The days were numbered for the old Hilo jail before a former inmate at Hawaii Community Correctional Center allegedly set it on fire Monday evening.
The days were numbered for the old Hilo jail before a former inmate at Hawaii Community Correctional Center allegedly set it on fire Monday evening.
Toni Schwartz, spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety, said the unoccupied building will be torn down next year.
It was built around 1900 and might have been used through the 1980s, she said.
The battered brick structure is located at HCCC but outside the facility’s security fence. The building is used for storage.
Damage appeared to be mostly internal, with the fire leaving black marks around one cell window on the top floor on the mauka side of the building.
Daniel Blust, 33, of Hilo was arrested at the scene after allegedly breaking into the building and igniting the blaze. Blust was released from HCCC earlier Monday after ending a sentence that started Sept. 26 for four misdemeanors.
Demolition is planned to begin in February 2018 and be complete the following September, according to the state Department of Accounting and General Services.
The project was put out to bid Oct. 5. No contract has been awarded, according to DAGS.
A cost estimate wasn’t immediately available.
State Sen. Lorraine Inouye said in a voicemail that she has asked for the building to be torn down for a long time, but it wasn’t clear if it qualified for a historic designation.
“That was one of my projects when I first was elected in the Senate in ’99,” she said. “But I’ve been dealing with that since I was mayor.”
The state Legislature approved $13 million for construction of a new medium-security unit at the overcrowded HCCC.
Schwartz said that is in the planning and design phase and it’s not known if the unit would be built where the old jail stands.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.