Report Title:

OCCC; Moving Review

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, in 1917, the Territory of Hawaii built the Oahu Prison (later Hawaii State Prison) at the current site of the Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC), an area that was considered rural at the time; and

WHEREAS, in the 1970s, the State adopted the Correctional Master Plan (Master Plan), which projected a decline in the State's correctional population, and recommended that a new type of correctional facility be built; and

WHEREAS, the Master Plan also recommended that the State assume responsibility for all correctional facilities, including housing of pre-trial detainees, which at that time was a county function; and

WHEREAS, as a result, the State took control of the City and County Jail in Halawa where defendants were held while awaiting trial, razed the Hawaii State Prison except for the 36-cell holding unit, and built OCCC; and

WHEREAS, OCCC consisted of small modular units designed to promote rehabilitation, the largest module had 36 cells and the smallest had 12 cells; and

WHEREAS, OCCC was designed to house inmates awaiting trial and inmates ready to transition back to the community after incarceration, and was designed to hold 276 inmates; and

WHEREAS, at the same time, the State extensively renovated the Halawa Jail, and built similar modules to house high security inmates; and

WHEREAS, soon after the Master Plan was adopted, the correctional population began to increase and the State continued with its plans to convert the State Prison into the OCCC; and

WHEREAS, before it was fully implemented, however, the facility became so overcrowded that the American Civil Liberties Union sued the State in the case of Spear v. Ariyoshi (later Spear v. Waihee, and then Spear v. Cayetano); and

WHEREAS, to cope with overcrowding at OCCC, the State built a number of minimum security buildings to add capacity, including Annex I with 84 beds, Annex II with 114 beds, Panamauka and Panamakai with 32 beds each, Module 20 with 84 beds, and Laumaka Work Release Center with 96 beds, and further expanded OCCC's modules capacity by placing two inmates in most of the 276 cells; and

WHEREAS, as a result, the property is now used to the maximum extent possible and there is no further room for expansion; and

WHEREAS, the operating capacity of OCCC is 949, the capacity of the modules which can hold medium security inmates, is 507, and the capacity of the other buildings which cannot hold medium security inmates, is 442; and

WHEREAS, on March 19, 2001, OCCC held 1,136 inmates, of which 623 were male defendants awaiting trial for felony charges, 70 were men awaiting charges lodged by other jurisdictions (primarily the federal government), and 170 were men whose probation or parole were recently revoked; and

WHEREAS, these inmates are by definition medium security inmates and OCCC is not able to house them all in appropriate units; and

WHEREAS, because the Master Plan envisioned a different kind of inmate at OCCC, the facility was built without a secure perimeter, and originally there was no security fence surrounding the facility or watchtowers to prevent security breaches; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) added these after the modules were built, and as a result, their design is less than ideal; and

WHEREAS, for example, there are typically two fences around medium security facilities spaced fifteen to twenty feet apart, with concertina or razor wire on each fence and in the space between, so that if an inmate successfully climbs over one fence, he must still get through the wire between the fences, and then climb the second fence; and

WHEREAS, such a configuration slows a fleeing inmate and correctional officers have time to stop and apprehend the inmate, but OCCC does not have space for this type of fence; and

WHEREAS, medium security facilities also typically have a "clear zone" outside the fence, which allows correctional officers a clear sight of the inmate should he successfully climb over the outside fence, but because of its location, it is impossible to establish a clear zone around OCCC; and

WHEREAS, OCCC is immediately bounded by Dillingham Boulevard, Puuhale Road, Foremost Dairy, and a Hy-Pac Storage facility; and

WHEREAS, the lack of a clear zone also makes it more difficult to stop contraband, such as drugs, from entering OCCC – for example, it would not be difficult to throw contraband over the fence from the storage facility next door into the work area; and

WHEREAS, the design of OCCC also causes serious inefficiencies because each of the eleven modules, the holding unit, and each of the six minimum security units are physically separate, and DPS must post a sufficient number of correctional officers in each facility, twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week; and

WHEREAS, because the modules hold a limited number of inmates, inmate-to-staff ratios are low, requiring a larger complement of adult correctional officers than comparable facilities in other jurisdictions; and

WHEREAS, detention facilities which house inmates awaiting trial, need to be relatively near urban centers because of the frequent need to transport inmates to court and because of the need for attorneys to visit defendants; and

WHEREAS, to compensate for the lack of space to install double fences with clear zones, modern detention facilities rely on efficient design and technology for security; and

WHEREAS, for example, the Federal Detention Center is designed in such a way that the inmate never leaves the facility without secure escort, and sophisticated video systems and intrusion alarms allow staff to closely monitor every movement; and

WHEREAS, if OCCC were relocated and replaced by a modern facility it is anticipated that:

now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Governor is hereby requested to assemble an Administration team including, but not limited to, representatives from the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Department of Accounting and General Services, and the Department of the Attorney General to develop a plan for the relocation of the Oahu Community Correctional Center and for the construction of a new secure facility at a new site to be selected after careful review; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to assist the Administration team in the drafting of any proposed legislation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Directors of the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Department of Accounting and General Services, the Legislative Reference Bureau, and the Attorney General.