Conditions at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center have improved over the last six months, but there’s still more to be done, state officials say.
Last September, the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission published a report outlining a laundry list of poor conditions in HCCC, ranging from hygiene deficiencies, safety and security concerns, and, most notably, chronic overcrowding.
A series of monthly follow-up reports have noted that many of these problems have been addressed, but not the overcrowding issue.
According to the most recent report, published in mid-February, the jail’s main campus was housing 248 inmates as of Feb. 14, putting the facility — whose capacity is 152 — at a 163% occupancy rate.
The report also stated that “a massive portion” of those inmates are pretrial detainees, meaning they have not been sentenced for a crime.
“Much of this population is homeless and/or have a mental health diagnosis,” the report said.
Tours of the facility’s three buildings throughout February revealed other problems. On Feb. 8, an investigator found that at least two doors were padlocked overnight, a practice the report called “extremely problematic” because of how much it increases the time for staff to open the doors in the case of emergency.
But while a follow-up tour on Feb. 13 saw the padlocks removed, other problems persisted. A multipurpose room commonly referred to as “the fishbowl” was being improperly used to house inmates, with at least 12 people living in the fishbowl on Feb. 13. That room has no direct access to running water or toilets.
In-person visits are still not allowed at HCCC, because of ongoing construction on a jail expansion that will add 24 new two-bed cells.
On the other hand, the report mentioned other areas where conditions have demonstrably improved.
Another multipurpose room that previously was used to house inmates on suicide watch — conditions which demonstrated “a complete lack of humane treatment and decency as a whole,” the report said — is no longer being used for that purpose.
In addition, a COVID-19 isolation unit is no longer housing inmates for longer than the mandatory 10-day isolation period, and inmates have reported that “there is improvement” regarding how much daily outdoor recreation they are allowed, although the facility has still not met federal outdoor recreation standards.
The February report concluded that the oversight commission will continue to monitor conditions at HCCC and will work with the legislative and judicial branches of the government to “highlight the desperate changes needed to be made.”
But some county officials believe that the most effective change would be to move the jail away from its current location entirely. Former Hilo Councilman Aaron Chung drafted a County Council resolution last year urging state lawmakers to pursue construction of a new jail facility farther away from residential communities, and his successor Jenn Kagiwada agreed.
“I do agree that we need to be looking for a better location,” Kagiwada said. “There’s still just not enough space there, even with the construction. … It’s right by several schools, schools that my children have attended.
“But unfortunately, the state has seen fit to invest even more into HCCC instead,” Kagiwada continued.
No bills relating to HCCC have been introduced in the state Legislature this year. In his resolution last year, Chung estimated that a new jail facility that could meet the county’s needs could cost about $100 million on the conservative end.
Kagiwada said that, even if the jail is not moved, there are still some very basic problems that could be easily addressed.
“I understand that inmates are just released directly into the neighborhood,” Kagiwada said. “So, they don’t have anything, they have nowhere to go, and so the likelihood of them getting into trouble again is higher.”
She also said county prosecutors could be more judicious regarding who is being jailed, adding that holding homeless people on charges relating to homelessness doesn’t particularly solve any problems, nor does inflating the jail’s population with minor offenders who simply can’t afford bail.
“I don’t think that revisiting (Chung’s) resolution can do any more good,” Kagiwada said. “We’ve just got to talk with our local representatives about the problem. … Fortunately, I have been speaking with the police chief (Ben Moszkowicz), and maybe we can make some things happen.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.