for a total of 1,405 beds representing a 43% larger facility than the overcrowded 982-bed OCCC.

Tommy Johnson, the new head of DPS appointed by Green in December and confirmed by state senators in April, told lawmakers in January that a new jail could start with a smaller initial phase and be expanded later if needed.

Johnson told House Finance Committee members at a Jan. 12 briefing that OCCC’s age contributes to tens of millions of dollars of annual maintenance that would be eliminated with a new facility, and that a new facility also would require far fewer staff and help cut overtime costs that are running about $22 million a year because of hiring challenges and liberal use of leave policies under collective bargaining agreements.

For instance, Johnson said the federal detention center on Oahu can hold up to about 1,100 detainees with a staff of a little over 200 compared with OCCC requiring 435 corrections officers.

A new jail also would be designed to improve conditions for employees and inmates, including more space for programs.

Johnson told the committee that the $25 million budget request for the next two fiscal years should allow for a new facility to be built by 2027 or 2028, though he acknowledged that this timetable might be too optimistic.

The state budget bill, House Bill 300, was introduced with the $25 million DPS sought over the next two fiscal years for OCCC replacement work, though there was little public testimony on the subject compared with last year.

In March, the House Finance Committee led by Rep. Kyle Yamashita (D, Pukalani-Makawao-­Ulupalakua) nixed all OCCC replacement funding, which later got fully restored in a draft passed in April by the Senate Ways and Means Committee led by Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Mililani-Wahiawa-­Whitmore Village). A final version of the bill with $10 million for OCCC replacement work in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, represented a compromise by House and Senate leaders and is subject to approval by Green.