Getting It Right:
Better Ideas for a New Jail

by

Robert K. Merce

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introduction …………………………………………………………………….

1

The Jail Planning Process Was Flawed From The Very Beginning …………..

2

A Critical Mistake Sent the Planning Process In The Wrong Direction ………

3

The State Deliberately Ignored Best Practices in the Planning Process ………

3

The Public Was Completely Shut Out of the Planning Process ………………

5

We Should Not Commit to a New Jail Until We Know How Much
Will Cost ……………………………………………………………………..

7

The Utah State Prison: A Cautionary Tale ……………………………………

7

The New Jail Will Make Hawaii’s Long-Term Fiscal Problems Worse ……..

8

The Operating Costs of the New Jail Are Not Sustainable ……………………

9

Creating Off-Ramps To Reduce the Jail Population ………………………….

10

P3s Are Not Suitable for Planning Jails ………………………………………

14

21st Century Jail Design ………………………………………………………

18

Modern Jails Should Have A Problem-Solving Function ……………

19

Intensive Re-Entry Support–The Queens Care Model ……………….

20

Some Design Elements of a 21st Century Jail …………………………

20

Conclusion …………………………………………………………………….

21

Endnotes ………………………………………………………………………

23

BETTER IDEAS FOR A NEW JAIL*
INTRODUCTION
Within the next few months the State plans to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a publicprivate partnership (P3) to design, construct, finance, and partially maintain a new jail to replace
the Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC). The new jail will have approximately 1,300
beds, and will probably cost closer to $1 billion than the $525 million estimate that was made
three years ago.
The new jail will be one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive, public works projects
ever undertaken by the State, and it will have a major impact on criminal justice outcomes in
Hawaii for decades.
There is a right way and a wrong way to plan a new jail, and unfortunately, Hawaii chose the
wrong way. The Departments of Public Safety (DPS) and Accounting and General Services
(DAGS) turned to a New Jersey-based consulting firm with very little knowledge of Hawaii to
lead the planning effort. The planners ignored best practices, shut the community out of the
planning process, focused on bricks and mortar rather than people and programs, and failed to
address critical questions about who should be in the jail, and how the State could reduce the jail
population and build a smaller and less expensive jail without compromising public safety.
In 2017 the House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 85 Task Force on Prison Reform warned that
planning for the new jail was on the wrong track, and in their final report to the 2019 legislature
they sounded the alarm, saying that despite spending millions on planning, the new jail
incorporated all of the problems and bad ideas of the old jail and that it would be “a relic of the
past the moment it is completed, because no matter how modern it looks from the outside, it will
be based on outmoded and obsolete ideas and a failed planning process.” The Task Force found
that the new jail was so poorly thought out that the State should convene a group of government
and community stakeholders to start the jail planning process over again and focus on building
“a smart, small, and humane 21st century jail instead of the monolithic 19th century jail that is
now on the drawing boards.”1
More recently the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission, whose five members
collectively have more than 100 years of experience with Hawaii’s criminal justice system,
*

Portions of this paper previously appeared in the Ideas section of Honolulu Civil Beat on September 20, 2020 and
February 21, 2021.

1

expressed deep concerns about the new jail and called for the creation of an advisory committee
of community stakeholders to review, and if necessary revise, the planning that has been done to
date.
The new jail will be a financial disaster and produce bad outcomes for decades, but it doesn’t
have to be that way. If we work together we can build a jail that will make our community safer
at a fraction of the cost of the jail now being planned. Working together we can build an
innovative and transformative jail that will address the inequities of our criminal justice system,
save lives, and meet the ever-evolving needs of our community.
But we must act quickly. If we don’t stop the procurement process now, we will soon be
irrevocably committed to a jail the people of Honolulu had no say in planning, and that is too
big, too expensive, and will cause harm to our community as long as it exists.
THE JAIL PLANNING PROCESS WAS FLAWED FROM THE VERY BEGINNING
To understand how the jail planning process went off the rails we have to go back to 2015 when
then DPS Director Nolan Espinda announced that the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit
(HART) had decided to put an elevated rail station near the current OCCC, which meant that the
land the jail occupies had become very valuable: “Now that the city plans to run Oahu’s elevated
rail line past the OCCC site, it is obvious the Kalihi land under OCCC could be put to much
more valuable use as a new development rather than a jail site,” Espinda said, adding that the
idea of moving the facility had support in the House and Senate and that ‘there are a lot of stars
aligning here.”2
The City and County of Honolulu’s 2018 Plan Review Use Permit for the new jail echoed
Espindaʻs comments: “The replacement OCCC frees up important urban land in the populated
Kalihi area; the existing OCCC is located within one-quarter-mile from the future Kalihi rail
station.”3
The decision to build a new jail on Oahu was not driven by the fact that the existing OCCC is
falling apart and essentially unfit for human habitation: From the very beginning, the idea was to
relocate the old jail as quickly as possible so that the land it occupies could be redeveloped.
In their effort to streamline the planning process DPS, DAGS, and their consultants focused
almost exclusively on site-selection and the physical features of the jail and gave little or no
thought to who should be in the jail, or how it should function within the context of the broader
criminal justice system. While Honolulu was focused on building a huge new jail, other cities
were focused on reducing their jail populations. A Commission in New York City set a goal of
reducing their jail population by more than 50 percent by closing the infamous Rikers Island Jail
and replacing it with smaller jails in the city’s boroughs.4 Philadelphia was developing a plan to
2

cut its jail population in half and address racial, ethnic, and economic disparities in its criminal
justice system.5 New Orleans was working on an initiative to reduce its jail population by 38
percent,6 and Akron, Ohio was developing a plan to divert low-level offenders from its jail.7
Similar reform efforts were being undertaken in at least 50 cities, both large and small, across the
United States.8
A CRITICAL MISTAKE SENT THE PLANNING PROCESS IN THE WRONG
DIRECTION
DPS and its consultants made many planning mistakes, but the biggest one by far was to decide
that they did not need to examine the policies and practices driving the jail population and
address them as part of a comprehensive plan to manage both the jail population and the larger
justice system more effectively and efficiently. The magnitude of that error cannot be overstated
because it affected every aspect of the planning process, and like taking a wrong turn at the
beginning of a journey, it led the planners, and now the entire State, down the wrong path and to
the wrong destination.
THE STATE DELIBERATELY IGNORED BEST PRACTICES IN THE PLANNING
PROCESS
Virtually all of the problems with the new jail stem from fact that the planners decided not to
follow best practice in jail planning, many of which are clearly set out in the National Institute of
Correction’s Jail Capacity Planning Guide: A Systems Approach (2009).9
The systems approach views jails as one of many parts of a criminal justice system whose
policies and practices determine how the jail is used and how many beds are needed to avoid
overcrowding. The systems approach stresses that the key to long term management of the jail
population is directly tied to management of other aspects of the justice system:
Jails are part of a complex criminal justice system whose policies and practices
directly influence total bed need. As such, jail planning cannot be done in a
vacuum. Any consideration of future jail bed need must take place within the
context of a discussion about how to manage the larger criminal justice system
more effectively. Jail planning and system planning are one and the same.10
The systems approach shifts the nature of jail planning from simply making population forecasts
based on past trends and the assumption that the policies driving the jail population will remain
unchanged–the approach used in Hawaii–to developing a continuum of options for law
enforcement and judges in which jails are only one option among many, and one to be used
sparingly and as a last resort. The systems approach calls on planners to “plan as much for
programs as they do for [jail] beds.”11

3

Research has shown that the traditional way we use jails does nothing to reduce future offending.
Accordingly, jail planning must move beyond the simplistic formula-based approach that builds
beds based on past demands to a results-based paradigm that addresses the many factors that
drive the demand for beds.12
The systems approach is based on a body of research that challenges the notion that locking
people up is the only way, or the best way, to protect the public.13 It makes the case for a new
conceptual framework that “reasserts the primacy of treatment and redefines the system’s
response to failure.”14 It is a new way of thinking about the criminal justice system that makes
reducing future crime a central goal and manages the jail population long-term by:
1. Reserving jail for the highest risk defendants;
2. Making available a full continuum of alternatives to jail;
3. Relying on high quality treatment and evidence-based sanctions;
4. Creating strong and effective pretrial and reentry services; and
5. Adopting a positive emphasis on collaboration and systemic change.15
Population management strategies that focus on alternatives to jail significantly reduce the jail
population, which in turn allows communities to build smaller and less expensive jails. That is
important for three reasons.
First, construction cost for new jails are outrageously high. If, as projected, the new jail will cost
$525 million and have approximately 1,300 total new beds, each bed would cost a whopping
$404,000, which is probably the highest per bed cost in the country, if not the world.
Second, although construction costs for a new jail are incredibly high, on average, they
represent only 10% of the overall operating costs of a jail over a 30-year period.16 Thus, the key
to reducing correctional costs long-term lies in reducing the jail population by providing
alternatives to jail, or “off ramps,” at each at each of the key decision points in the criminal
justice system.
Third, the Vera Institute of Justice studied counties that built new jails between 1999 and 2005 as
a solution to old or overcrowded facilities and found that building a new jail without addressing
the policies driving the jail population resulted in a vicious cycle in which the new jails that were
supposed to reduce overcrowding rapidly filled to capacity, creating a demand for more capacity,
and precipitating a costly building cycle.17 For example:

4

•

In Salt Lake County, Utah, a new 2000 bed jail filled to capacity within 21
days of opening;

•

In Tipton County, Tennessee, a newly expanded jail that increased
capacity from 122 beds to 201 beds became overcrowded the month it
opened.;

•

In Jefferson County, Colorado, a 480- bed jail that that was supposed to
serve the county for 19 years filled up within five years; and

•

In Adams County Colorado a jail that was intended to serve the county for
14 years filled to capacity in two years.18

We can only speculate on why the State decided to ignore best practices and use an old and
discredited planning process for one of the biggest and most important public works projects in
the history of the State, but that is what is has done. The misguided planning process will result
in the continued misuse of the jail, a jail that is bigger and more expensive than it needs to be,
and a jail that will not reduce future crime or keep our community safe.
THE PUBLIC WAS COMPLETELY SHUT OUT OF THE JAIL PLANNING PROCESS
“The best solutions are driven by those who experience and are familiar with the
local culture and environment.” –Center for Policing Equity
Engaging the community in the jail planning
process is universally recognized as a best
practice and an absolutely essential element
of the jail planning process. Community
stakeholders bring the aggregated
knowledge, skills, intuition, and insights of
local residents to solving a collective
challenge.19 This is often called “the wisdom
of the community.” Tapping into this
wisdom can shape the type of questions that
are asked, challenge prevailing norms, and
bring about unexpected insights that lead to innovative and transformative solutions.
The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) has said:
Community participation in planning is important because the jail belongs to the
community it serves; it is not solely the concern of the sheriff or director of
corrections. The type of facility a community builds and the way it is used are as
much a reflection of community values as they are of local, state, and federal
5

laws. It is common for stakeholders such as victim advocates, business leaders,
the clergy, educators, and elected officials to actively participate on the
community advisory committee.20
The MacArthur Foundation also emphasizes the importance of a collaborative process in jail
planning:
COLLABORATE. The first step is to ensure that the local justice system is truly
functioning as a system. Policymakers must step out of their silos and consider
how the different elements of the system interrelate, and how each contributes to
public safety outcomes. This can take time and energy but reap rewards in the
form of trust and collaboration, so that organizations have a shared
understanding of the system, both as it exists now and what it can be in the
future.
...
Affected groups must be on board to advance the new way of doing business,
and to move forward despite barriers and setbacks. Engaging the community, the
workforce, and other interested groups doesn't happen on its own. As motivation
for change starts to build, conversations can begin with affected parties.
Transparency and genuine opportunities for input by constituent’s support
engagement.21
The Justice Management Institute has
found that a “culture of collaboration is
one of the shared characteristics of
successful justice systems,” and in this
context collaboration means more than
just having meetings: it means
“working together toward a common
purpose–sharing a vision, preparing a
plan, and implementing the plan to
achieve agreed upon outcomes.”22
The DCCC Planning Team does not include any community

The planners at CGL/Ricci Greene
stakeholders or representatives. (DPS photo).
Associates, one of the country's leading justice architectural firms, likewise stress the need for a
collaborative approach to jail planning: “Successful jurisdictions use a collaborative approach to
planning that include representation of all actors in the criminal justice system and the
community including advocates, judges, administrators, legislators, prosecutors, the defense bar,
correctional officers, program operators, and community members. The "buy in" from key stake
holders is absolutely essential.23

6

The HCR 85 Task Force specifically found that the State and its consultants did not engage the
community in the jail planning process in a meaningful way,”24 and that is surely a prescription
for failure.
WE SHOULD NOT COMMIT TO BUILDING A NEW JAIL UNTIL WE KNOW HOW
MUCH IT WILL COST
DAGS has said the jail will cost $525 million,25 but that was back in 2018, before construction
costs started to rise. Since then they have increased dramatically due to a steep rise in the cost of
materials, snarled supply chains, tariffs on steel and aluminum, and producer staffing shortages
due to the pandemic.
The leading association for the construction industry, Associated General Contractors of
America (AGC), recently reported that the producer price index (PPI), which measures the
average changes in prices received by domestic producers for their output, increased 26.3.%
from June 2020 to June 2021, and even that steep increase understates the severity of the
problems facing the construction industry which has seen the index for lumber and plywood
increase 101%, the index for steel increased 88%, for copper and brass 61%; and for aluminum
33%.26 The high prices are expected to persist well into the future.27
The AGC warns that in addition to significant price increases, contractors are experiencing
completely unreliable delivery times and that owners should start their projects with realistic
expectations about current costs and the likelihood of increases.28
THE UTAH STATE PRISON: A CAUTIONARY TALE
In 2017 Utah broke ground on a new, 4,000-bed state prison outside of Salt Lake City. The new
prison was considered state of the art and was projected to cost $550 million.29 After years of
planning, state legislators were pleased that construction was finally underway and Salt Lake
City leaders were satisfied with the project despite their initial opposition to building the prison
near their city.30
But beneath the buoyant optimism there was an undercurrent of concern. As the new prison
broke ground, the city’s nearby airport expansion project was $350 million over budget and
construction costs in the area were up 12%.31 Jim Russell, the state official overseeing the new
prison said he was concerned about the cost increases but confident they could be managed. State
Senator Jerry Stevenson, who co-chaired the legislature’s Prison Development Commission,
acknowledged that higher construction costs were “very possible” but said it was an issue the
legislature would address when and if it arose. 32

7

By April of 2019 the cost of the new prison had risen from $550 million to $800 million33 and
construction costs were running 18% to 20% higher than anticipated, but by that time it was too
late to do anything about it. Senator Stevenson said that the legislature did not want to come up
with the additional funds but “we’re way past the point of no return on this. We’re going to have
to finish it now.”34
Utah’s new prison is now almost complete. The final cost has not been tabulated but it is
expected to come in at about $1 billion, depending on the final procurement process.35 That’s an
80% increase over the original cost estimate.
Officials blame the high cost on tariffs on China, the pandemic, labor shortages, and supply
chain issues. “We’ve had now 42% escalation [in construction costs] since 2015 when it [the
prison] was first funded until now,” Russell said. “All in all, I think we’ve done a fantastic job
with where we’re at. The budget could have been much more . . . it should have been $1.3
billion.”36
The Utah State Prison is the canary in the coal mine. DAGS’ $525 million cost estimate for the
new jail is three years old and has never been updated to account for the increased cost of
materials, delivery delays, and overall price increases in the construction industry. The 2018
estimate is undoubtedly too low, but we do not know how low. We simply don’t know how
much the new jail will cost, so there is no way to determine if it will be worth the price, or if a P3
is a better financing option than the traditional procurement process.
THE NEW JAIL WILL MAKE HAWAII’S LONG-TERM FISCAL PROBLEMS WORSE
In 2019 a committee of economists, scholars, and fiscal experts from the Hawaii Executive
Council issued a report, Troubled Waters: Charting a New Fiscal Course for Hawaii, that
documents the enormous fiscal challenges facing Hawaii’s State and local governments in the
next 30 years.37 The Committee found that future costs in three critical areas–mitigating the
impact of climate change, developing and maintaining infrastructure, and honoring public
employee retirement benefits– will exceed $88 billion, and that revenues will not be sufficient to
meet those needs.
Today, the cost of operating government is getting more expensive while Hawaii’s
economy has not kept pace with the rest of the nation. Between 2012 and 2018, the
cost of State government increased 41% despite the number of employees
remaining relatively flat. During this same period, Hawaii’s economy grew 9.8%
or 1.6% annually compared to the national rate of 2.4%. DBEDT forecasts GDP
growth of 1.1% in 2019 and 1.2% in 2020. Faced with these economic conditions,
State and county governments cannot continue to operate in such a manner.
Government will simply be too expensive to conduct business as usual.38

8

The report calls for government and the private sector to collaborate, innovate, and create a
strategic vision to address the serious fiscal challenges facing the State.39
Honolulu has a wealth of innovators and thought-leaders from business, labor academia, nonprofits, and other interest groups who are ready to share their knowledge, experience and insights
in a collaborative effort to improve our criminal justice system and plan and design a jail that
will meet the needs of our State without putting a huge financial burden to the next generation.
It would be foolish not to tap into this reservoir of knowledge, experience, and insight in
planning the new jail.
THE OPERATING COSTS OF THE NEW JAIL ARE NOT SUSTAINABLE
In June, 2021, the DPS and DAGS received a report from one of their consultants that said
“assuming there are no changes in our criminal justice or correctional policies,” by 2024 the
average daily population (ADP) of the new jail will be 1,237 inmates, and that the ADP would
decrease to 918 inmates by 2032.40
It now costs $219 a day to house an inmate in Hawaii.41 That cost will almost certainly increase,
but using the current figure, by 2024 the OCCC population will cost the State, on average,
$271,000 a day ($99 million a year) decreasing to $201,000 a day ($73 million a year) by 2032
(assuming current costs). The lease rent on the new jail –which will include the private partner’s
profit–will also have to be factored into the cost of operating the new jail.
Eighty-one percent of the men in OCCC are charged with low-level (class C) felonies or lesser
offenses—misdemeanors, petty misdemeanors, technical offenses, or violations. Nearly 70% are
in one of the two lowest security classifications—community custody (63%) and minimum
security (6%),42 and 23% are men who violated a condition of probation but did not commit a
new crime.43
6%
■

FELONY A • 68

■

FELONY B • 150

■

FELONY C • 501

■

MISDEMEANOR • 188

■

TECHNICAL OFFENSE • 138

■

PETTY MISDEMEANOR • 91

■

VIOLATION • 17

Severity Classification by Gender (Men)

<1%
■

CLOSE • 1

■

COMMUNITY • 743

■

MAXIMUM • 2

■

MEDIUM • 353

■

MINIMUM • 72

Security Classification by Gender (Men)

9

There is no rational reason for keeping so many non-dangerous, low-level offenders in jail at
such a high cost. We can’t afford it, and it simply doesn’t make sense. We should reduce our jail
population as other jurisdictions across the country have been doing for years.

CREATING “OFF RAMPS” TO REDUCE THE
JAIL POPULATION
The key to reducing the jail population is to have alternatives to jail, or “off ramps,” at key
decision points in the criminal justice process. A full discussion of this topic is beyond the scope
of this paper, but what follows are a few “off ramps” that have been discussed in Hawaii and
should be carefully considered before the State builds a costly 1,300-bed jail.

■ Issue Citations Lieu of Arrest
Police officers currently have discretion to issue a citation in lieu of arrest for misdemeanors,
petty misdemeanors and violations.44 In 2018 the HCR 134 Task Force on Criminal Pretrial
Reform recommended that the legislature expand police officer’s discretion to include issuing
citations for non-violent, class C felonies.45
Expanding the use of citations to non-violent class C felonies will reduce the number of people
who are taken into custody and ultimately reduce the number of people who end up in jail.

■ Establish A 24/7 Island-Wide Crisis Response Team
Honolulu is one of many cities whose health care and criminal justice systems are challenged by
a high volume of people experiencing a behavioral health crisis . In most cases the police and fire
departments are called on to responded to these people, and in many cases the person in crisis
ends up at the cell block and then in jail.
To address this problem the City and County of Honolulu recently launched a Crisis Outreach
Response and Engagement (CORE) program that will use a team of emergency medical
technicians and community health workers to respond to non-violent emergency calls about
people in crisis.46
That is a good idea, but unfortunately the program has been scaled back from the original
concept. Instead of operating 24/7 it will operate only 12 hours a day, instead of operating islandwide it will only operate in Waikiki and Chinatown, and the response team will not include a
social worker as originally planned.47

10

Honolulu needs an effective, island-wide, 24/7 crisis response team. The goal should be a
program that is as effective as the CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets)
program in Eugene Oregan that keeps people in crisis out of jail and saves the city millions of
dollars every year.48

■ Expand Diversion Programs
Diversion is one of the most important strategies for improving the lives people who need help,
and at the same time reducing the jail population. Honolulu should have at least two types of
diversion programs:
1. A Triage Center for People in Crisis. Triage centers are for people who are
experiencing a mental health or drug-related crisis. They are open 24/7 and are staffed by
mental health professionals. The primary function of the center is to provide stabilization
and case management services. The best centers accept walk-in patients and patients
brought in by emergency medical personnel, mobile crisis intervention units, law
enforcement, and family members or friends. Triage centers are characterized by a
streamlined admission process (less than 15 minutes) and a “no wrong door” policy
(patients are not turned away). Triage centers are designed for stabilization rather than
extended care.
2. Diversion Centers. Diversion centers provide case management services to people
who are not in crisis but have chronic social, economic and medical needs, and people
who have engaged in criminal activity related to poverty, addiction, mental illness, and
homelessness. Pre-arrest diversion centers help people get back on their feet and reduce
the chances that they will reoffend. They are effective in reducing the jail population and
making communities safer.
A triage center and effective island-wide prearrest diversion centers would address the needs of
the thousands of Oahu residents who are not getting the care and services they need, and
significantly reduce our jail population.

■ Enact Bail Reform
A key decision point in the criminal justice system occurs when a person who has been arrested
appears before a judge who determines whether the person should be released pending trial, or
remain in custody until their case has been resolved. The pretrial release/detention decision is
critically important to the defendant because studies have shown that “[j]ust a few days in jail
can increase the likelihood of a sentence of incarceration and the harshness of that sentence,
reduce economic viability, promote future criminal behavior, and worsen the health of those who

11

enter—making jail a gateway to deeper and more lasting involvement in the criminal justice
system at considerable costs to the people involved and to society at large.”49
For the disproportionately high number of people who enter jails from minority communities or
who suffer from mental illness, addiction, and homelessness “time spent in jail exacerbates
already difficult conditions and puts many on a cycle of incarceration from which it is extremely
difficult to break free.” 50 Defendants who cannot make bail are at risk of losing their jobs, and
with it the income that supports their children, pays their rent and utilities and puts food on the
table. In the long run they can also lose their house or apartment, health insurance and custody of
their children. After maxing out their credit cards, a family may end up deep in debt or even
homeless.
In our society liberty is supposed to be the norm and detention prior to trial the exception, but in
practice, just the opposite is true. A 2018 study by the ACLU-Hawaii found that overall judges in
Hawaii required bail as a condition of release in 88% of cases, and in the majority of those cases
it was set at a level the defendant could not afford.51
Almost half the people in OCCC are there because they cannot afford bail. In the six month
period from April 1 to September 30 , 2021 pretrial detainees at OCCC cost the State, on
average, $113,000 a day. If we include the pretrial detainees in neighbor island jails the cost goes
up to $200,000 a day.
The use of money bail is often justified on the grounds that it makes us safer by keeping
dangerous people in jail, but a report from the 2018 Criminal Pretrial Task Force chaired by
Hawaii circuit judge (now U.S. magistrate) Rom A Trader found that “[t]here is virtually no
correlation between the setting of a particular bail amount and whether the defendant will
commit further crime or engage in violent behavior when released from custody. Thus, money
bail is a poor method of assessing and managing a defendant’s risks.”52
To create a truly just pretrial system, we must end money bail. That is not a radical idea. The
federal government did it, and many jurisdictions have moved in that direction:
•

The District of Columbia releases 94% of the people who are arrested without bail. Of
those released, 91% make their scheduled court dates and 98% are not arrested for a
violent crime while awaiting trial.

•

Since 2017 New Jersey has rarely imposed money bail as a requirement of release. Last
year the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court reported that bail reform in the
state was working “admirably and well,” court appearance rates exceeded 90%, and the
percentage of defendants on pretrial release who are charged with indictable criminal
activity remained “consistently low.”53

12

•

In February, 2021 Illinois completely eliminated money bail as part of a sweeping
criminal justice reform bill that includes changes to every part of the justice system, from
police accountability to sentencing.54 The no bail law will not go into effect until 2023 to
allow time for challenges to the bill and to train judges on how the new law should be
applied.

It is time to quit tinkering with our money bail system in the hope that it will somehow become
fair, equitable and just. It won’t. If we want a truly just pretrial system, we have to end money
bail.
We should eliminate money bail completely, but at the very least we should eliminate it for
select non-violent class C felonies, misdemeanors, petty misdemeanors, and violations.
Judges should also be encouraged to release pretrial defendants on unsecured bail pursuant to
HRS § 804-9.5 (2019). To our knowledge very few defendants have ever been released under
this statute even though it has been the law for more than two years.

■ Make Possession of 2 Grams Or Less of a Dangerous Drugs a Misdemeanor
HRS §712-1243, Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the Third Degree (commonly referred to as
“PDD3”), makes possession of “any dangerous drug in any amount” a class C felony punishable
by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The term “any amount” in HRS §712-1243
includes amounts as small as the residue found in a pipe.55
PDD3 is one of the most commonly charged drug crimes. In 2020 the Hawaii Paroling Authority
set more than twice as many minimum sentences for PDD3 than for all other drug crimes
combined.56 The average minimum sentence was 2.72 years, with sentences ranging from 1 year
to 4.3 years.57 PDD3 is often charged when an individual with a substance use disorder is
arrested on a minor charge, and during the custodial search police find a small amount of a
dangerous drug in the defendantʻs possession.
The Legislature should enact SB 527, Thirty-First Legislature, 2021, that establishes a new
misdemeanor offense of Promoting a Dangerous drug in the Fourth Degree for possession of
small amounts of a dangerous drug, and limits the class C felony of PDD3 to possession of two
grams or more of a dangerous drug.
Moreover, we should recognize that addiction is a complex, multifactorial health disorder that is
preventable and treatable and “not the result of moral failure or a criminal behavior.”58 We
should treat substance use disorders as a public health rather than a criminal justice problem,
implement evidence-based prevention and treatment programs, engage scientific experts and
diverse stakeholders in coordinated policy making, support drug-related research, and ensure
access to scheduled medications for therapeutic use.59
13

■ Stop Housing Probation Violators in the Jail

Î
In the six months prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Hawaii (November 30,
2019 - April 30, 2020) there were, on average, 312 male probation violators at OCCC. The
average daily cost to house the male probation violators was $68,000 a day. Almost all of the
men were in the HOPE probation program and were serving short sentences for violating
program rules, not because they committed a new offenses.
In 2018 the HCR 85 Task Force on Prison Reform recommended that the State consider housing
probation violators in dormitories or assigning them to community-based facilities where the
reasons they violated the conditions of their probation could be addressed by mental health
and/or addiction treatment professionals and hopefully remedied.”60
Before building 300 or more beds in the new jail for probation violators at a cost that would
probably be in the neighborhood of $120 million,61 the State should follow the recommendation
of the HRC 85 Task Force and explore other housing arrangements for HOPE probation
violators.

P3s Are Not Suitable For Planning Jails
P3s may be suitable for projects like toll roads, bridges, and sewage treatment plants, but they
are not appropriate for jails because jails require system planning. Before an architect picks up a
pencil or puts a single mark on a piece of paper, a planning team that includes government
officials and community stakeholders must arrive at a shared vison of a successful criminal
justice system and define the function of the jail within that system. Architects sometimes
describe this process with the maxim “Define Before You Design.”
In defining the role of the jail, the planning team must drill down on criminal justice data,
identify the policies and practices driving the jail population, and plan for the expansion of
alternatives to incarceration.62 Jail planning decisions have a broad impact and in many ways
define the community of which the jail is a part–its values, vision, goals and aspirations. As
such, jail planning can and must be done by the community, and the community alone: It cannot
be outsourced to a corporation under a P3 contract.
The best way to design and build a successful jail is for the planning team to work closely with a
good architect. In 2020 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) amended its Code of Ethics
and Professional Conduct to include prohibitions against designing spaces intended for torture
and indefinite or prolonged solitary confinement,63 and in 2021 the New York Chapter of the
AIA went a step farther and called on all architects to stop designing “inherently unjust, cruel,
14

and harmful spaces” and to shift to the creation of “new systems, processes, and typologies
based on prison reform, alternatives to imprisonment, and restorative justice.”64
The State should work with architects who have a track record of designing smart and humane
spaces and who adhere to the ethical principles of the New York Chapter of the AIA. The
architect who designs the jail should be willing to work closely with the community to ensure
that the design of the jail aligns with community values and promotes the outcomes the
community wants. P3s do not allow that to happen and they should never be used to plan or
design jails.
Three other reasons why P3s are not a good idea for designing and building jails are:
•

There is no reliable way to test whether a private sector proposal to deliver
public infrastructure offers value for money compared to delivery of the
same project by the public sector using conventional public procurement.
Tools that purport to make such comparisons, called Public Sector
Comparators (PSCs) tend to be unreliable due to: (a) lack of data on which
to base cost estimates; (b) the difficulty of quantifying risks; (3) a lack of
consensus on what discount rate to use for payments spread out over time;
(4) the use of subjective judgments that can have a dramatic effect on cost
estimates; and (5) the high cost of the modeling process.65

•

The contract between the private company and the State would likely last
30 or more years during which time the State’s correctional needs will
undoubtedly change. P3s typically restrict how their facilities can be used,
and that severely limits a government’s ability to respond to changing
conditions.66 If the State owned the facility it could modify it to meet its
changing needs, or it could even repurpose or dispose of the facility
entirely.

•

Jails must be carefully maintained to protect the health and safety of
inmates and staff, but there is a tendency for corporate owners to save
money by ignoring problems or deferring maintenance at the public
partner’s expense. 67

P3s Lack Transparency. In addition to the forgoing, one of the most troubling aspects of P3s is
their lack of transparency and accountability. Alabama’s ill-fated partnership with CoreCivic*
highlights the problem.

*

CoreCivic (formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America) owns and operates the Saguaro
Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona, that houses approximately 1,100 Hawaii prisoners. The State of
Hawaii has maintained a business relationship with CoreCivic or more than 20 years.

15

In 2019, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced that to reduce prison overcrowding she was
seeking proposals from private corporations to design, finance, build and maintain two new
prisons and lease them to the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADC) which would operate
them with State employees. In soliciting and screening potential private partners, the Ivey
administration promised that “any information received in response to the solicitation/request
will not be publicly available until final contract(s) has received all approvals.”68 In other
words, there would be no public scrutiny of the partnership agreement until it was signed, sealed
and delivered and it was too late for the legislature or anyone else to change it.
In the ensuring months the Ivey administration selected CoreCivic as the private partner and
entered into confidential negotiations on the cost of the new prisons.
State representative Rich Ringo, a Republican like Governor Ivey, complained about the secret
negotiations and said that at the very least the legislature was entitled to know the developer’s
profit margin.69
Representative Arnold Mooney, another Republican, said that lawmakers were being kept in the
dark and asked rhetorically how they could carry out their fiduciary responsibilities to protect
taxpayers without knowing anything about the P3 contracts or the cost of the prisons.70
Student and community groups sought information about the project but the State rejected their
open records requests and insisted that secrecy was necessary to protect the integrity of the P3
process.71
On February 1, 2021 Governor Ivey announced that her administration had reached an agreement
with CoreCivic and signed contracts that obligated the State to pay approximately $3 billion to
lease two prisons for 30 years.72 Under the agreement the prisons would be financed,
constructed, maintained and owned by CoreCivic, staffed by the Alabama Department of
Corrections, and would be ready for occupancy by 2025.73
The version of the contracts that were released to the public on February 1 contained scant
information about the terms of the agreement or the responsibilities of the parties. In a press
release the Ivey administration said that “trade secrets and security-related information would not
be disclosed” and that final lease costs would become available only when “financial close is
achieved with CoreCivic.”74 A Fact Sheet said that “[a]s is common in a project of this size, the
parties will continue to engage in confidential negotiations during the Financial Phase designed
to refine the scope and price of the project.”75 An entire Exhibit to the contract that was supposed
to contain information on how CoreCivic would obtain financing for the project was marked
“Confidential.”76

16

Perhaps worst of all, the agreements had virtually no information on critical elements of the
project such as the design of the prisons, maintenance and utilities management, environmental
and sustainability services, plant services, and roads, grounds, and landscaping services.77
Alabama State auditor Jim Zeigler said the contracts would “make a handful of developers multimillionaires at the expense of Alabama taxpayers" and said he would try to stop construction of
the new prisons.78
In early April, 2021, Barclays, the London financial services firm that was the primary
underwriter for the prison project, tested the waters and found that there was weak support for
municipal bonds to fund new prisons in Alabama. Barclay’s also experienced a wave of criticism
from the financial community and the public because it had previously agreed that it would not
participate in bond offering to build prisons.79
On April 12, 2021, 43 business leaders, investors and activists signed a letter urging banks and
investors to refuse to purchase bonds for the new prisons on the grounds that they would
“perpetuate mass incarceration.”80 Signers included AllianceBernstein, a firm with $700 billion
in assets under management, which announced that they would not participate in the offering
because it contravened their policy against "modern slavery."81
And in an unprecedented move, the American Sustainable Business Council and its partner,
Social Venture Circle, which together represent over 250,000 businesses, returned Barclay’s
membership dues and sponsorship to protest the deal.82 MaryAnne Howland, the American
Sustainable Business Council’s board chair announced the move, saying “We abhor the
hypocrisy represented here and renounce the continued investment in the broken, unjust system
of incarceration of this country.”83
On April 19 Barclays announced: “We have advised our client that we are no longer
participating in the transaction.”84 A short time later KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc. a comanager on the deal also announced its withdrawal, and the whole P3 collapsed.85
Hawaii is heading down the same treacherous and misguided path as Alabama. It is seeking a
similar P3 and it is managing the P3 process with the same degree of secrecy that plagued the
Alabama project. In October DPS and DAGS announced that had issued a Request for
Information (RFI) to obtain feedback on the new jail. It received responses from 22 contractors,
designers, financiers, equity investors, and others but it has not released the names of any of the
respondents or what they said about the project. 86
The State is now preparing to issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to determine which
companies will be allowed to participate in the RFP next year. We can expect that the RFQ, will

17

be cloaked in the same secrecy as the RFI, and that DPS and DAGS will continue to plan the
new jail in secret.
It is time for legislators and the public to step up and demand transparency in the planning of the
new jail and put an end to the secret P3 process.

21ST CENTURY JAIL DESIGN
Architect Louis Sullivan’s adage “form follows function” raises the question “What
should be the function of a jail in the 21st century, and what form should it take?
The way jails are used today has been shaped by two major events. The first was the closing
of state mental health hospitals or “asylums” as they were known, in favor of communitybased treatment for the mentally ill. The “deinstitutionalization” of the mentally ill was a
well-intentioned policy given the deplorable conditions in state mental hospitals, but it didn’t
work. There was not enough money for the community-based centers, so they never
materialized, mental health professionals underestimated the difficulty of coordinating care
for the mentally ill, and court decisions made it difficult to commit very sick people against
their will.
As a result of
deinstitutionalization, many
We Must Break This Cycle
mentally ill people went untreated
and ended up living on the street,
a situation that exists to this day.
HOMELESS COMMUNITY
RELEASE
RELfASE
In 2016 the Honolulu Police
Homeless
Co-occurring
I
I
Substance Use
Department reported that 43% of
Poor
Diwders
Serious Mental
all arrests were homeless people
No ID
Illness (SMI)
and that 72% of the homeless
Chronic Disease No Health Ins.
people in the police cellblock
Treat
Disabled
Cognitive
Confine
StabRlzt
Assen
Impairment
were mentally ill or on drugs.87
PTSD
Assess
Contlol
Victim
ized
No Meds
ADMISSIONS
Eighteen percent of the homeless
INTAKE
population of Oahu say they have
mental health issues,88 and about
700 individuals diagnosed with
Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI) are admitted to OCCC each year.89 DPS
estimates that between 9.5 % and 12% of the OCCC population are mentally ill, and on
average these people cycle through the jail about once every four months, with some cycling
through every six weeks.90

[:J

'-..J

18

dBJ

~

The second major event was the passage of highly punitive state and federal laws beginning in
the 1970s in response to rising crime rates and a period of tumultuous political and social
change.91 From 1970 to 2000 Hawaii’s combined jail and prison population increased 670
percent, and the incarceration rate increased 400 percent.92 “Hawai‘i didn’t just follow
mainland ‘tough on crime’ trends, it led them.”93 In the 1980s the average annual increase in
Hawaii’s prison population was the second highest in the nation. 94
Today our jails function as de facto mental hospitals and temporary shelters for people who are
homeless, too poor to make bail, and have chronic illnesses and substance use disorders.
■ Modern Jails Should Have a Problem-Solving Function

There are emerging paradigms in the criminal justice system that focus on problem solving and
reducing recidivism rather than punishment.95 A few examples are:
•

Treatment Courts that offer alternatives to incarceration for offenses related to drug use,
mental illness, domestic violence, and issues that specifically affect veterans and youth.

•

Community Courts that provide alternatives to jail for low-level offenses;

•

Equity Centers that support, health, arts, education and job training for those leaving
prison and re-entering society;

•

Restorative Justice programs that focus on rehabilitation through reconciliation with
victims, family members, and the community at large;

•

Peacemaking Programs modeled on Native American practices that seek to resolve
disputes, heal relationships, and restore balance to the community; and

•

Parent Support Programs that help non-custodial parents find employment, increase child
support payments and engage with their children.

Jails in the 21st century should have a problem-solving function and be part of the problemsolving continuum, though positioned at the far end of the spectrum and used as a last resort.
Assuming that Hawaii enacts reasonable bail reform, pretrial detainees, who make up between
40% to 50% of the jail population, will not remain in jail more than a few days, and certainly no
longer that it takes for a pretrial report and risk assessment to be prepared for a judge. During
that time detainees’ physical, mental, and economic needs should be assessed by case managers
at the jail. The case managers should ensure that prior to release detainees have a discharge plan
that, at a minimum, includes a place to live, health insurance, a primary care physician,

19

medication, a cell phone to stay in contact with court personnel, and access to drug or mental
health programs if appropriate.
Hawaii’s jails house a relatively small number of felons, misdemeanants and felony probationers
who are sentenced to incarceration for a period of less than one year. Their needs should also be
assessed, and treatment should begin while they are serving their sentence. They should also
have a comprehensive discharge and reentry plan to ensure continuity of care when they are
released.

•

Intensive Reentry Support – The Queens Care Coalition Model

Some of the people who are released from jail can access services on their own, but some will
need extra help which should be provided by a program modeled on the work of the highly
successful Queen Care Coalition (QCC) . QCC uses community health workers as “navigators”
to link high utilizers of the Queens Medical Center’s Emergency Department (ED), many of
whom are chronically ill and unsheltered, to services in the community with the goal of
improving their health and well-being and reducing their use of the ED.96
The QCC navigators have strong communication skills. They carry a small case load of 10 to 12
clients and adhere to harm reduction principles. They meet their clients “ where they are at,”
build trust, create an agreed upon action plan, and work on overcoming challenges incrementally.
They help their clients navigate the complex benefits system, connect them to a primary care
physician, and find housing for them if they are ready for it. They sometimes attend doctors’
appointments with the client, take them shopping, and even show them how to prepare simple
meals–whatever is needed.
The program works. In the period January 2018 to September 2019 QCC served 322
individuals. In this group, utilization of the ED decreased by 53% and the number ambulance
transports to the hospital dropped 54%.97
The manager of the QCC program has said that the model of small caseloads, frequent contact,
harm reduction, and goals driven by the patient rather than those assisting them, can be adapted
to reduce recidivism by people who repeatedly cycle through our jails without ever getting care
they need.98 Navigators should be part of the reentry process for those who need extra help.

Some Design Elements of a 21 st Century Jail
For many architects, designers and planners, Halden prison in Norway is the model of good
correctional planning. Although it is a prison, not a jail, its design principles and many of its
design features are applicable to both types of facilities.

20

The aim of the design is an environment that supports rehabilitation. Safety and order are
maintained through “dynamic security” in which staff and inmates interact constantly and staff
serve as role models for inmates. Activities are scheduled to avoid monotony and boredom. The
facility is designed to mirror life on the outside to the greatest extent possible so that prisoners do
not become institutionalized. The government agencies that provide employment, health,
housing, vocational rehabilitation and other services to the general public, provide their services
people who are incarcerated.
Interior features include spacious singleoccupancy cells with tall vertical windows to
admit natural light; wooden furniture (bed, desk,
chair, bookcase, storage area); safety glass
windows (no bars); the use of materials that
dampen sound and provide good acoustics;
modules limited to 10 inmates who share a
common living area or day room furnished with
normal furniture and a television; spaces
specifically designed for education, leisure and
Single Occupany Cell, Halden Prison
worship; indoor and outdoor exercise areas; a
library; and comfortable areas for contact visits with family and attorneys.
Prisoners should have access to thoughtfully
landscaped outdoor spaces. A recent study has
shown that prisons with a higher presence of
green space have lower levels of self-harm, and
lower level of prisoner-on-prisoner and prisoneron-guard violence.99
The jail should have a courtroom for hearings
and bench trials. That would reduce
transportation costs, the security risks associated
with prisoner transportation, and would expedite
case processing and reduce length of stay in the
jail.

Open space, Halden Prison

Severely mentally ill people should not be housed in a jail. They should be housed in a facility
specifically designed for the mentally ill and staffed by mental health professionals.
In general, the 21st century jail is designed to respect the physical needs, health, dignity, and
human potential of all who come in contact with it, including staff, visitors, service providers,
and detainees. 100

21

CONCLUSION
Planning a new jail provides a unique opportunity to rethink and improve important elements of
our criminal justice system in ways that will reduce our jail population and recidivism rate, save
money, improve the well-being of people struggling with physical, mental and economic issues,
and make our community safer. We should not squander that opportunity by rushing to build a
jail that looks backward rather than forward and leaves in place the many antiquated and
misguided policies and practices that perpetuate our overreliance on incarceration as a means of
dealing with complex social and economic issues.
Planning a new jail must be part of a larger process of planning alternatives to jail. We must
increase our capacity to help people while making every effort to reduce the harm that jails
cause.
The collective wisdom of community stakeholders must be an integral part of the planning
process because the best solutions come from people who know the local culture and
environment. The people who have been planning the new jail thus far have underestimated and
devalued the wisdom of Hawaii’s people and their ability to collaborate and find innovative and
transformative solutions to the problems facing our community.
Jails define who we are, what we believe in, and how we treat each other. We should never
outsource our values to a corporation or let a corporation define who we are.
Decisions about the type of jail we build, who is in it, and how it is used, are not political or
financial decisions, they are moral decisions, and it is clearly immoral to build a jail we know
will cause harm, when we can just as easily, and far less expensively, build a jail that will
mitigate harm and improve the well-being of members of our community.
We must join together now to stop the State from issuing an RFP for the new jail, and start
planning a jail that we can afford and that reflects our values.
Robert K. (Bob) Merce
December, 2021
Contact Information:
mercer001@hawaii.rr.com
808-398-9594 (cell)
808-732-7430 (home)

22

ENDNOTES
1

House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 85 Task Force on Prison Reform, Creating Better
Outcomes, Safer Communities, Honolulu, Hawaii: December 2018, 80. Retrieved from
https://www.courts.state.hi.us/house-concurrent-resolution-85
2

Kevin Dayton, “Hawaii corrections OCCC might be moved,” Honolulu Star-Advertiser, April
23, 2015. Retrieved from https://www.staradvertiser.com/2015/04/03/hawaii-news/hawaiicorrections-occc-might-be-moved/
3

City and County of Honolulu Plan Review Use Permit No. 2019/PRU-2, May 29, 2019.
Retrieved from https://dps.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/OCCC-PRU-ApprovalDated-2-19-20-no-transmittal.pdf
4

Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Inceration Reform. “A More
Just New York City,” New York, New York: 2019. Retrieved from
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b6de4731aef1de914f43628/t/5b96c6f81ae6cf5e9c5f186d/
1536607993842/Lippman%2BCommission%2BReport%2BFINAL%2BSingles.pdf
5

City of Philadelphia, “Philadelphia's participation in the Safety and Justice Challenge:
Programs and Initiatives, Retrieved from
https://www.phila.gov/programs/philadelphia-safety-and-justice-challenge/
6

MacArthur Safety + Justice Challenge, New Orleans LA, “New Orleans has actually seen a
58% reduction in the average daily population of its jail,” (updated September 29,2021).
Retrieved from https://safetyandjusticechallenge.org/our-network/new-orleans-la/
7

MacArthur Safety + Justice Challenge, Summit County, OH. Retrieved from
https://safetyandjusticechallenge.org/our-network/summit-county-oh/
8

MacArthur Foundation, “Twenty Diverse Communities Receive MacArthur Support to Reduce
Jail populations, Improve Local Systems, and Model Reforms for the Nation,” press release,
April 12, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.macfound.org/press/press-releases/20-diversecommunities-receive-macarthur-support-reduce-jail-populations-improve-local-systems-andmodel-reforms-nation
9

David M. Bennett, Donna Lattin, Jail Capacity Planning Guide: A Systems Approach, U.S.
Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, NIC Accession No. 022722, November,
2009. Retrieved from https://nicic.gov/jail-capacity-planning-guide-systems-approach
10

Bennett and Lattin, Jail Capacity Planning Guide, v (emphasis added).

11

Bennett and Lattin, Jail Capacity Planning Guide, vii.

23

12

Bennett and Lattin, Jail Capacity Planning Guide, vii.

13

Bennett and Lattin, Jail Capacity Planning Guide, xiv.

14

Bennett and Lattin, Jail Capacity Planning Guide, xiv.

15

Bennett and Lattin, Jail Capacity Planning Guide, xiv.

16

Bennett and Lattin, Jail Capacity Planning Guide, ix.

17

Chris Mai, Mikelina Belaineh, Ram Subramanian, and Jacob Kang-Brown. Broken Ground:
Why America Keeps building More Jails and What It Can Do Instead, Vera Institute of Justice,
November, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.vera.org/publications/broken-ground-jailconstruction
18

Mai, Belaineh, and Subramanian, Broken Ground, 28.

Prevention Institute, Rooted in Community Wisdom. Retrieved from
https://www.preventioninstitute.org/rooted-community-wisdom
19

20

James R. Robertson, Jail Planning and Expansion, Local Officials and Their Roles, Second
Edition, National Institute of Corrections, Washington, D.C.: 2010, 15. Retrieved from
https://info.nicic.gov/nicrp/system/files/022668.pdf
21

Justice Systems Partners, “10 Steps To System Change,”August 2010, 1-3, Retrieved from
http://www.safetyandjusticechallenge.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/10-Steps-To-SystemChange_JSP-Brief.pdf.
22

Justice Management Institute, “From Silo To System: What Makes A Justice System Operate
Like A System,” April 2015, 17. Retrieved from
http://www.safetyandjusticechallenge.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/From-Silo-to-System-30APR-2015_FINAL.pdf.
23

Ken Ricci and Laura Maiello, A Systematic Approach to Sustainability, GLC/Ricci Greene
Associates, New York: 2007 (emphasis added). Retrieved from
https://riccigreene.com/content/pub_attachment/article_23_Thu_2012.pdf.
24

HCR 85 Task Force, Creating Better Outcomes, Safer Communities, 69.

25

Hawaii Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS). Final Environmental
Impact Statement for the Replacement of the Oahu Community Correctional Center, Expansion
of Women's Community Correctional Center, and New Department of Agriculture Animal
Quarantine Station, Honolulu, Hawaii: June 26, 2018, 49 and 15. Retrieved from ,
https://dps.hawaii.gov/wpcontent/ uploads/2018/07/2018-07-08-OA-FEIS-Replacement-ofOahu-Community-Correctional- Center.pdf.

24

26

Association of General Contractors (AGC), “Inflation Alert,” August 2021. Retrieved from
https://www.agc.org/sites/default/files/AGC%202021%20Inflation%20Report_Version7_0%20
%281%29.pdf
27

AGC, August Inflation Alert, 5.

28

AGC, August Inflation Alert, 7

29

Katie McKellar, “Early construction work underway near Salt Lake City prison site,” Desert
News, January 2, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.deseret.com/2017/1/1/20603310/earlyconstruction-work-underway-near-salt-lake-city-prison-site#mike-larsen-jeff-harrison-andblaine-cozzens-work-on-a-temporary-road-to-access-the-new-prison-site-in-salt-lake-city-onwednesday-dec-28-2016
30

McKellar, Early construction work underway.

31

McKellar, Early construction work underway.

32

McKellar, Early construction work underway.

33

Lisa Riley Roche, “Price tag for new Utah prison could hit $800 Million.” Desert News, April
5, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.deseret.com/2019/4/5/20670194/price-tag-for-new-utahprison-could-hit-800-million#the-construction-site-for-the-new-utah-state-correctional-facilityat-1480-n-8000-west-in-salt-lake-city-is-pictured-from-the-air-on-friday-april-5-2019
34

Roche, Price tag for new Utah Prison.

35

Katie McKellar. “Inside the new Utah State Prison: The now $1 billion project is nearly
complete,” Desert News, October 28, 2021. Retrieved from
https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/10/28/22739199/inside-the-new-utah-state-prison-the-now1-billion-project-is-nearing-completion-salt-lake-draper
36

McKellar, Inside the new Utah State Prison (emphasis added).

Sterling Higa, Jeff Laupola and Colbert Matsumoto, Troubled Waters: Charting a New Fiscal Course
for Hawaii, A report to the Members of the Hawaii Executive Conference on the Fiscal Outlook for
Hawaii Over the Next Thirty Years, Hawaii Executive Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii: October 2, 2019.
Retrieved from https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HEC-GovernmentReport-FINAL-1.pdf
37

38

Higa, Laupola and Matsumoto, Troubled Waters, 4.

39

Higa, Laupola and Matsumoto, Troubled Waters, 17.

40

Pulitzer Bogard & Associates and AHL, Oahu Correctional Center Population Forecast, PreFinal Report, Honolulu, Hawaii: July 14, 2021. 5. Retrieved from https://dps.hawaii.gov/wp-

25

content/uploads/2021/08/OCCC-Forecast-Report-FINAL-August-2021.pdf
41

Hawaii Department of Public Safety 2020 Annual Report. 17. Retrieved from
https://dps.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PSD-ANNUAL-REPORT-2020.pdf
42

HCR 85 Task Force, Creating Better Outcomes, 65.

43

Pulizer Bogart, Oahu Correctional Center Population Forecast, 14.

44

See, Hawaii Revised Statutes §803-6.

45

Hawaii Criminal Reform Task Force, Recommendations of the Criminal Pretrial Task Force
To the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii: December, 2018. 71.
Retrieved from https://19of32x2yl33s8o4xza0gf14-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wpcontent/uploads/HCR134-Task-Force-on-Pretrial-Reform_Final-Report_12.14.18.pdf
46

Ashley Mizuo, “Honolulu’s new homeless crisis outreach and response and engagement
program is expected to begin in 2 weeks.” Honolulu Star Advertiser, October, 8. 2021.
Retrieved from https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/10/08/hawaii-news/honolulus-newhomeless-program-is-expected-to-begin-in-2-weeks/
47

Mizuo, Honolulu’s new homeless crisis.

48

What is CAHOOTS, October 29, 2020. Retrieved from https://whitebirdclinic.org/what-iscahoots/
49

Ram Subramanian, Ruth Delaney, Stephen Roberts, Nancy Fishman, Peggy McGarry,
“Incarceration’s Front Door: The Misuse of Jails in America,” Vera Institute of
Justice, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.safetyandjusticechallenge.org/wpcontent/
uploads/2015/01/incarcerations-front-door-report.pdf.
50

Subramanian, et. al., Incarceration’s Front Door, 5.

51

ACLU-Hawaii. As Much Justice As You Can Afford, Honolulu, Hawaii: January 2018. 23.

52

Hawaii Criminal Reform Task Force, Recommendations, 68.

53

Glen A. Grant, Annual Report to the Governor and the Legislature, Criminal Justice Reform,
Jan.1-Dec.31, 2020. December 31, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.njcourts.gov/courts/assets/criminal/2020cjrannual.pdf?c=TVP
54

Emanuella Evans and Rita Oceguera. Illinois criminal justice reform ends cash bail, changes
felony murder rule. Justice Watch, February 24, 2021. Retrieved from
https://www.injusticewatch.org/news/2021/illinois-criminal-justice-reform-cash-bail-felonymurder/
55

State v. Fukagawa, 100 P.2d 498, 60 P3d 899 (2002) .
26

56

Hawaii Paroling Authority 2020 Annual Statistical Report. Retrieved from
https://dps.hawaii.gov/hpa/files/2020/10/2020-Annual-Report.pdf

57

Hawaii Paroling Authority, 2020 Annual Report, 5.

58

Nora D. Volkow, Vladimir Poznyak, Shekhar Saxena, Gilberto Gerra. Drug Use Disorders:
Impact of a Public Health Rather Than A Criminal Justice Approach. World Psychiatry
16(2):213-214 (June 27, 2017). Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5428163/
See also Megan Thielking and Cases Ross, STAT, “Surgeon General, saying ‘addiction is not a
not a moral failing,’ calls for action to tackle opioid epidemic,” November 17, 2016. Retrieved
from https://www.statnews.com/2016/11/17/surgeon-general-opioids-addiction-report/
59

Thielking and Ross, Surgeon General saying addiction is not a moral failing.

60

HCR 85 Task Force, Better Outcomes, Safer Communities, 72-73.

61

The $100 million figure is a rough estimate based on the $380,000 per bed cost of the new jail.
See HCR 85 Task Force, Better Outcomes, Safer Communities at xiii and 73.
62

Bureau of Justice Assistance. A Second Look at Alleviating Jail Crowding, A Systems
Perspective. U.S. Department of Justice, NCJ 182507. Washington D.C.: October 2000.
Retrieved from https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/bja/182507.pdf
63

American Institute of Architects (AIA), 2020 Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Canon
1, Rule 1.404. Retrieved from https://content.aia.org/sites/default/files/202012/2020_Code_of_Ethics.pdf
64

Board of Directors, AIA New York. September 30, 2020. Retrieved from
http://46u0j30o449zq8181dfurbcj-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/09/AIANY-Criminal-Justice-Facilities-Statement-2020.pdf
65

European Federation of Public Service Unions (PSU) and European Network on Debt and
Development (Eurodad). “Why Public Private-Partnerships (PPP) Are Still Not Delivering,”
December 14, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.eurodad.org/why_public_private_partnerships_are_still_not_delivering;
See also James Leigland and Chris Shugart, “Is the public sector comparator right for developing
countries?” Gridlines, Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF), April 2006.
https://ppiaf.org/documents/2999?otp=b3RwIzE2MjY4MzUzNjU=&ref_site=ppiaf
66

In the Public Interest, “CoreCivil and GEO Group’s Push for Private Public Partnerships in
Building Prisons January,” 2018. https://www.cps.org.uk/research/reforming-the-privatefinance-initiative/
27

67

European Federation of Public Service Unions, Why Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) Are
Still Not Delivering.
68

Eddie Burkhalter, “Alabama’s secretive prison project same as 2018 Kansas deal.” Alabama
Political Reporter, September 12, 2019. Retrived from
https://www.alreporter.com/2019/09/12/alabamas-secretive-prison-project-same-as-2018-kansasdeal/
69

Brian Lyman. “How much will private industry profit from Alabama’s new prisons? State
Reps want details.” Mongomery Advertiser, January 28, 2021. Retrieved from
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2021/01/28/alabama-state-prisonconstruction-project-profit-details-sought-legislature/4274526001/
70

Mike Cason,“Alabama lawmakers press Jeff Dunn to reveal more about cost of new prisons,”
AL.com., January 27, 2021. Retrieved from https://littlewordsproject.com/products/crystalclear?variant=24192860029009&utm_campaign=Smart%20Shopping%20%7C%20LD&utm_so
urce=adwords&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=541148318548&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3anx2J
vI9AIVD8BkCh1ygQy1EAEYASABEgLWk_D_BwE
71

Lyman, How much will private industry profit.

72

Kim Chandler, “Alabama governor leases CoreCivic prisons in $3 billion plan,” Associated
Press, February 1, 2021. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-alabama-kay-iveyprisons-2d97ec8d50b7c440398448f0fc71392c
73

Office of Governor Kay Ivey, “ADOC/Corrective Lease Agreement-Fact Sheet,” press release
January 1, 2021. Retrieved from https://governor.alabama.gov/assets/2021/02/ADOC_APPCoreCivic-Announcement_Fact-Sheet_20210201_FINAL.pdf
74

Office of Governor Kay Ivey, “Governor Ivey Signs Lease Agreements for the Alabama
Prison Program,” press release, February 1, 2021. Retrieved from
https://governor.alabama.gov/newsroom/2021/02/governor-ivey-signs-lease-agreements-for-thealabama-prison-program/
75

Office of Governor Kay Ivey, ADOC/Corrective Lease Agreement-Fact Sheet.

76

Eddie Burkhalter, “Governor signs leases for two prisons, but full details haven’t been
disclosed,” Alabama Political Reporter, February 1, 2021. Retrived from
https://www.alreporter.com/2021/02/01/governor-signs-leases-for-two-new-prisons-but-fulldetails-havent-been-disclosed/
77

Burkhalter, Governor signs leases for two prisons.

Andrea Ramey, “Alabama governor signs 30-yr megaprison leases, detractors blast $3 billion
taxpayer costs. NBC 15 News, February 1, 2021. Retrieved from
https://mynbc15.com/news/local/alabama-governor-signs-30-year-prison-leases
78

28

79

Morgan Simon, “Toxic Alabama Private Prison Deal Falling Apart with Barclays Exit,”
Forbes, April 21, 2021. Retrieved from
80

Simon, Toxic Alabama Private Prison Deal Falling Apart.

81

Simon, Toxic Alabama Private Prison Deal Falling Apart.

82

Simon, Toxic Alabama Private Prison Deal Falling Apart.

83

Simon, Toxic Alabama Private Prison Deal Falling Apart.

84

Brian Chappatta, “Barclays Has No Excuse for Private-Prison Drama.” Bloomberg, April 19,
2021. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-04-19/barclays-has-noexcuse-for-private-prison-bond-drama
85

Eddie Burkhalter, “Barclays pulls out as underwriter for CoreCivic’s Alabama prison
construction.” Alabama Political Reporter, April 19, 2021. Retrieved from
https://www.alreporter.com/2021/04/19/barclays-pulls-out-as-underwriter-for-corecivicsalabama-prison-construction-deal/
86

Hawaii Department of Public Safety, “OCCC Procurement Process Advancing, Future of the
Oahu Community Correctional Center, Vol. 37, October 2021, 2. Retrieved from
https://dps.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Hawaii-OCCC_newsletter_Vol37.pdf
87

HCR 85 Task Force, Creating Better Outcomes, Safer Communities, 66.

88

Partners in Care, Oahu’s Continuum of Care, “2020 Oahu Point In Time Count,, 8. Retrieved
from https://www.honolulu.gov/rep/site/ohou/PIC2020PITCountReportFinal.pdf
89

HCR 85 Task Force, Creating Better Outcomes, Safer Communities, 66.

90

HCR 85 Task Force, Creating Better Outcomes, Safer Communities, 66. See also Meg
O’Connor. “Honolulu Police Keep Putting Homeless People in Jail.” The Appeal, May, 2020.
Retrieved from https://theappeal.org/honolulu-police-criminalization-homelessness-coronaviruspandemic/
91

Jeremy Travis, Bruce Western, and Steve Redburn (eds). The Growth of Incarceration in the
United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences. Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press.https://doi.org/10.17226/18613. 2 Retrieved from
https://www.nap.edu/read/18613/chapter/2
92

Meda Chesney-Lind and Robert Merce, "Toward a Smaller, Smarter Correctional System for
Hawaiʻi" in The Value of Hawaiʻi 3: Hulihia, the Turning, Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua, Craig
Howes, Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwo‘ole Osorio, Aiko Yamashiro, Paige Rasmussen and Craig
Howes (eds). University of Hawaii Press (2021). 115. Retrieved from
https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/70171/9780824889159.pdf
29

93

Chesney-Lind and Merce, Toward a Smaller, Smarter Correctional System. 115.

94

Patrick A. Langan, John V. Fundis, Lawrence A. Greenfield. Historical Statistics on Prisoners
in State and Federal Institutions Yearend 1925–86. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department
of Justice, May 1988. Retrieved from https://
www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/digitization/111098ncjrs.pdf.
95

Doris Layton MacKenzie, Sentencing and Corrections in the 21st Century: Setting the State for
the Future, July 2001. Retrieved from
https://www.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh241/files/archives/ncjrs/189106-2.pdf.
96

Ashley Shearer. “This Queen’s Medical Center Program Is Improving Lives For Those In
Need, Honolulu Civil Beat, February 8, 2021. Retrieved from
https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/02/this-queens-medical-center-program-is-improving-lives-forthose-in-need/.
97

Shearer, Queen’s Medical Center Program Is Improving Lives.

98

Shearer, Queen’s Medical Center Program Is Improving Lives.

99

Dominique Moran, Phil I. Jones, Jacob A. Jordaan & Amy E. Porter. Does Nature Contact in
Prison Improve Well-Being? Mapping Land Cover to Identify the Effect of Greenspace on SelfHarm and Violence in Prisons in England and Wales, Annals of the American Association of
Geographers, 111:6, 1779-1795, DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2020.1850232 (2021). Retrieved from
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/24694452.2020.1850232?journalCode=raag21
100

CGL, “The Jail of the Future: A Vison of 2030.” Retrieved from
https://cglcompanies.com/the-jail-of-the-future-a-vision-of-2030/.

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