MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2025
MEDIA CONTACTS
Carrie Ann Shirota, ACLU of Hawaiʻi Policy Director, 808-380-7052 or [email protected]
Keke Walker, Reimagining Public Safety Coalition Member, 808-457-0186 or [email protected]
Sarah Staudt, Policy & Advocacy Director at Prison Policy Initiative, [email protected]
Prison Policy Initiative Releases Report Emphasizing Need for Decarceration,
Not a New Jail to Replace Oʻahu Community Correctional Center
HONOLULU, HI – The Reimagining Public Safety Coalition of Hawaiʻi and the ACLU of Hawaiʻi (“ACLU-HI”) appreciates the report issued by the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) and agrees with the bottom-line conclusion that we need to focus first on decarceration before any conversation continues about replacing the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center and expanding the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) carceral footprint. (https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/PPI_OCCC_Memo.pdf)
Prison Policy Initiative (https://www.prisonpolicy.org), founded in 2001, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization producing cutting–edge research to expose the broader harm of mass criminalization.
Liam Chinn, Facilitator of the Reimagining Public Safety Coalition of Hawaiʻi stated: “The proposed billion dollars for a new and bigger jail should instead be invested into a continuum of care and addressing root causes of poverty and crime. This includes supportive housing, community based mental health and substance abuse treatment, training for living wage jobs, and robust youth programs–especially for Native Hawaiians.”
“Now is the time to turn the page to a care first, jails last approach to public safety”
Sarah Staudt, Prison Policy Initiative Policy & Advocacy Director: “Like communities around the country, Hawaiʻi is struggling to deal with issues of crime, poverty, and housing. But time and time again, communities have learned the hard way that building more jail cells will not solve these problems. The better path is to commit to decarceration. Hawaiʻi jails people with low-level charges and for people without homes at much higher rates than other communities, and there are ample opportunities to decarcerate while maintaining public safety. Decarceration could eliminate the need for a new facility, alleviate staffing problems, and decrease the immense harm that pretrial jailing causes to Hawaiʻi residents, particularly Native Hawaiians.”
Keke Walker, a member of the Reimagining Public Safety Coalition: “There’s been an ongoing and preventable human rights and public health crises within OCCC and the rest of our jails. Rather than addressing the root causes of harm, our current institutions perpetuate cycles of violence, dehumanization, and trauma. The push for continuing to build and expand jails/prisons is an approach that has led to mass incarceration of Native Hawaiians, the criminalization of poverty, and the disproportionate imprisonment of historically undervalued and underserved communities. True safety comes from community-based care and culturally rooted practices that promote overall wellness—by ensuring access to food, housing, jobs, and healthcare. By tackling the systemic issues that give rise to crime, we can fundamentally change our approach to public safety. As a community we have so much power to change our current trajectory and can explore transformative justice alternatives that prioritize healing, accountability, and rehabilitation.”
ACLU of Hawaiʻi Policy Director, Carrie Ann Shirota added: “Hawaiʻi lawmakers must make a critical decision about public safety and fiscal responsibility: spend $1 billion on a new jail to replace Oʻahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) or implement more cost-effective solutions that address the housing and public health crisis we see on our streets. We call upon Hawaiʻi leaders to carefully review the findings of the Prison Policy Institute’s report and implement and sustain proven measures to eliminate overcrowding and reduce the number of people in our jails. This requires collaboration by all branches of government and ensuring that the Judiciary meaningfully implement bail and probation reforms.”
The Reimagining Public Safety Coalition calls for a halt to plans for constructing an expanded capacity jail on Oʻahu until robust and expansive criminal legal reforms, such as investments in diversion, bail and probation reforms, are fully funded and implemented. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is accelerating its plan to replace Oʻahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) with a larger jail with a price tag likely to exceed $1 billion, while bristling at efforts to reform bail and other efforts to reduce long-term jail populations. PPI’s report lays out why this approach is not only reckless, but will likely cost the State of Hawaiʻi and ultimately taxpayers more money in the long-term.
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The Reimagining Public Safety in Hawaiʻi Coalition is a diverse group of local organizations and individuals advocating for Hawaiʻi to adopt a public health approach to safety. The Coalition brings both lived experience and expertise from a range of sectors including public health, the criminal legal system, economic revitalization, restorative justice, police oversight and accountability, mental health, street medicine and harm reduction, among others. Instead of relying on policing and incarceration, the Coalition “reimagines public safety” by advocating for investment in systems that have the power to make our communities safer, like supportive housing, training for living wage jobs, and community-based care for mental health and substance addiction issues.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi is a non-profit, non-partisan organization with a mission to protect the civil rights and liberties contained in the state and federal constitutions through litigation, legislation, and public education programs. The ACLU of Hawaiʻi is funded primarily through private donations and offers its services at no cost to the public. The ACLU of Hawaiʻi does not accept any government funds and has been serving Hawaiʻi since 1965.
Other notable members of the coalition include, Common Cause, Community Alliance on Prisons, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaiʻi, ʻEkolu Mea Nu, Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA), Hawaiʻi Friends for Restorative Justice, Hawaiʻi Health and Harm Reduction (HHRC), Mothering Justice, and Project Vision.