HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 559 Draft 01 2020-2022A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE RELOCATION OF THE HAWAI‘I COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL CENTER TO AN AREA WHICH WILL PROVIDE MORE SPACE FOR THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO ACCOMMODATE
THE PROPER EXPANSION OF THE FACILITY AND TO BETTER SUPPORT THE NEEDS OF ITS INMATE POPULATION AND EMPLOYEES.
WHEREAS, the Hawaiʻi Community Correctional Center (“HCCC”), exclusive of its reintegration program at Hale Nani in Panaʻewa, is situated on three acres in Hilo and comprises three housing
modules (Punahele, Komohana and Waiānuenue); and
WHEREAS, HCCC – originally called the Hilo County Jail and consisting of an 11-cell jailhouse built in the 1890s – is located just above Downtown Hilo, nestled within a concentrated
residential area and in close proximity to two schools, Hilo Intermediate School and Hilo High School; and
WHEREAS, for many years, HCCC has been the most overcrowded correctional facility in the State of Hawaiʻi with occupancy rates well over 100% of its design capacity of 152 inmates; and
WHEREAS, the Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission (“Commission”) issued a report dated September 2, 2022, pertaining to its initial observations and impressions from its
tour of HCCC on August 25, 2022; and
WHEREAS, the report was released earlier than the Commission had originally planned due to “serious and immediate concern(s) involving the safety of those who work and live at Hawaiʻi
Community Correctional Center”; and
WHEREAS, among other things, the report highlighted overcrowding with an occupancy rate of 170% (259 head count), severe safety and security concerns, lack of programs and basic services,
the use of a shipping container to house inmates exposed to COVID-19, and a lack of recreational space as just some of the issues that need to be addressed; and
WHEREAS, in so pointing out, the Commission emphasized that such issues are due to a “system-failure,” and are not attributable to the level of staff output; and
WHEREAS, the Commission expressed its hope that the State Department of Public Safety would take the report extremely seriously by forming specific strategies and taking immediate action;
and
WHEREAS, construction at HCCC began earlier this year on a $20.7 million expansion project for a 48-bed (24 cells), 9,275 square-foot module which, according to the State
Department of Public Safety, is intended to “alleviate the severe overcrowding that exists at the Hawaiʻi Community Correctional Center in order to provide a safe, secure and humane
environment for the care and custody of adult male and female offenders from Hawaiʻi Island”; and
WHEREAS, even after the project is completed in 2023 – and assuming that the jail population does not move up closer to its pre-COVID numbers – the additional beds will still leave the
facility at well over its capacity; and
WHEREAS, the findings and tenor of the report appear to validate the community’s long-standing concerns that the location is no longer compatible to accommodate the needs of inmates
and workers, as well as the collateral impacts to the neighboring area; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I that it is in the best interests of the Hilo community for the Hawai‘i Community Correctional Center to be relocated to an area
which will provide more space for the State Department of Public Safety to accommodate the proper expansion of the facility and to better support the needs of its inmate population
and employees.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the County Clerk shall transmit a copy of this resolution to the Honorable Governor David Y. Ige, the Honorable Lieutenant Governor Dr. Josh Green, all members
of the Senate and House of Representatives, and Director Max N. Otani, Department of Public Safety
Dated at _____________, Hawai‘i, this ______ day of ___________________, 20___.
INTRODUCED BY:
_______________________________________
COUNCIL MEMBER, COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I
COUNTY COUNCIL
County of Hawai‘i
Hilo, Hawai‘i
ROLL CALL VOTE
AYES
NOES
ABS
EX
CHUNG
DAVID
I hereby certify that the foregoing RESOLUTION was by
the vote indicated to the right hereof adopted by the COUNCIL of the
County of Hawai‘i on _____________________________________.
INABA
KĀNEALI‘I-KLEINFELDER
KIERKIEWICZ
KIMBALL
ATTEST:
LEE LOY
RICHARDS
VILLEGAS
Reference:
COUNTY CLERK CHAIRPERSON & PRESIDING OFFICER
RESOLUTION NO.