Breaking Cycles: Alternative Models for Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice on Oʻahu
Proof of Concept Study
February 2025
Prepared for:
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
By: The University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center
UHCDC Project Team:
Cathi Ho Schar FAIA, Associate Professor, Co-Principal Investigator, School of Architecture
Dan Milz PhD, Associate Professor, Co-Principal Investigator, Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution
Lorinda Riley SJD, Assistant Professor, Co-Principal Investigator, Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies
Creesha Layaoen, Research Associate, School of Architecture
Dean Matsumura, Research Associate, School of Architecture
Vernon Ong, Research Associate, School of Architecture
Caroline Whitesel, Community Social Worker, School of Architecture
Rebecca Denzer, Administrative Officer, School of Architecture
Ghia Belarmino, Student Project Assistant, School of Architecture
Kaylen Daquioag, Student Project Assistant, School of Architecture
Riza Lara, Student Project Assistant, School of Architecture
Daniel Luna, Student Project Assistant, School of Architecture
Lahela Mattos, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Michelle McDow, Student Project Assistant, School of Law
Nevaeh Angel Nacion, Student Project Assistant, School of Architecture
Thanh Nguyen, Student Project Assistant, School of Architecture
Maleah Reynolds, Student Project Assistant, School of Architecture
Haixin Ruan, Student Project Assistant, School of Architecture
Hannah Valencia, Student Project Assistant, School of Architecture
Yada Ponpittayalert, Student Project Assistant, College of Education
Dylan Pilger, Graduate Research Assistant, Office of Public Health Studies
Anuhea Sridharan, Graduate Research Assistant, School of Social Work
Anamalia Suesue, Graduate Research Assistant, Office of Public Health Studies
Julia Florentino, Social Media Assistant, School of Communications and Information
Jack Veddar, Student Assistant, College of Social Sciences
Kees Horn, Student Assistant, College of Social Sciences
Consultants:
Leolinda Iokepa, Hilopaʻa Family to Family
Jill Misawa, Jill Misawa Designer LLC
Keoni Kelekolio, Hawaiian Language Expert, Kamehameha Schools
A very special mahalo for the leadership guidance across UH Mānoa: Jonathan Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio, Dean and Professor, Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge
Camille Nelson, Dean and Professor, William M. Richardson School of Law
Tetine Sentell, Professor and Endowed Chair, Office of Public Health Studies
Sherrie White, Director, College of Social Sciences Digital Studios
This work is made possible because of continued support from William Chapman, Interim Dean and Professor, School of Architecture, and the SOA staff.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) for this opportunity, especially Director Tommy Johnson, Sanna Munoz, Pamela Sturz, Melanie Martin, Teresita Fernandez, Wayne Takara, Terry Visperas, John Schell, and Rosemarie Bernardo, for their guidance and support throughout this continuously evolving process.
There is no way to thank everyone who shared their time and knowledge with us, but we do want to recognize those who repeatedly volunteered their time and partnered with us to shape and support our work:
Correctional Reform Working Group: Bob Merce, Mike Livingston, Hayley Cheng; Community Alliance on Prisons: Kat Brady; Habilitat: Jeff Nash and team; Ke Ola Mamo: Eugenie Naone and team; Loko Iʻa Paʻaiau: Kehaulani Lum, Uncle Bruce; Makana O Ke Akua: Jon Dudoit, Keoki Dudoit, and their residents; Prison Reform Hui: Paula Morelli, Patrick Uchigakiuchi; State of Hawaiʻi Governor’s Office: Michael Champion, Annie Valentin, Terrance Cheung; State of Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission: Christin Johnson, Cara Compani, Chair Mark Patterson, Honorable Mike Town, Honorable Ron Ibarra, Martha Torney; Try Think: Tammy Jones, Robert Chang; Waikīkī Health: Francine Dudoit and team; YWCA: Noriko Namiki and team
Title Page
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Preface
Executive Summary
Introduction
Project Genealogy
Methodology
Literature Review
Starting with the System
Focus on Health
Invest in Staff
Engagement
Design Guide
Design Elements
He Au Hou - A New Era
Conclusion
0.1 Preface
In 2022, Governor David Ige signed House Bill 2171, which became Act 278, re-establishing the Hawaiʻi Department of Public Safety (PSD) as the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR). This change marks a significant systemwide shift in corrections in Hawaiʻi. The new motto, “He Au Hou,” translates to “a new era,” highlighting the department’s renewed emphasis on rehabilitation and comprehensive support for those in its custody.1
As noted by the department, 95% of individuals incarcerated will eventually return to their communities, making a restorative approach essential for both community safety and well-being. This departmental transformation aligns with statewide initiatives aimed at addressing the root causes of incarceration, including mental health, substance abuse, houselessness, joblessness, and trauma.
This report summarizes the research and engagement conducted by the University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center (UHCDC) during this pivotal period of change. Prompted by the planning of a new jail on Oʻahu, but also focused on the planning of a health, housing, and justice continuum to reduce the jail population, UHCDC’s work aims to look holistically at these issues. The process sparked new discussions across various systems and sectors and identified ongoing collaborations, reinforcing the potential for a new era in the state. Change is underway, and despite the complexities and challenges that lie ahead, this report is shared with deep gratitude for all who supported and contributed, as well as a profound sense of hope for the future.
1.0 Executive Summary
“It is within our reach to change our healthcare system, our public safety system, our system of incarceration, the way we treat those who struggle through life.”
- Governor Josh Green
In 2022, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) contracted the University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center (UHCDC) to engage stakeholders and community members in the development of alternative proof of concept visions for the proposed relocation of the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC), with the goal of collectively defining a cross-jurisdictional pathway toward a continuum of care and support in Hawaiʻi both inside and outside of corrections.
OCCC is the largest jail facility in Hawaiʻi, serving the entire island of Oʻahu as the local detention center for the First Circuit Court. As a jail, the facility houses pretrial detainees, short-term (less than a year) incarcerated individuals, and individuals serving time for parole and probation violations.2 Approximately 86% of the total correctional population demonstrates a need for substance abuse treatment;3 20%-30% were homeless immediately prior to entry;4 and 36% identify as Native Hawaiian, a reflection of the underlying health, housing, and social inequities that are root causes of incarceration.5
The current OCCC facility is over 100 years old in some parts, presenting significant safety and human rights concerns for both employees and incarcerated individuals due to its deteriorating condition and outdated infrastructure that limit physical and operational improvements. The need for a new OCCC facility prompted the 2016 planning and design process that led to a 2018 Environmental Impact Statement, 2018 Master Plan Report, 2021 Population and 2022 Programming Report. The public responded to these initial plans with a call for more stakeholder and community engagement and a more restorative and Hawaiʻi-based approach. As a response, DCR contracted UHCDC to lead this independent research, engagement, and proof of concept design study to inform the agency and the ongoing and future professional planning and design work.
This report builds on a wide range of relevant efforts predating the project, including those by the HCR 85 Task Force, Office of Hawaiian Affairs Native Hawaiian Justice Task Force, Correctional Reform Working Group, and Sequential Intercept Model mapping efforts by the Pūʻā Foundation and the Hawaiʻi Health and Harm Reduction Center (HHHRC), among the many other resources that have advocated for justice and carceral system reform in Hawaiʻi. UHCDC developed additional research in the form of a comprehensive scholarly literature review of alternative models for restorative justice; interviews of family members of incarcerated individuals; case studies on decarceration and emerging prevention, diversion, and reentry models; and health, well-being, and trauma-informed design. This research was informed by and sharedout during the engagement process.
In order to engage stakeholders and community members across Oʻahu, UHCDC developed a fluid mixed-methods
approach that included talk stories, interviews, site visits, listening workshops, co-design workshops, Community of Practice meetings, and a broad range of community engagement events to share information and collect feedback.
UHCDC hosted over 120 talk stories, 18 site visits/listening workshops, 8 codesign workshops, 3 exhibits, 3 knowledge-sharing symposiums, and 5 Community of Practice meetings.
Importantly, UHCDC’s work sought the participation of those with lived experience through listening and co-design workshops with Makana O Ke Akua, Habilitat, HAHOKO, Care Hawaiʻi, YWCA, and the Hālawa Correctional Facility, where currently and previously incarcerated men and women offered their insights.
This research and engagement led to a set of Key Concepts that span systems reform and facility planning and design. These concepts could be pursued concurrently or in sequence. More engagement is needed to produce a clearer roadmap for these intiatives.
Regarding systems reform, these include: Start with systems reform, Adopt a public health perspective, Prevention as early as possible, Strengthen diversion, Align supportive housing options, and Community-partnered reentry. Regarding
facility planning, these include: Gather more research, Establish a new mission, vision, values, function, Create a new identify, Start correctional culture change now, Require qualifications that include local knowledge and lived experience, Continue community engagement, Plan for different population scenarios, Build community partnerships, Leverage federal funding, and Design for health and wellbeing of individuals, staff, and community. These are laid out on the following spread.
These concepts informed the development of 9 broad Design Principles, intended to guide design at all scales, including programmatic, site, building, interiors, graphic, or other forms of design that shape how a new facility is experienced. These emerged from conversations about a new jail, but are applicable to correctional facilities in general. The principles relate to safety, trauma-informed and healthcentered approach, relationships, ‘āina, strengths, empowerment, culture and identity, learning, and respect.
Feedback also informed the articulation of a set of Design Considerations related to program adjacency, site design, housing modules, sleeping arrangements, staff spaces, and transition housing. These reflect approaches to design that were advocated for by stakeholders, and in most cases, supported by evidence-based research. Throughout the engagement process, people also offered their ideas for design elements, which represent smaller scale attributes or amenities that support broader goals. These elements are organized into 9 categories: Malama ʻĀina, Spiritual Reconnection, Keiki to Kupuna, Ritual & Practice, Making & Makana, Art & Music, Sustainability & Resilience, Learning & Working, and Restorative Landscapes. Each design element also includes corresponding actions that offer steps and ideas for implementation.
Finally, UHCDC used the key concepts, design principles, design considerations, and design elements to develop proof of concept approaches to a new facility. The proof of concept approaches represent the aspirations of the stakeholders who engaged with us. They do not represent professional or technical drawings, renderings, or solutions that incorporate the real technical, regulatory, financial, and functional requirements. They are simply shared visions for further consideration.
At the heart of a new vision is a holistic rethinking that includes a new mission, vision, values, and identity for a new facility. UHCDC worked with two ʻAiea and Hālawa kūpuna and a Hawaiian Language expert to put forward a new identity for the facility. Ke ala hoʻoponopono i Waikahi, roughly translates to “a path to righteousness or unity.” The name recognizes the area as the location of an ancient Waikahi heiau. The site would need to be cleansed and transformed from a space of human sacrifice to one of healing, a relevant transformation to the new facility. The area also sits at the convergence of two Hālawa streams.
This identity aligns with an alternative mission statement developed with input from the community:
“To support community equity, health, safety, and well-being, by providing individuals in custody with rehabilitationfocused and
culturally competent assessments, programs, environments, relationships, and personnel that address core needs and prevent future harm.”
This new vision is described through proof of concept approaches that reflect three different site design scenarios. The first, a step-up campus, the second, a community resilience center, and third, a community resource village. Each reflects a different spatial approach to individual, community, and public health goals.
This final report reflects an unprecedented effort by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the State of Hawaiʻi, to engage stakeholders around alternative visions for a new correctional facility and a community-based continuum of care. This combination of research, engagement, and design guidance offers an alternative vision that captures the aspirations of many. While these aspirations may seem too far removed from the current social, political, economic, or legal context, they serve an important purpose. They articulate a community vision that can bring together policy makers, community partners, and funders to get closer to what we aspire to. This project reflects an initial effort to bring these stakeholders together. Systems-wide alignment and reform need to continue, with clear leadership, support, and partnership from all the government and community stakeholders involved.
Key Concepts: System Reform
The key concepts pulled from this research and engagement are summarized below. They are followed by a set of design principles, considerations, and elements, that shaped three different proof of concept design approaches for a new facility.
Start with Systems Reform
Develop a statewide diversion and reentry strategic plan to decrease incarceration and increase communitybased care.
Establish Governor’s support and convene DCR, DOH, Judiciary, and HCSOC for initial discussions.
Appropriate funds for a strategic planning process across all four counties.
Establish community co-leads, and a working group with balanced community representation including people with lived experience.
Set benchmarks to facilitate tracking and accountability.
Include periodic stakeholder and community visits to Hawaiʻi’s jails and prisons.
Adopt a public health perspective
Invest in stronger public communication programs to promote public awareness and political will around justice reform. Communicate the extent to which public health issues impact incarceration.
Establish more collaboration across justice and health systems and organizations. Consider a department like the Los Angeles Office of Diversion and Reentry, housed in the LA Office of Health Services.
Prevention as early as possible
Integrate restorative justice circles and related programs into public school systems.
Strengthen support for adolescent mental health, including residential treatment and family support.
Support community and cultural health centers that provide support to vulnerable populations.
Take advantage of federal funding for certified behavioral care centers and other community-based programs. See supportive housing recommendations below.
Strengthen diversion
Continue and increase diversion resources to fully realize all critical pieces.
Develop Hawaiʻi-specific assessment tools for diversion.
Commit resources to dedicated diversionary personnel.
Support crisis line, crisis center, mobile crisis units, and crisis training for police and community-based services. Connect diversion programs to temporary and permanent supportive housing options to reduce similar cycling through the crisis system.
Establish a secure diversion center or behavioral care center.
Compile information into directories, manuals, and other resources to promote awareness and use of diversion resources by families, case managers, prosecutors, defenders, and judges. Support bail and sentencing reform to facilitate more diversion, starting with low risk individuals with nonviolent offenses.
Learn from or build on Kauaʻi Diversion Program, Hawaiʻi Youth Juvenile Justice System diversion, Miami-Dade County, and Pima County.
Align supportive housing options
Establish clear strategies to provide mental health, substance abuse, and other wraparound services with housing to address root causes of houselessness, crime, and incarceration. Expand support for smaller residential facilities, like group homes, that can be established in existing houses or buildings, with shorter start-up times, lower development costs, and normalized living environments. Eliminate barriers to housing for individuals with records.
Community-partnered reentry
Expand reentry funding and services within corrections and in the community to ensure warm hand-offs and continued support.
Create an advisory board or coalition to represent and advocate for reentry and reentry providers.
Locate reentry and transition beds closer to families, jobs, transportation, and services. Provide some reentry and transition beds at correctional facilities, with the aim of housing individuals who can safely be housed in the community, off-site.
Develop full step-down reentry housing pathways that provide graduated living options for individuals to move from high to low intensity substance abuse treatment programs, for example from residential living, to therapeutic living, to a clean and sober facility.
Consider the current OCCC site and Laumaka renovation as a future restorative care village, that could support correctional and other reentry for a spectrum of individuals in need of reentry housing. Redevelopment plans should address the history of incarceration tied to the site, and provide spaces for healing and care.
Key Concepts: Facility Planning
Gather more research
Conduct population research to identify the most pressing needs of the current OCCC population through holistic assessments.
Develop, fund, implement, and evaluate pilot programs with small cohorts in current OCCC to generate evidence for future programmatic decision-making.
Establish a new mission, vision, values, function
Communicate a clear facility mission, vision, values, and identity.
Communicate initial programmatic intentions for the facility. Make clear how the new facility will function differently as a new model.
Communicate clear plans for holistic assessment upon intake that result in comprehensive personal reintegration plans on day 1.
Create a new identity
Rename the facility to signal a new mission, vision, values, and function. The facility will occupy a site previously used for human sacrifice. The site needs to be spiritually cleansed and transformed. A new name will represent that this transformation has happened and will reflect the analogous transformation of an individual.
Start correctional culture change now
Develop a training program for new and existing employees to address the new mission, vision, values, and function of the new facility.
Involve current staff in pilot programs. Take staff to other facilities with model programs, so they see firsthand how other approaches work.
Recharacterize vacant ACO positions as social workers or health practitioners to facilitate better recruitment and retention.
Require qualifications that include local knowledge and lived experience
Require expertise in working with local communities in Hawaiʻi, especially Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Require cultural expertise on project team.
Require lived experience on project team.
Require proposers to show how they integrate community feedback into their proposals and include this in the scoring rubric of each proposal.
Continue community engagement
Assemble an advisory group of government and community stakeholders to work together regularly to support the project. Establish a selection process for the committee, committee charge, structure, duties, and responsibilities. Include community engagement criteria in the RFP.
Require engagement with the broader community on a regular basis.
Host monthly meetings, quarterly symposia, and semi-annual workshops to keep stakeholders and community members engaged in the project as it continues.
Host hybrid meetings, with in-person locations in communities most impacted by incarceration.
Schedule meetings after work hours to allow for greater community participation. Regularly provide current evidencebased, best practices regarding prison reform, rehabilitation and related topics such as trauma-informed prison practices.
Plan for different population scenarios
Establish population scenarios to address the difference between the current population forecast and the potential for a reduced population with bail and sentencing reform and diversion programs. See O‘ahu Community Correctional Center Population Forecast Final Report 2021.
Plan and design a facility that can adapt to different population sizes.
Require clear ways to eliminate whole or parts of the buildings or to repurpose
them for non correctional uses in the future.
Require clear ways to house different populations according to changing needs and risks.
Share cost savings associated with reduced capital improvement and operational costs for different scenarios.
Build community partnerships
Explore opportunities for co-location with community partners to provide an array of services, such as family support, cultural education, peer mentoring, job training, housing placement, etc.
Issue a request for interest and host conversations with interested providers. Start with nearby community organizations such as Loko Iʻa Paʻaiau.
Provide more opportunities for service providers to get certified to work with corrections.
Develop financial strategies to sustain long-term partnerships.
Leverage federal funding
Examine new health policy changes that allow community health providers to offer services in correctional facilities to the sentenced population with federal reimbursement.
Consider including a Certified Behavioral Care Center, potentially eligible for federal funding as part of the new jail. Coordinate with the attorney general’s office and their plans for Department of Justice grants.
Collaborate on planning grants offered by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services focused on expanding continuity of care.
Design for health and wellbeing of
individuals, staff, and community
Ask proposers to demonstrate how plans and designs reflect consideration of health and well-being for all three stakeholder groups.
Consider the Design Framework, Design Principles, Design Considerations, and Design Elements in this report that are based on a broad research and engagement.
Design Principles Design Framework
Based on the
Adopt a holistic, healthcentered, trauma-informed, approach. Nurture relationships to self, family, community, land, and the spiritual world.
Connect to ʻāina, provide spaces to interact with the land.
Honor diverse cultures and identities.
Ensure safety, both physical and emotional.
Take a strengths-based approach that focuses on assets. Create opportunities for improvement and empowerment. Support learning through educational programs and spaces.
Demonstrate respect for each individual, through comfortable and dignified environments.
Kāī Koi taro, which exclusively grew in the Hālawa area, the Kāī Koi design framework serves as a visual aid to conceptualize a model for the rehabilitation of the individual.
Design Considerations
Program adjacency
Invest in a distributive continuum of care, that locates prevention, diversion, and reentry services across the island to serve communities most impacted by the justice system.
Consider a community service hub: a community-facing facility that provides people inside and outside of the facility with social, cultural, health, employment, and other services.
Keep program spaces at the center.
Separate pretrial and sentenced populations: ensure that people are separated according to need and risk. Misdemeanants should not be next to murderers. Separate gang members.
Design for decommissioning: organize programs to allow for maximum flexibility, to be partially built, or to be partially decommissioned and adaptively reused.
Site design
Orient to central green space to provide views and access to nature.
Progression/graduated housing to incentivize behavior.
Enclosed courtyards for secured open space within each module.
Access to smaller landscape areas that offer refuge or retreat.
Campus approach to facilitate movement and daily commutes.
Smaller units for the sentenced population for a more normalized environment.
Staff spaces
Prioritize dedicated staff spaces to promote a healthier work environment, to demonstrate investment and care for staff, and to incentivize attendance at work.
Establish a dedicated staff lounge to promote relaxation.
Designate a dining room for staff meals and social interactions.
Create a wellness courtyard for relaxation and privacy.
Develop a walking path to encourage physical activity.
Set up training rooms/classrooms for staff development and skill-building sessions.
Equip a staff gym to support fitness and overall well-being.
Housing module
Workshops with incarcerated men from MOKA, Habilitat, and HAHOKO revealed the need for the following attributes to provide a more normalized environment.
Provide treatment rooms to support rehabilitative services for mental health, substance abuse, etc.
Incorporate glazing for natural sunlight to enter the space.
Develop accessible green spaces to foster a connection with nature.
Provide an outdoor recreation yard to promote physical activity.
Integrate wall murals to create a visually uplifting and calming environment.
Establish multi-purpose rooms for educational programs.
Implement dynamic security with ACO stations to balance safety and positive interaction.
Introduce varied furniture configurations to support different needs and activities. Design with views to the outside to reduce feelings of confinement.
Sleeping unit
Additional workshops with Habilitat also revealed the following preferences for double rooms with the following attributes that support well-being (in descending order):
Include windows with views of nature or the surrounding environment.
Provide enclosed toilet to provide privacy and dignity.
Avoid bunked beds to prioritize comfort and personal space.
Incorporate functional furniture to meet
daily living needs effectively.
Provide personal storage to secure belongings.
Transition housing
People value transition housing as an essential part of reintegration. The neighborhood community, general community, and previously incarcerated men felt that transition housing should be located off-site, closer to families, jobs, transportation and services. They recommended that on-site transition housing should be provided only for those who cannot be safely housed elsewhere. The following models were shared:
Kauhale Model
Health Facility Model
Mixed-use Apartment Model
Restorative Care Village Model
Design Elements
Mālama ʻāina
Native reforestation
Loʻi
ʻAuwai
Laʻau lapaʻau garden & nursery
Develop partnership with ʻāina-based program providers. Implement sustainable agricultural programs on-site.
Cultivate historically and regionally relevant native plants like kāī koi taro.
Cultivate medicinal plants for use in the facility or for the community. Imagine a dispensary of native medicines. Cultivate plants for drought tolerant xeriscape to support green infrastructure programs.
Partner with Loko Iʻa Paʻaiau or other cultural restoration programs off-site.
Partner with ʻāina-based community organizations that can continue to offer ʻāina-based jobs or opportunities after release.
Spiritual reconnection
Star compass
Ahu
Pohaku
Wahi pana
Keiki to
kūpuna
Family bench
Natural playscape
Family playspace
Family picnic space
Collaborate with cultural practitioners and kumu (teachers) to incorporate spiritual markers that help to focus or orient individuals.
Establish ahu that allow for ceremonial offerings and bring mana to a space. An ahu, a piled stone marker that is built out of stone, coral, or local material, is used to mark significant boundaries or shrines.
Include wayfinding elements that connect to the wahi pana in the area such as heiaus, royal birthing sites, and places of significance.
The Hawaiian star compass holds significance in navigation, where rising and setting points of the sun, stars, moon, and planets are named and identified to help orient oneself while voyaging.
Incorporate family-friendly spaces that support safe visitation in welcoming environments for children. Provide spaces for play.
Provide different types and sizes of seating areas that allow for more comfortable interaction.
Design for a wide range of ages and mobility needs. Host ʻohana or family days with performances, storytelling, or cultural activities that strengthen family connections. Provide technology and space for virtual visits.
Ritual & practice
Event gathering space
Meditation maze
Hula mound
Pule Circle
Provide meditation spaces to promote mental well-being. Create hula mounds or outdoor amphitheaters for performances.
Offer a larger area for makahiki (annual event).
Create spaces for religious worship.
Making & makana
Culinary
Hale building
Woodworking
Lei making
Art & music
Murals
Sculptures
Performance space ʻ ina-inspired patterns
Teach skills that help individuals to give back to their communities.
Invite proposals from social enterprise partners to establish a short duration program that supports individuals in and out of corrections.
Provide hale building area.
Provide a teaching kitchen for culinary programs.
Provide workshop space for woodworking and other shop use.
Incorporate murals and art that connect to place, history, or other themes aligned with the mission, vision, and values of the facility.
Collaborate with local artists to develop a program that includes residents in the conceptualization and implementation of murals and other art forms.
Provide dedicated spaces for musical practice and performances.
Host events where individuals can perform their talents in front of their family and friends.
Consider signage and wayfinding graphics as opportunities for art and design.
Sustainability & resilience
Renewable energy systems
Water & stormwater management
Passive design strategies
Use of natural materials
Learning & working
Computer & technology room
Multi-purpose classroom
Workshop/lab
Warehouse/garage
Restorative landscapes
Health walking path
Wellness courtyard
Wellness lounge
Utilize renewable energy systems such as solar panels on the roof to reduce consumption of fossil fuels.
Integrate low impact development strategies such as bioswales to clean, filter, and divert stormwater runoff.
Include low maintenance, drought tolerant, native plants.
Locally source materials to minimize carbon footprint. Implement waste, recycling, and composting programs.
Provide access to computers to build digital literacy.
Provide television and technology for individuals to access classes and information during lockdowns.
Provide job readiness training.
Provide multi-purpose spaces that can be used for diverse teaching and learning activities.
Connect individuals to trade, certificate, or degree programs that can be continued upon release.
Provide courtyards that can be used as gathering spaces.
Create spaces that have sky views and adequate airflow.
Create spaces that is beneficial to user-health, allowing for walking, dancing, and other fitness exercises.
Encourage healthy bodies and healthy minds.
Proof of Concept Approaches
Three proof of concept approaches were developed based on public input, and the design principles, considerations, and elements listed above. These approaches visualize collective aspirations and should not be seen as technical design solutions.
Step-up Campus
The first proof of concept approach, referred to as the “StepUp Campus,” incorporates a series of buildings that individuals progress through, structured along a central spine which symbolizes the linear progression reflective of the rehabilitation process. Upon arrival, individuals enter the main administration building for processing. Individuals then progress through various stages, starting with medical and substance abuse detox, followed by pretrial, sentencing, and ultimately transition to the community center before exiting the facility and returning to society. The navy setback on the property is maintained as a large open area for ʻāina-based activities.
Community Resilience Center
The second proof of concept approach, known as the “Community Resilience Center,” features a compact main building and a health hub, designed to minimize the facility’s footprint to be more resource efficient. There is a central courtyard and education center at the core of the building surrounded by the administration, intake, and services. Adjacent is the health hub that includes a substance abuse and detox area to facilitate the screening of individuals prior to placement. This approach also has a large open area with an outdoor amphitheater and star compass at the center.
Community Resource Village
The third proof of concept approach, termed the “Community Resilience Village,” proposes a core of services for the community and those in custody. The outer hub includes a courtroom, entry, visitation area, and reentry services which would include care management, health, family, culture, faith, and job related services. Community partners will collaborate with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide these services for the individuals in jail, those transitioning out, and members of the broader community. The inner hub provides education and health services for the men in custody. The housing modules at the end resemble urban housing.
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Linear/curved layout allows individuals to move from the bottom to the top of the site as they get closer to release. All modules include a courtyard, program space, and rooftop recreation area.
Incorporates building-integrated art, suggesting collaboration with local artists.
Building form reflects nearby mountain and valleys, and architecture vernacular forms.
Integrates a large solar panel canopy to provide renewable energy and shade.
Implements a bioswale with native plants to manage stormwater and support biodiversity on-site.
Provides spacious pedestrian paths that encourage social interaction and movement.
Combines social and ecological goals through sustainable features, emphasizing the importance of climate adaptation and community resilience.
Minimizes building footprint to enhance security by improving visibility for surveillance.
Serves as a hub for services, emphasizing community with a communityserving front.
Includes designated spaces for courtroom and diversion services to minimize transport.
Provides functions for both diversion and reentry under one roof.
Incorporates greenery and open-air design to blend with the surrounding environment.
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
3,800+ imprisoned within the State of Hawaiʻi Correction System
Source: Johnson, Christin. “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System,” Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium, Honolulu, HI, October 10, 2023.
RELEASE RETURN
Over 95% offenders in corrections will serve their sentence and be released into the community
Source: “About - Our Responsibilities.” Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 2024, https://dcr.hawaii. gov/about/.
53.8% total recidivism rate
Source: Wong, Timothy, “State of Hawaiʻi, FY 2016 Cohort 2019 Recidivism Report,” Department of the Attorney General Crime, Prevention and Justice Assistance Division, March 2021.
2.0 Introduction
Background
In 2022, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) contracted the University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center (UHCDC) to engage stakeholders and community members in the development of alternative proof of concept visions for the proposed relocation of the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC), with the goal of collectively defining a crossjurisdictional pathway toward a continuum of care and support in Hawaiʻi both inside and outside of corrections. To support this holistic reenvisioning of the system, UHCDC assembled a multi-disciplinary team of faculty, staff and students across architecture, planning, peace studies, public health, social work, and law to support this effort through applied research, engagement, and design.
UHCDC’s work centered around the following goals:
1. Engage diverse stakeholders to coenvision an alternative model for the proposed facility and a pathway toward a community-based continuum of care.
2. Research restorative justice models that incorporate Indigenous knowledge, culturally grounded methods, and trauma-informed programs.
3. Consult with peer facilities for critical analysis, lessons learned, and best practices.
4. Share knowledge to increase public awareness and understanding.
5. Facilitate interagency alignment to support comprehensive reentry and diversion strategies.
6. Develop proof of concept design scenarios that reflect stakeholder input.
UHCDC’s work was developed independent of the longer professional planning and RFP development contracted to a consultant team led by AHL. UHCDC was not responsible for preparing, sharingout, or aligning with the work of the consultant team. This allowed UHCDC to honestly reflect stakeholder and community input without conflict.
State of the System
Hawaiʻi has an incarceration rate of 367 per 100,000 people, according to a Prison Policy Initiative report for 2023, which is higher than almost any democratic country.6 As of September 2024, the State of Hawaiʻi houses a combined population of 2,810 incarcerated individuals in the local correctional facilities, and 996 incarcerated individuals in mainland facilities.7 This is spread across 4 jails (Hawaiʻi Community Correctional Center, Oʻahu Community Correctional Center, Maui Community Correctional Center, and Kauaʻi Community Correctional Center) and 4 prisons (Hālawa Correctional Facility, Waiawa Correctional Facility, Kulani Correctional Facility, and Women’s Community Correctional Center) located in Hawaiʻi, and the Saguaro Correctional Facility which is privately run in Eloy, Arizona.
Jails are overcrowded, prisons are not
A majority of the Hawaiʻi’s incarcerated population are housed in jails which include pretrial detainees, short-term sentenced incarcerated individuals (those serving less than a year), and individuals who are serving time for parole and probation violations. Within the 4 state jails, there are a total of 1,705 people under supervision; however, the 4 jails can only collectively hold up to 1,301 individuals.8 This equates to a 131% capacity among all four state jails. The prisons, on the other hand, are not over their capacity.
OCCC is the largest jail facility in Hawaiʻi, and has the largest population percentage of any correctional facility, encompassing 26.3% of the entire population under supervision. OCCC faces a main facility occupancy rate of 122%, and a furlough occupancy rate of 58%.9 The facility serves as the local detention center for the First Circuit Court on the island of Oʻahu. In addition to its jail functions, OCCC provides reintegration programs for male sentenced felons, both at OCCC Module 20 and the co-located Laumaka Work Furlough Center (LWFC). Incarcerated individuals assigned to LWFC are either actively seeking employment or working in the community.10
The jail population is predominantly pretrial and nonviolent.
Excluding the furlough population at OCCC, 78% of the population is being held pretrial. Furthermore, 75% of the entire jail population are incarcerated for a Class C Felony or lower offense.11 Approximately 24.8% of individuals in OCCC are incarcerated for a conditional release violation, which may range from a petty violation, such as missing curfew, to an individual committing a new crime.12 Most diversion programs aim at providing alternatives to nonviolent offenders, and those with underlying mental health and substance issues that are better treated or addressed in the community.
Jails are the catch all for other system failures
About 20-30% of individuals incarcerated at OCCC were homeless immediately prior to entry (and after)13 and 86% of the total correctional population needs substance use treatment at some level.14 The jail has become the default for individuals who remain unsupported by current social, health, and housing systems. Native Hawaiians make up 36%, or 1,476 individuals, of the entire incarceration
population, highlighting a disproportionate rate of incarceration among the Native Hawaiian population,15 a symptom of systems-wide social, economic, and health disparities. The jail population is inextricably tied to these systems.
Jails are the most expensive least effective way to provide care for an individual. It costs between $253 to $260 per day to house one in-state individual in a correctional facility.16 It costs far less to house an individual in a community-based non-correctional setting. Additionally, the loss of income and multi-generational impact on families represents a larger economic loss that is harder to quantify.
An Occupational Health Crisis
Staff well-being is critical to future success. Facilities cannot run programs without adequate staff. There were over 300 vacancies for adult corrections officers in Hawaiʻi, which directly correlates to the $34.7 million dollars the Department spent on overtime in 2022.17 More importantly, the consequences of severe staffing shortages result in compromised operations, programs, and well-being for staff and residents. Any success metric for the planning, design, and construction of a new facility should reflect a positive impact on staff wellness, attendance, and retention.
Number
Source: Sawyer, Wendy and Wagner, Peter. "Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019." Prison Policy Initiative. March 14, 2022. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2022.html.
Source: Wang, Leah. "Updated charts show the magnitude of prison and jail racial disparities, pretrial populations, correctional control, and more." Prison Policy Initiative. April 1, 2024. https:// www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/04/01/updated-charts.
Racial disparities in local jail incarceration rates, 2022
Of the 1,248,300 people in state prisons nationwide...
405,000 (33%) had an incarcerated parent
269,700 (67%) of those with an incarcerated parent now have a child of their own.
852,000 (69%) are parents
Of the parents in prison, 585,800 (69%) have at least one minor child.
Collectively, they are parents to 1,252,100 minor children
That’s even more impacted children than there are adults in state prisons.
Source: Wang, Leah. "Both sides of the bars: How mass incarceration punishes families." Prison Policy Initiative, August 11, 2022. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/08/11/parental_incarceration/#:~:text=Nearly%20half%20(47%25)%20of,compared%20to%2021%25%20of%20fathers.
Incarceration Rates
Comparing Hawaiʻi and founding NATO countries incarceration rate per 100,000 population
Source: Widra, Emily. “States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2024.” Prison Policy Initiative, June 2024. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2024.html.
Hawaiʻi’s Incarcerated Population
4 State Jails
1,301
4 State Prisons1 Private Prison
1,853
Count: 1,318
Total Count: 872
Note: Numbers do not include furlough inmates or units.
Jail Offenses
A majority of individuals in jail at Oʻahu Community Correctional Center are being held for nonviolent offenses related to public order/traffic, drugs, property, and conditional release violations.
OCCC Population by Most Serious Offense
of
75% of Hawaiʻi’s jail population are incarcerated for a Class C Felony or lower offense
OCCC
Source: Johnson, Christin. “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System”. Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium. Honolulu, HI. October 10, 2023.
Source: Johnson, Christin. “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System”. Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium. Honolulu, HI. October 10, 2023.
Source: Johnson, Christin. “Overview
Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System”. Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium. Honolulu, HI. October 10, 2023.
Ethnicity of OCCC
Native
Source: Johnson, Christin. “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System”. Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium. Honolulu, HI. October 10, 2023.
3.0 Project Genealogy
Pre-contact
Before Western contact, Hawaiʻi operated under a complex political system with interdependent classes: the makaʻāinana, kahuna, and aliʻi, whose reciprocal relationships were governed by kapu, or sacred laws.18 These kapu governed many facets of life ranging from mating behavior, war-making, eating, and farming.
From the 11th to the 13th century, the high priest Paʻao introduced much stricter and rigid laws,19 with the most extreme practice being human sacrifice, typically restricted for rebels and those who committed transgressions.20 In contrast, puʻuhonua, or places of refuge, provided healing and asylum for those fleeing punishment or defeat in war.21 Other forms of peacemaking included hoʻoponopono, a traditional healing practice led by a family elder, kahuna (healer), or haku (leader), to resolve conflicts within families and address spiritual entanglements with the akua (gods).
After Captain Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi in 1778, waves of foreigners from Asia, Europe, and America brought epidemics of infectious diseases, which decimated the Hawaiian population. In 1819, Kuhina Nui (Regent) Kaʻahumanu and Liholiho abolished the kapu system by publicly breaking ʻai kapu and eating together,22 and Western laws and systems were quickly adopted. In 1840, King Kamehameha III implemented Hawaiʻi’s first full constitution which outlined punishments for crimes, including imprisonment, and in 1857 the Oʻahu Prison was built in Iwilei.
Following the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the imprisonment of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the Oʻahu Prison was relocated to Kalihi in 1916 and in 1918, the Hawaiʻi State Prison cell block structure was built in the same location OCCC currently resides.23
OCCC project genealogy
As Hawaiʻi entered the 1960’s, a new philosophy focused on rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals back into society emerged within the correctional system.24
In 1972, the Hawaiʻi Correctional Master Plan emphasized this new philosophy, and proposed a statewide system of correctional facilities including OCCC.
In 1979, the first group of modules for the OCCC facility were completed with a capacity to house up to 642 individuals. However, between 1970 and 2000, there was a 670% and 400% increase in the combined Hawaiʻi jail/prison population and incarceration rate respectively, partially due to the tough on crime laws implemented throughout the United States in the 1970’s. This was compounded by the deinstitutionalization of people living with mental illness. These factors contributed to an overcrowded and overwhelmed correctional system that the 1972 master plan was not prepared to address.25
In 1982, the Review of the Implementation of the Hawaiʻi Correctional Master Plan was published.
In 2003, the 10-Year Correctional Master Plan Update proposed to replace OCCC with a larger facility to address the growing incarceration population.
Around 2015, the state confirmed the development of a rail station near the current OCCC. The state’s interest in redeveloping the current OCCC parcel along with the deteriorating state of the facility, prompted the search for a replacement site.
In 2017, the OCCC Siting Study Update was released with 11 sites identified. The Hālawa Animal Quarantine Site was shortly after approved by former Governor Ige as
the new OCCC location. An Environmental Impact Statement was approved in 2018, a Master Plan Report was released in 2021, an OCCC Population Forecast in 2021, and an OCCC & CTC Operating & Space Program Final Report was released in 2022 by a team led by AHL. In 2024, an AHL-led team was again selected to develop an RFP for a new facility.
Project schedule
UHCDC’s work is independent of the longer professional planning and RFP development contracted to AHL. UHCDC is not responsible for the development of an RFP or responding to an RFP for a new facility.
UHCDC’s work began at the very end of 2022 with initial literature review and research. Community engagement began with talk stories in the beginning of Spring 2023, site visits in Summer of 2023, the Breaking Cycles Symposium in the Fall 2023, ʻAiea/Hālawa Workshop in Spring 2024, and Community of Practice meetings in the Summer and Fall of 2024.
4.0 Methodology
UHCDC’s project reflects five phases that cumulatively informed the project over time.
Phase 1: Research
This phase established a foundation of research that continued to grow throughout the project. This included a scholarly literature review, existing document review, interviews, and case studies that highlight existing and emerging programs and facilities. Additional research on Native Hawaiian health, well-being, and traumainformed design also grounded the other phases of the project.
Phase 2: Engagement
This phase included a broad community engagement effort that consisted of individual and small group talk stories, site visits, listening workshops, co-design workshops, neighborhood workshops, exhibits, and knowledge-sharing symposia intended to amplify stakeholder voices,
facilitate collaboration, and collect additional feedback.
Phase 3: Synthesis
This phase focused on the synthesis of research and engagement findings into a conceptual framework, strategic mission/ vision/values, design principles, and design considerations.
Phase 4: Community of Practice
This phase included five Community of Practice meetings that brought people together around common goals to share updates and collect feedback.
Phase 5: Proof of Concept Design Approaches
This phase focused on the application of findings to a set of proof of concept design approaches and a final report on all aspects of the project developed through research, engagement, and design.
5.0 Literature Review
UHCDC completed a number of literature reviews to gather information on alternative models. An initial scholarly literature review was conducted by Lorinda Riley. This was followed by a review of research on Native Hawaiian health and well-being, traumainformed care and design, and ethical correctional architecture. The team also leaned on past Hawaiʻi-based research and reports that provided a foundation for this work.
For example, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs produced the Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System Report and the Native Hawaiian Justice Task Force Report in 2010 and 2012, respectively, to address the disproportionate representation of Native Hawaiians throughout the criminal justice system. The Hawaiʻi Justice Reinvestment legislation was passed in 2012. This was followed by the Puʻuhonua Summit in 2012 and Hoʻoponopono Stakeholder Convening in 2017.
In late 2018, the HCR 85 Task Force released “Creating Better Outcomes, Safer Communities” report, which concluded that Hawaiʻi’s correctional system “needs immediate and profound change.”26
In December 2021, Bob Merce, Chair of the Correctional Reform Working Group (CRWG), published a paper titled, “Getting It Right: Better Ideas for a New Jail,” outlining alternative strategies and ideas for designing a jail to replace the current OCCC.27 The CRWG published a second paper titled, “Getting It Right: Recommendations and Action Plan for a Better Jail,” which showcases alternative correctional institutions and offers a list of 8 recommendations to consider when replacing the current OCCC.28
More recently, the Pūʻā Foundation and Hawaiʻi Health and Harm Reduction Center released Sequential Intercept Mapping (SIM) reports that offer a foundation for systemwide justice reform. These are only a few of the many resources that have focused on the transformation of Hawaiʻi’s justice system. This report respects and builds on this body of work.
Scholarly Literature Review
Part of UHCDC’s work included a scholarly literature review led by Principal Investigator Lorinda Riley, which identified different alternative models that appear in peer reviewed research. Approximately 2,000 articles were considered in this process. Prior to developing the search terms used to conduct the systematic literature review, the research team engaged several individuals in the academic community that focus on the justice system. These discussions aided in the development of search terms that would capture alternative models to incarceration.
The work and outcomes of the literature review was evaluated by a Cultural Advisory Board composed of members representing community, cultural, and academic experience in the justice system. The CAB met twice to provide guidance on criteria that needed to be considered in determining whether a program or facility was feasible. Each CAB member is described in the table or list.
Organization
Former OHA policy advocate
Ekolu Mea Nui
Hawaiʻi Community Foundation
Pūʻā Foundation
University of Waikato
Hawaiʻi Pacific University
Corrections - Offender Services
Industry/Position
system reform
expert
Adult Friends for Youth Re-directional services expert
Waimanalo Health Center
The CAB identified three critical themes: 1) Focus on family; 2) Mindset of the ACOs; and 3) Creating a System of Shared Values.
Personal Experience w/incarcreation (self or family) Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
Alternative Models
Therapeutic Communities
5 articles
Community as method within a correctional environment
Focus on principles such as choice, responsibilities, and routine
Communities share characteristics like drug use, sex crimes, violent offenders, etc.
Staff require additional training
Educational Programs
5 articles
Programs implemented in correctional facilities
Curriculum focusing on accountability of impacts of offenders’ actions
Active engagement of offenders including apology letters, guest speakers, etc.
Specialized courses for drug use, faith-based, etc.
Focuses on transforming Hawaiʻi’s criminal justice system through 15 recommendations.
Hawaiʻi Criminal Pretrial Reform (2018)
Examines and recommends 25 strategies.
The Native Hawaiian Justice Task Force (2012)
Recommends 35 reforms through 8 categories.
The Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System (2010)
Examines and recommends 3 actions.
6.0 Starting with the system
The Jail Design Guide produced by the National Institute for Corrections (NIC) calls for systems redesign as a fundamental first step. Local voices continue to reinforce this call. A jail that is planned without the redesign of the larger health, housing, and justice systems will only perpetuate cycles of incarceration without addressing root causes. To address this, UHCDC focused the first part of the project on systems reform, which resulted in the “Breaking Cycles” series of events and exhibitions described later in the engagement section of this report.
This approach aligns with many of the goals of decarceration. Decarceration is a term used to describe a process aimed at reducing the number of people subject to imprisonment. Typically co-led by community and government stakeholders, decarceration efforts typically require shifts in policy, procedures, and community investment across justice and related systems.
Systems Reform Case Studies
Nationwide, there are examples of systems reform that allow us to learn from and reflect on different approaches and outcomes. UHCDC reached out to administrators in Miami Dade, Pima County, Los Angeles, and Orange County to learn about their reform processes, briefly summarized in the next few pages. Locally, the community pointed to the transition of the Hawaiʻi Youth Correctional Facility to the Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center as a system reform process with applicable lessons for adult corrections.
Sequential Intercept Model
A Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) details how individuals with mental and substance abuse disorder come into contact and move through the criminal justice system. A SIM mapping process typically helps
communities to identify resources and gaps in services across 6 different intercepts described below by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).29
Intercept 0: Community Services
Involves diverting people into local crisis care services. Resources are available without requiring people in crisis to call 911, but sometimes 911 and law enforcement are the only resources available. Connects people with treatment or services instead of arresting or charging them with a crime.
Intercept 1: Law Enforcement
Involves diversion performed by law enforcement and other emergency service providers who respond to people with mental and substance use disorders. People are diverted to treatment instead of being arrested or booked into jail.
Intercept 2: Initial Court Hearings and Initial Detention
Involves diversion to community-based treatment by jail clinicians, social workers, or court officials during jail intake, booking, or initial hearing.
Intercept 3: Jails/Courts
Involves diversion to community-based services through jail or court processes and programs after a person has been booked into jail. Includes services that prevent the worsening of a person’s illness during their stay in jail or prison.
Intercept 4: Reentry
Involves transition planning and support to individuals with mental and substance use disorders who are reentering back into the community after incarceration in jail or prison.
Intercept 5: Community Corrections
Involves community-based criminal justice supervision with added supports for people
with mental and substance use disorders to prevent violations or offenses that may result in another jail or prison stay.
Recent SIM mapping processes in Hawaiʻi offer a foundation for continued decarceration and systems reform efforts. This includes a SIM report from Hawaiʻi Health and Harm Reduction Center issued January 2024 for Oʻahu, a SIM report from Pūʻā Foundation issued August 2023 for women, and a recent SIM convening held on Hawaiʻi Island. Future planning efforts should build on these reports.
Decarceration Toolkit
The decarceration described in this section reveal common programmatic and facility components that are used to strengthen prevention, diversion, corrections, or reentry services in order to meet core needs and avoid initial or repeated contact with the criminal justice system. They represent parts of an ecosystem of services that help to address health issues, conflict, and socioeconomic stability without solely relying on the criminal justice system.30 The Decarceration Toolkit developed by UHCDC acts as a planning and educational tool to communicate the different parts in this ecosystem of services.
Case studies: Prevention, Diversion, Corrections, Reentry
The Decarceration Toolkit is also supported by a set of local and national case studies that offer examples of programs and facilities. Important to note, many of the community-based examples exist in Hawaiʻi. Some are new and others are long-standing. UHCDC worked to increase awareness of these programs through visual exhibits and speaking events to increase support for these community care providers.
“Cross-system collaboration is essential for the transition from the criminal justice system to the community mental health system.”
-
Interviewee from Eleventh Judicial
Circuit of Florida
Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade led one of the oldest and well known decarceration efforts in the nation. The Miami Model (formerly known as the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project), offers opportunities for diversion away from the criminal justice system for individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMI) or co-occurring SMI and substance abuse. The CMHP has two main components: pre-booking diversion services and post-booking diversion.
In pre-booking jail diversion, law enforcement utilizes Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training to respond to mental health emergencies, directing individuals to community-based care or secure crisis stabilization centers for intensive treatment, rather than entering the criminal justice system, when appropriate. Post-booking jail diversion aims to remove eligible individuals from a carceral setting and into community-based treatment to better
address individual needs. This includes nonviolent misdemeanor defendants that have SMI or co-occurring substance use and SMI, defendants that were arrested for less serious felonies, as well as other charges that are determined appropriate for the program.
Recovery peer specialists are integral to the jail diversion team for both misdemeanor and felony populations and have valuable lived experience with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system. The primary function of recovery peer specialists is to assist program participants with engagement in services and treatment, and with community reentry. This vital role strives to “minimize barriers to treatment engagement, and to model and facilitate the development of adaptive coping skills and behaviors.�31
Impacts
From 2008 to 2019, annual jail bookings have reduced from 118,000 to 53,000 and the average daily County jail population dropped from 7,200 to 4,200 individuals, resulting in the closure of an entire jail
facility. Since 2010, officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team and the City of Miami Police Department have addressed 91,472 mental health crisis calls. This has led to 17,516 diversions from jail and assistance provided to 55,013 individuals in accessing community-based treatment, with only 152 resulting in arrests.32
Post-booking program has been successful in reducing recidivism rates from 75% to 20% annually.33 Within the felony population, the post-booking diversion program led to more than a 75% reduction in jail bookings and stays. Since 2008, felony diversion program participants have experienced a 59% reduction in total jail bookings and a 57% reduction in days spent in the County jail, resulting in nearly 84 years of jail bed days, or approximately 31,000 fewer days in jail.34
Miami Center for Mental Health & Recovery. Photo and design credit: SBLM Architects
Los Angeles County
From 2014 to the present, LA County supported a justice reform effort that resulted in their current Care First, Jails Last approach. In 2014, LA County conducted a SIM mapping process to identify current resources and gaps within their system of care. The following year, the County created the Office of Diversion and Reentry (ODR), influenced by a community partnership with the Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership (LARRP). The County’s partnership with LARRP played a vital role in the development and implementation of reform. LARRP is a countywide network of nonprofit and public agencies, academics, and advocates, all with a focus on reentry, who strive to collaboratively ensure needs of individuals served, communities, and agencies are met in terms of public policy and service capacity.35
ODR exists within the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and primarily works toward developing and implementing programs that divert people who are homeless, living with serious mental illness, have physical health needs, or have behavioral health needs from the criminal justice system and placing these individuals in community-based care.36
The four pillars of ODR include: a healthcare framework, a collaborative approach that actively partners with the healthcare system, justice system, and housing systems, housing infrastructure, and a harm reduction service model for community-based diversion.
There are two main components to ODR’s diversion programs, jail-based diversion and community-based diversion. Jail-based diversion consists of MIST (Misdemeanor Incompetent to Stand Trial Diversion)37 and FIST (Felony Incompetent to Stand Trial Diversion).38 These programs serve the pretrial population. ODR Housing also serves the pre trial population and postconviction probation population. ODR
also has a Maternal Health program that serves individuals in MIST, FIST, and ODR Housing.
Community-based diversion is comprised of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), which is also known as “Let Everyone Advance with Dignity” and has a main goal of addressing the root causes that lead individuals who are homeless or have serious physical or mental health needs that are in frequent contact with law enforcement.39 LEAD is a pre-booking diversion strategy.
In 2019, the LA County officially created the Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) Work Group and adopted the Care First, Jails Last approach to incarceration. The ATI Work Group was a foundational piece that identified the gaps within the system of care and offered unique and achievable solutions to best serve the community. In March 2020, the ATI Work Group created a report consisting of 114 recommendations and 5 foundational strategies based on the 2014 SIM mapping, as well as future plans for developing restorative care villages, with an overall purpose of creating a roadmap to diverting individuals into care.40
Impacts
As of August 2023, ODR has diverted 10,386 individuals from jail into communitybased treatment with 4,620 individuals coming from the ODR Housing program alone.
“Entertain the idea of community-based restoration housing, and having a unique entity at the county level overseeing that.”
-
Interviewee from Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership
Office of Diversion and Reentry Diversion Flow Chart. Image credit: LA Office of Diversion and Reentry client
“The community collaborative brings all the needed stakeholders to the table. Their voices guide programming and funding, everything that takes place.”
- Interviewee from Pima County Justice Services
Pima County
In 2016, Pima County created the Community Collaborative to inform justice reform effects part of the John D. and Catherine T. Macarthur Foundation's Safety and Justice Challenge grant. The Collaborative provided recommendations on strategies to reduce jail overcrowding while maintaining public safety and addressing factors of over-incarceration.
The Collaborative committee was composed of 34 representatives from community and government agencies. Community members represented 50% of the committee, plus one seat, along with two Tribal Nation seats.41 Positions were filled by application only. To determine which applications were accepted, three government and two community representatives participated in the selection process. Each application needed unanimous approval from the review committee.
Pima County also created the Jail Population Review Committee to review cases of individuals in custody to determine
if alternatives - such as pretrial release or diversion programs to community basedresources - are more appropriate than jail.
The Jail Population Review Committee was composed of 25-30 attendees from faith organizations, peer support groups, service providers, housing specialists, and other representatives from care organizations. The committee reviews individuals up for release. Approximately 98% of eligible individuals reviewed through this process are released the same week the committee meets, allowing community organizations to reach out with wraparound services to create some form of support for the released individual. Both of these committees represent models for working with a coalition of government and community members on a jail project.
Impacts
In 2021, the County initiated the “Support Treatment and Engagement Programs” (STEPS), a short-term, early intervention program that diverts nonviolent individuals struggling with drug addiction and mental health issues away from the criminal justice system.42
In August 2023, the county opened a Transition Center co-located outside of the Pima County Adult Detention Complex. The Center is staffed by Justice Navigators, who work to connect released individuals with treatment, housing, transportation, employment, and other services. As a result, the Transition Center engaged with 496 individuals, leading to a reduction in recidivism from a 27% to 10%, for Transition Center participants.43
“The Stepping Up Initiative reduces the number of people with mental illnesses in jail; reduces length of stay; increases connection to community treatment resources; and reduces recidivism rates.”
- Interviewee from University of North Carolina Youth Behavioral Health Hospital
Orange County
Orange County, North Carolina developed a new preventative and diversionary model in collaboration with the University of North Carolina Medical Center and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program to support youths of Orange County. It consisted of four diversion programs run under the Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Department: Adult Pre-Arrest Diversion (OC-PAD), Youth Deflection Program (YPD), the Lantern Project, which services adults with mental health and substance use, and Mental Health Diversion Collaboration.44
Alongside these programs, Orange County implemented the “Stepping Up Initiative” that identified gaps and resources within the community to reduce the jail population, which led to the establishment of the Orange County Behavioral Health Task Force (BHTF) in 2019.45
Currently, the BHTF hosts public, monthly meetings with about 30 regular attendees from Emergency Medical Services, courts, law enforcement, schools, and community
members.46 During the same year, a Crisis/ Diversion Facility subcommittee was formed from the BHTF, with an overall focus of creating recommendations and a resulting plan for a crisis/diversion facility.47
Concurrent to this, a new focus on child and adolescent mental health arose as the UNC Medical Center began working with Juvenile Delinquency Prevention through the Orange County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC).48 The Juvenile Crime Prevention Council is composed of 20 members, as of FY 2021-2022, and has a partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. The purpose of the Council is to “identify issues and factors that have an influence and impact upon delinquent youth, at-risk youth, and their families in Orange County,” as well as “identify strategies and services most likely to reduce/prevent delinquent behavior.”49
In addition, UNC Medical Center offers medical services to incarcerated individuals including telecare, a Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) program, and a Formerly Incarcerated Transition (FIT) program, which focuses on addressing physical
and mental health concerns to allow for a smooth transition back into the community.50 Further, the new detention center in Orange County has dedicated treatment spaces for social workers or therapy appointments to better serve this vulnerable population.
Impacts
From July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, the OC-PAD program received 93 referrals, all of which resulted in enrollments.51 Of these 93 participants, 54 were male and 39 were female. Approximately 69% identified as white, while 1% were Native American or Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. Most participants (76 in total) were between 18 and 24 years old, with the remaining individuals aged 25 and older. The most commonly referred offenses were drug-related.52 There were 60 successful completions and 33 individuals remaining in compliance during these years. Between July 2022 and June 2023, a total of 183 individuals were referred to the program. Of these, only two did not successfully complete the program.53
Orange County Crisis Diversion Facility Rendering. Image credit: CPL Architects
Sequential Intercept Model: A Case Study
Intercept 4
Intercept 4
Intercept 4
Intercept 4
Intercept 5
Intercept 5
Intercept 5
Intercept 5
Jail Custody and Court Process Recommendations
Jail Custody and Court Process Recommendations
Jail Custody and Court Process Recommendations
Jail Custody and Court Process Recommendations Navigate diversion opportunities
custody
Navigate diversion opportunities
Pre-Release and Release Recommendations Navigate diversion opportunities
Pre-Release and Release Recommendations
Pre-Release and Release Recommendations
Pre-Release and Release Recommendations
or
CBO, or permanent housing & employment training Conservatorship Connection to communitybased services
ReleaseTransportation
ReleaseTransportation
ReleaseTransportation
Intercept 6
Intercept 6
Intercept 6
Intercept 6
Supervision in the Community Recommendations
Supervision in the Community Recommendations
Supervision in the Community Recommendations
Supervision in the Community Recommendations
Source: Los Angeles County. Care First, Jails Last: Health and Racial Justice Strategies for Safer Communities. October 2020. https://ceo.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1077045_AlternativestoIncarcerationWorkGroupFinalReport.pdf.
Decarceration Toolkit
Youth Programs
Youth programs focus on preventing maladaptive behaviors, often referred to as “delinquent behaviors.” Such programs take place in a school or community care setting and have a purpose of strengthening resilience and protective factors in children and their families. Examples include early intervention programs, positive mentors or support systems, and behavior and trauma-based therapy models.
Source: Richard Mendel, "Effective Alternatives to Youth Incarceration" (2023).
Corrections
Corrections is the supervision and rehabilitation of an individual arrested for, convicted of, or sentenced for criminal offenses and often refers to jail, prison, and other detention facilities. Corrections often fall into two distinct categories: institutional corrections, which involves detention centers, jails, or prison, and community corrections, which extends to parole and probation.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Corrections."
Crisis Continuum
Crisis centers provide recovery-oriented care with a focus on helping individuals return to community-based care. These one-stop-shop facilities are a cost-effective approach to providing holistic care and connecting individuals to community-based resources for follow-up or further care.
Source: Margie Balfour, "An Imperfect Guide to Crisis Stabilization Units: Matching the Right Level of Care to Individual Needs" (2023).
Transition/Furlough Housing
Transitional or Furlough housing offers individuals the opportunity to live or work in the community, under supervision to prepare individuals transitioning back to the community. This form of housing is state-funded and corrections-based, meaning individuals are still under supervision of the State, and living in this facility as required on the individual’s reentry plan.
Source: Valerie Clark, "The Effect of Community Context and Post-Release Housing Placements on Recidivism: Evidence from Minnesota" (2015).
Hospitals
Hospitals come in contact with individuals involved in the criminal justice system due to the lack of access to affordable medical care. Over 80% of newly released individuals are uninsured and struggle to find medical care for new and pre-existing health conditions and hospitals are often left to pay for the “gaps in care created by the government deficiencies.”
Source: Blake Shultz and Pooja Agrawl, "Hospitals Bear the Cost of Detention and Incarceration" (2020).
Residential Recovery Facilities
There are three types of residential recovery facilities that offer different levels of program support: residential treatment facilities, therapeutic living facilities, and clean and sober living facilities. These facilities encourage independent skill building through peer-led support, mentorship, and other non-clinical methods. Residents gradually transition back to society through a structured step-down system.
Source: Susanne Reed PhD, "Sober Living Homes" (2024).
Police/CIT Programs
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training is a 40-hour course that teaches police officers how to identify and appropriately respond to mental health crises. While evaluations of CIT programs are ongoing, current results highlight an 80% reduction in officer injuries during mental health crisis calls.
Source: National Alliance on Mental Illness, "Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Programs."
Supportive Permanent Housing
Supportive Permanent Housing is a long-term housing solution where supportive services and housing assistance are provided to households with special needs. The goal is to provide affordable access to care and a stable living environment to promote the development of skills needed for independent living. Such models help to “interrupt a major pathway to prison, created by the criminalization of mental illness, substance use disorder, and homelessness.”
Source: Brian Nam-Sonenstein, "Seeking Shelter from Mass Incarceration: Fighting Criminalization with Housing First" (2023).
Diversion/Specialty Courts
Diversion models and specialty courts direct individuals from the criminal justice system to community-based resources. Diversion programs reduce overcrowding by removing qualifying individuals from facilities. Specialty courts focus on specific populations, such as people with low-level drug offenses, veterans, or women. Charges may be dropped or records expunged following the completion of a diversion program or specialty court.
Cultural and health centers offer a unique opportunity to strengthen one’s connection to their community and culture to support lasting healing. Reconnecting with one’s cultural identity and practices may renew one’s sense of hope and belonging and supports positive reintegration to the community. With an overrepresentation of Native Hawaiians in the criminal justice system, cultural and health centers are an integral part of the revitalization of culture within the criminal justice system.
Source: Brian Nam-Sonenstein, "Seeking Shelter from Mass Incarceration: Fighting Criminalization with Housing First" (2023).
Secure Mental Health Unit
Secure mental health units offer voluntary, residential treatment services with varying psychiatric conditions such as a bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and/or psychosis, where history of trauma and the propensity to harm oneself are high. The challenge of secured mental health units is to balance individual and community safety while effectively treating an individual’s illnesses.
Source: Howard Swains, "Better than Prison: Life Inside the UK’s Secure Hospitals" (2016).
Social Services
Social services encompass case management, navigation, family support, employment assistance, housing assistance, and counseling for individuals. These can be provided by the government or by community organizations. Critical services are needed for individuals diverted from corrections, reentering from corrections, and families of incarcerated individuals.
Source: Daniel W. Phillips III, "Social Services for Prisoners: From Correctional Settings to the Community" (2011)
Prevention refers to proactive methods and strategies to reduce crime. Efforts may include community-based programs, youth education, and policy changes to enhance and address factoring social, mental and physical inequities.
Source: National Institute of Justice
Health Centers / Cultural Centers
FQHC: Kōkua Kalihi Valley, Kalihi Palama Health Center, Koʻolauloa Community Health and Wellness Center, Waiʻanae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, Waikīkī Health, Waimānalo Health Center, Wahiawā Health
Each health center serves their own unique community through a range of medical and social programs that are dedicated to improving overall health and wellness.
Mental Health Stabilization Center
Kua Hale
Kua Hale provides ongoing treatment inpatient psychiatric services to courtordered patients that no longer need the same level of care before reintegrating them back into the community.
Navigation Services
Queen’s Care Coalition
The Queen's Care Coalition assists individuals experiencing homelessness who regularly rely on emergency department services. Their goal is to deliver essential care and support to marginalized patients while decreasing both utilization and associated costs.
Long-Term Housing Solutions
Kahauiki Village
Kahauiki Village is a plantation-style permanent supportive housing community for formerly homeless families. Residents can stay as long as they want as long as they pay rent.
Family Centers
EPIC ʻOhana Inc.
EPIC ʻOhana is a nonprofit organization that works to strengthen families and enhance the welfare of children and youth through transformative processes that are respectful, collaborative, and solution-oriented.
Youth Mental Health Centers ʻOhana Campus
ʻOhana Campus provides psychiatric treatment including a residential program, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient programs for adolescents, families, and caregivers.
Waimanalo Health Center. Photo credit: Constructors Hawaiʻi Inc.
Kua Hale Hospital. Photo credit: Google Earth Kahauiki Village. Photo credit: InSynergy Engineering, Inc.
Montage Health ʻOhana Center. Image and design credit: NBBJ
Queen’s Medical Center. Photo credit: Cory Lum/Civil Beat
EPIC ʻOhana. Photo credit: EPIC ʻOhana
Diversion
Diversion refers to steering individuals away from the criminal justice system by offering various programs and support services aimed at addressing underlying causes of their behavior, as an alternative to imprisonment.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice
Crisis Response Centers Tucson Crisis Response Center
Arizona’s approach to behavioral health crisis services includes local telephone lines, mobile teams, and stabilization centers. With the Tucson Crisis Response Center, there has been 30,500 drop-offs, a reduction of Police Time by 33 FTE, and a reduction of ED Boarding by 63 years.
Specialty Courts
Mental Health Court, DWI Court, Drug Court, Veterans Treatment Court, Women’s Court, Girls Court
Specialty courts are problem-solving court programs that tackle the root causes of criminal behavior by coordinating the justice system, treatment providers, and social service agencies.
Diversion Centers
Snohomish Diversion Center
The Snohomis Diversion Center is a 44bed facility served 520 people up until October 2023. Deputies worked with social workers, known as the Sheriff’s Office of Neighborhoods, to refer and bring participants to the facility. Of 192 people tracked, the number of days spent in jail was almost cut in half.
Crisis Intervention Programs CAHOOTS
CAHOOTS provides support to the police for social service calls, including crisis counseling and transport for intoxicated or mentally ill individuals.
Secure Mental Health Centers
Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery
The Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery is a serious mental illness diversion and treatment facility that serves those at risk of involvement by offering crisis stabilization, addiction treatment, vocational education, housing, and more.
Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) Honolulu Police Department
CIT provides specialized and comprehensive training to police officers to learn how to understand and react to dealing with those with mental illnesses.
Hawaii State Judiciary’s Community Outreach Court. Photo credit: Hawaiʻi State Judiciary
White Bird / CAHOOTS. Photo credit: Todd Cooper
National Alliance on Mental Illness Hawaiʻi. Photo credit: National Alliance on Mental Illness Hawaiʻi
Snohomish County Diversion Center. Photo credit: Snohomish County
Miami Center for Mental Health & Recovery. Photo and design credit: SBLM Architects
Corrections
Corrections refers to the supervision and rehabilitation of individuals who have been arrested, convicted, or sentenced for criminal offenses. It also includes post-release supervision, probation, and parole.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Cornell Law School
In-patient Treatment Centers
Illinois Corrections
The Joliet Inpatient Treatment Center houses 400 professionals, from physicians to licensed psychologists, placed within housing units. It is comprised of 7 mental health treatment units, including 2 intensive health units and a 50-bed infirmary.
Rehabilitation Center
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center
California’s oldest prison, San Quentin, has been announced to be transformed in a rehabilitation center that will focus on offering educational and vocational opportunities to prepare individuals for their return to the community.
Criminal Justice Center & Behavioral Care Centers
Davidson County
As a joint facility, the Davidson County Criminal Justice Center accommodates 1,000 incarcerated individuals and offers a Behavioral Care Center with 60 beds providing gender-responsive, traumainformed care.
Community Justice Campuses
Marion County
The Marion County campus accommodates 3,000 incarcerated individuals. It includes an assessment and intervention center, mental health and addiction treatment facilities, an adult detention center, and more.
Community Justice Centers
Skagit County
The Skagit County Community Justice Center has dormitory units for incarcerated workers, work release, and programs. It expands up to 800 beds with offices, food services, correctional programs, a clinic, and a courtroom.
Transition Centers
Pima County
Adjacent to the detention center, the Pima County Transition Center acts as a concierge for released individuals, and is staffed by four navigators that connect individuals to whatever they need upon release.
Joliet Inpatient Treatment Center. Photo and design credit: HOK
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. Photo credit: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Indianapolis-Marion County Community Justice Campus. Photo credit: DLZ Corporation
Pima County Transition Center. Photo credit: KOLD-TV
Davidson County Criminal Justice Center. Photo and design credit: HOK
Skagit County Community Justice Center. Photo credit: Sam Van Fleet. Design credit: DLR Group
Reentry/Reintegration
Reentry refers to the process of individuals returning to the community from prison or jail, providing support services, job and housing opportunities, and necessary treatment for success integration into society.
Source: National Institute of Corrections, SAMHSA
Reentry / Transitional Housing
YWCA Fernhurst
Fernhurst provides a home and genderresponsive, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive services for incarcerated women slated for release. This facility also provides work furlough which allows women to accomplish positive attainable goals.
Culture+ʻĀina-Based Programs
Men of PAʻA
Men of PAʻA empowers Kānaka Maoli men to find personal healing, reconnect with their families and community, and ultimately contribute to their cultural renaissance.
Long-term Addiction Treatment Centers
Habilitat
Habilitat helps people with substance abuse and homelessness. Patients who come for treatment stays for 30 months in residential care and are offered concurrent employment opportunities.
Vocational Programs
Touch A Heart
Touch A Heart provides social services and meals to the homeless, collaborating with organizations with unused kitchens for food services, vocational training, and apprenticeships.
Restorative Care Villages
LAC + USC Restorative Care Village
The LAC + USC Restorative Care Village consists of a Recuperative Care Center providing housing for those discharged from the hospital, a residential treatment program for short-term mental health, and other social service needs.
Faith-Based Programs
First
Life After Prison
First Life After Prison (First LAP) supports the journey to self-sufficiency and family reconciliation by providing a faith-based, drug and alcohol-free environment for incarcerated men on parole.
Men of Paʻa. Photo credit: Men of PAʻA Touch A Heart. Photo credit: Touch A Heart
First Life After Prison. Photo credit: First Life After Prison Website
LAC + USC Restorative Care Village. Photo and design credit: CannonDesign
7.0 Focus on Health
“Mass incarceration is one of the most significant drivers of public health in our time.” 54
- Jim Parsons , Vice President and Research Director at the Vera Institute of Justice
People argue that incarceration should be viewed as a public health issue rather than a justice issue, as it significantly impacts the well-being of individuals, families, and communities. The criminal justice system often fails to address the root causes of crime, such as poverty, mental health disorders, substance abuse, and trauma, which are deeply intertwined with public health. In Hawaiʻi, 86% of the total correction population needs substance abuse treatment at some level55 and 17% of Hawaiʻi’s jail and prison incarcerated population have serious mental health illnesses.56 These are root causes that are best treated in community-based programs.
The overwhelming number of individuals incarcerated for nonviolent offenses, including those suffering from mental health or addiction issues, illustrates how the system fails to rehabilitate and instead perpetuates cycles of harm. Addressing incarceration as a public health crisis requires a shift in focus toward prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation, ultimately creating healthier and safer communities.
The public health impacts are intergenerational. “Children exposed to parental incarceration have an increased likelihood of long-term negative outcomes,
including depression, anxiety, withdrawal, difficulties forming healthy relationships, aggressive behaviors, substance use, developmental delays, and academic difficulties.”57 Incarceration has a longer legacy and ripple effect that is hard to measure.
Native Hawaiian Well-being Frameworks
Native Hawaiians have endured significant historical and cultural trauma from colonization, depopulation, loss of land, and sovereignty. These collective wounds have contributed to socioeconomic and health disparities and the disproportionate rates of incarceration and involvement in the justice system among Native Hawaiians. By incorporating Native Hawaiian frameworks for health and well-being into jail planning and design, programs and facilities can better address the impacts of this trauma. Health and wellbeing are not universal. Healing spaces and culturally relevant programs can help individuals process historical grief and reconnect with their cultural identity, which is vital to the health of a Native people.
Trauma-Informed Design
In February 2024, the Governor signed an executive order declaring Hawaiʻi a trauma-informed state, with the goal of reducing the impacts of trauma, and building resilience in our families, communities, and state workforce. Traumainformed care is built on 6 principles that foster this shift: (1) safety, (2) trust and transparency, (3) empowerment, known as “voice and choice,” (4) collaboration, (5) peer support, and (6) honoring cultural, gender and historical issues.58 Traumainformed design considers these aspects in all areas of design to ensure that physical environments support these goals, for the incarcerated individuals, correctional staff, and visitors.
Trauma-Informed Correctional Facilities
Incarcerated individuals often endure trauma during and after incarceration, exacerbated by harsh regimes, strict security measures, and oppressive built environments.
Ferrer and Pombare, in “Blending TraumaInformed and Salutogenic Principles in the Design of Modern Correctional Facilities,” recommend biophilic and salutogenic design principles to address these issues.59
Ethical Correctional Architecture
UHCDC also examined Engstrom and Ginneken’s Systematic literature review of correctional design features linked to well-being.60 There are 16 variables across three main categories:
Humane Treatment: This category pertains to creating a healthy, habitable environment that offers adequate space, privacy, and respect for human dignity.
Autonomy: This refers to the ability of individuals to make choices regarding the customization of personal space or the modification of environmental conditions.
Stimuli: This category encompasses both negative, uncontrollable conditions, such as unwanted noise or constant light, and positive, meaningful stimuli, such as views of nature or access to sunlight.
Designing for rehabilitation in Hawaiʻi needs to consider all of these issues: the historical cultural trauma attached to a colonized state, the trauma connected to incarceration for employees and those in custody, and the more typical factors that appear in environmental psychology and health research related to corrections and community health.
of Hawai‘i adults in need of mental health care were unable to get treatment.
Source: Giesting, Beth. "Hawaiʻi’s serious mental health care needs take a top spot in Governor Green’s 2025 supplemental budget." Hawaiʻi Appleseed. January 30, 2024. https://hiappleseed.org/blog/hawaii-mental-health-care-governor-green-2025-supplemental-budget#:~:text=69%20 percent%20of%20Hawai%CA%BBi%20adults,at%2049th%20 in%20the%20country.
189,000 69% adults experience mental illness in Hawai‘i this year.
Hawai‘i ranks first in the nation for adults reporting 14+ Mentally Unhealthy Days a Month Who Could Not See a Doctor Due to Costs.
Source: Mental Health America. "2023 Mental Health America Adult Data." Accessed January 28, 2025. https://mhanational. org/issues/2023/mental-health-america-adult-data#eight.
A gross estimate based on the average daily census of Severe and Persistently Mentally ill (SPMI) individuals in OCCC is as follows: Hawai‘i has the highest rate of untreated adults with mental illness in the nation.
Source: Mental Health America. 2022 State of Mental Health in America 2022. https://mhanational.org/ sites/default/files/2022%20State%20of%20Mental%20Health%20in%20America.pdf.
Source: Mental Health America. 2022 State of Mental Health in America 2022. https://mhanational.org/sites/ default/files/2022%20State%20of%20Mental%20 Health%20in%20America.pdf.
2,088 admissions annually
Source: State of Hawaiʻi Department of Public Safety. "Annual Report 2017." Department of Public Safety. State of Hawaiʻi. 2017. https://dcr.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/PSD-ANNUAL-REPORT-2017.pdf
86% of the total state corrections population needs substance use treatment at some level.
Native Hawaiian Well-being Frameworks
Community members encouraged a deeper examination of health and well-being, highlighting the importance of addressing not only physical and mental health, but also the impacts of cultural trauma. Cultural trauma, often spanning generations, arises when a group with a shared identity faces ongoing oppression by a dominant group. In Hawaiʻi, the loss of Native Hawaiian identity post-Western contact led to historical trauma. Healing from this cultural trauma requires a collaborative process of recognizing cultural violations, engaging in culturally sensitive education, and encompassing holistic well-being. The community also identified this specific type of trauma and expressed a strong desire for cultural healing, emphasizing that true wellness cannot be achieved without acknowledging and addressing these deeprooted cultural wounds. This healing, they argued, must be rooted in both traditional practices and modern health approaches to create a sense of restored identity and collective empowerment.
The following diagrams represent different frameworks that reflect on Native Hawaiian health and well-being.
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: Davianna Pomaikaʻi McGregor
Highlights four systematic relationships: ʻāina, nation, community, and ʻohana, that contribute to the well-being of Native Hawaiians and identifies areas where services and advocacy can be used to enhance well-being.
Nā Pou Kihi
University of Hawaiʻi JABSOM, Department of Native Hawaiian Health
Synthesizes social determinants, Indigenous scholarships, health equity research, and cultural values to create an integrated, solid foundation of Native Hawaiian health and well-being, despite the prevalence of adverse effects from historical trauma and harmful acculturation strategies.
Hoʻolulu Lahui Aloha
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Kūkulu Kumuhana
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Liliʻuokalani Trust, Kamehameha Schools, etc.
Built on six principles of ea (self-determination), ʻāina momona (healthy and productive land and people), pilina (mutually sustaining relationships), waiwai (ancestral knowledge and collective wealth), ʻōiwi (cultural identity and native intelligence), ke akua mana (spirituality and the sacredness of mana) and discusses fundamental aspects of Native Hawaiian health on the same level of importance as economic, health, and educational well-being.
Lōkahi Triangle
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
Created through the connections between Akua (God), Nā kānaka (mankind), and ʻ ina (land), and on a micro scale it is created through connections between Uhane (spirit), Kino (body), and Manaʻo (thoughts and feelings).
Pilinahā
Kōkua Kalihi Valley
Underscores the importance of connection in a person’s health and well-being and the framework emphasizes four main areas of connection that lead to a person to feeling whole and healthy: connection to community, connection to place, connection to one’s better self, and connection to the past and the future.
Triple-Piko
Mary Kawena Pukui
Describes the three metaphysical connections, or piko, that connect man to the mana of the divine. The three pikos of the human body are the piko manawa (fontanel), piko waena (the umbilicus), and piko maʻi (the genitalia).
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Traumainformed Design
Trauma-informed design focuses on designing physical spaces to facilitate physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing and well-being specifically for survivors of trauma.61 This incorporates aspects of trauma-informed care, a healing framework that aims to mitigate adverse effects of trauma by realizing the widespread impact of trauma, recognizing the signs and symptoms of trauma, responding by integrating knowledge of trauma into policies, practices, and procedures, and resisting retraumatization.62 Through integrating knowledge of trauma and its lasting effects on an individual, trauma-informed design plays a vital role in the healing and overall health of future occupants.63
Trauma is defined by SAMHSA as “results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.”64 Exposure to traumatic events, such as the death of a loved one or first-hand or second-hand witness of violence, acts as a precursor to the development of more serious mental and physical health conditions.65 Anyone can experience trauma, regardless of age, sex, gender, or social/cultural background, but not everyone will experience an adverse consequence.66 It is estimated that 70% of Americans have experienced a traumatic event in their lifetime.67 Individuals who have experienced trauma may face a range of issues including, difficulties in primary care systems, employment, or education, behavioral health and physical health concerns, or maladaptive behaviors that often lead to involvement with the child welfare system or criminal and juvenile justice systems.68
Source: Shopworks Architecture, Group 14 Engineering, University of Denver Center for Housing and Homelessness Research. “Trauma Informed Design Manual: Promoting Physical Health, Mental Health, and Well-Being Through Trauma-Informed Design.” October 12, 2021. https://shopworksarc. com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/TID-Four-Phase-Process-Manual.pdf
In the context of caring for individuals who have endured traumatic experiences, trauma-informed care is essential, as trauma is imbedded across multiple sectors of care: behavioral health services, peer-run and community organizations, primary care, child welfare, and criminal justice systems.69 Integrating opportunities to cultivate experiences of safety and connection through design allows individuals to explore how their bodies interact with the space, facilitating healing and well-being.70
A trauma-informed design framework prioritizes safety, connection, choice, and comfort, as well as ongoing collaboration with persons with lived experience throughout the entire design process.71 By recontextualizing design decisions, trauma-informed design shifts the practice of solely relying on industry standards to intentionally integrating lived experiences to promote dignity, joy, and well-being.
When your safety has been compromised it can be difficult to feel safe. Safety can be both physical and emotional.
Collaboration and Mutuality
All services should be partnerships and every opportunity for autonomy should be honored.
Trustworthiness and Transparency
When someone’s boundaries have been violated in the past, they may have a difficult time setting them. You want to be very clear about your role and the process.
Peer Support
Those that we work with are experts in their own lives. They should have every opportunity to use their expertise and share it with others.
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014.
Empowerment, Voice, and Choice
Traumatic experiences often involve losing one’s voice and feeling like control is taken away. We must restore control whenever possible. Ask fewer questions and listen to more stories!
Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues
The experience of navigating an oppressive world is also traumatic, and people experience this differently based on their identities.
TraumaInformed Correctional Facilities
The traumatic experiences that an incarcerated individual goes through tends to persist not only during incarceration, but also after. Poor building conditions such as lack of lighting and ventilation, and limited movement outside of the sleeping areas are counterproductive to health and wellbeing.72
To combat this issue, there is a need to incorporate biophilic and salutogenic design in the re-design of correctional facilities. Biophilic design incorporates natural elements into the building and landscapes while salutogenic design involves all the senses of the human body to promote good health and well-being.
In Ferrer and Pombare’s “Blending Traumainformed and Salutogenic Principles in the Design of Modern Correctional Facilities” the recommend the following design features.73
Source: Lopez i Ferrer and Pombares. “Blending Trauma-Informed and Salutogenic Principles in the Design of Modern Correctional Facilities.” June 28, 2024. https://justice-trends.press/blending-traumainformed-and-salutogenic-principles-in-the-design-ofmodern-correctional-facilities/
Community connections
Locate close to the community to promote collaboration and partnership. Restore connections by bringing in volunteers who are willing to participate in leisure activities or aftercare programs.
Building layout and predictability
Ensure spaces around the building are visible enough to be able to see who is coming and going.
Use signage and landmarks for wayfinding to create a sense of familiarity and predictability.
Photo credit: DLR Group
Photo credit: TEPHRA
Personalization and choice
Allow residents to choose the furniture in their own space.
Give residents the ability to adjust lighting, temperature, and air circulation.
Freedom of movement within the facility
Allow residents to move beyond their housing units during the day, as much as possible.
Reflect everyday movements throughout the facility, such as going to and from the unit to classrooms, classrooms to recreational spaces, etc.
Spatial and environmental healthpromoting features
Install tall vertical windows (without bars) to allow natural light into spaces. Implement acoustical materials such as wall panels and tiled ceilings to control noise.
Incorporate materials with soft textures such as carpet and wood to convey warmth.
Provide variations of light forms such as natural lighting, circadian lighting, or colored lighting.
Incorporate colors that are known to have a calming effect.
Provide normalized furniture that creates a home-feeling environment.
Photo credit: Neumann Monson Architects
Photo credit: DLR Group, Sally Painter
Photo credit: kmd architects
Ethical Correctional Architecture
UHCDC also examined Engstrom and Ginneken’s Systematic literature review of correctional design features linked to well-being. They review design features that are necessary to ʻethical architecture’ in [correctional] environments, meaning the elements of the built environment that either support or undermine the mental, physical, and social health of those within them.74
They break this down into 16 variables across three categories which are:
1) Humane treatment which relates to a healthy, habitable environment, sufficient space and privacy, and human dignity.
2) Autonomy which refers to the ability to make choices to customize personal space or to change environmental conditions.
3) Stimuli, which includes both negative and uncontrollable conditions like unwanted noise or constant light, as well as the presence of meaningful and positive stimuli like views of nature or access to sunlight.
Category 1: Personal Living Spaces
Lighting
Use of Materials
Aesthetic
Noise
Views
Temperature
Air Quality
Privacy in Personal Spaces
Category 2: General Correctional Spaces
Size and Crowding
Visitation
Nature
Facility Layout
Security Technology
Age of Facility
Accessibility
Facilities
Source: Engstrom, Kelsey, Esther Van Ginneken. “What is Ethical Prison Architecture? An Exploration of Prison Design and Wellbeing.” July 17, 2023. 29-37. https:// www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org. uk/files/PSJ%20267%2C%20Ethical%20Prison%20Architecture.pdf
Humane Treatment Autonomy
Stimuli
A 25-year officer spends 56,250 hours or six years of their life in a jail facility by the time they retire. In most cases the officer will spend more time in the facility than any inmate who passes through.
56,250 hours
8.0 Invest in Staff
The health statistics for correctional officers and law enforcement represent a nationwide occupational health criss. In a 2017 survey on correctional officer wellness in California, 30% of the 8,000+ respondents reported being seriously injured at work and 85% reported witnessing someone seriously injured or killed. Fifty percent of that same cohort said they rarely feel safe at work. Individuals who reported feeling unsafe at work were more likely to report heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, headaches, and digestive issues, as compared to other correctional staff.75
Out of the group of respondents, 38% reported little to no interest or pleasure in doing things that once brought them joy and 34% reported that a person in their lives has told them that since working in corrections they have become more depressed or anxious. Furthermore, 1 in 3 officers reported having at least one symptom of PTSD. Forty percent of the respondents also reported having nightmares after experiencing a traumatic event at work. Importantly, officers who experience at least one symptom associated with PTSD are “less likely to think rehabilitation should be the central goal of incarceration and are more likely to think that the job of prison is purely maintaining the safety of the public.”76
One third of respondents stated existing stress management training for dealing with trauma is poor and over half of the cohort reported wanting more training on dealing with trauma and stress. Eightyeight percent reported wanting stress management training while 86% wanted nutrition and exercise training. Eighty-two percent reported a need for trauma and PTSD training and 58% highlighted a need for digital resources for health and well-
being. Finally, 49% wanted confidential resources to therapists or mental health professionals and 43% want an anonymous hotline specifically for law enforcement.77 Correctional officers and law enforcement face an average life span of 62.4 years, as compared to 74.2 years for the general population.78
DCR employs nearly 2,700 people statewide. However, there are over 300 vacancies, or close to a 20% vacancy rate, for adult correctional officers. This means adult correctional officers often face long work days, some experiencing 36-hour long shifts, due to a lack of available staff to replace the officer on duty.79 In most cases, correctional staff will spend more time in the facility than any incarcerated individual who passes through. An individual who spends 25 years as a correctional officer spends 56,250 hours, or 6 years of their life, in a jail facility by the time they retire.80
In addition, when UHCDC asked individuals with lived experience in jails and prisons to comment on how a new model would have better served them while in custody, changing staff behavior and correctional culture was a top priority. There is widespread agreement that systems change needs to start with the people who make up the system.
“On average, correctional staff have a life expectancy of 12 years less than the general population.”81
-
Florida Mortality Study: Florida Law Enforcement and Corrections Officers Compared to Florida General Population
Image credit: UHCDC
9.0 Engagement
UHCDC’s project goals and objectives shaped a comprehensive 2-year community engagement process. Community engagement, by definition, is a two-way inclusive and participatory process that supports collaboration. Community outreach, in comparison, is more of a oneway process with reach outs that aim to inform and educate. The push back to prior planning work for OCCC perhaps relates to the difference between the two. UHCDC’s work specifically aimed to support a longterm community engagement process, with the following goals in mind:
Inclusivity to enrich understanding and inform decisions: Rigorous and broad engagement allowed for diverse and convergent perspectives to emerge around planning and design.
Transparency to build trust: Continuous touchpoints, community partnerships, and a constantly updated project website supported open communication and trust.
Knowledge-sharing to increase awareness and collaboration: Speaker events aimed to bring local and national voices together to examine alignments and possibilities.
Relationship-building to nurture collective action: Engagement throughout the process established and strengthened relationships needed to continue long-term systems reform.
What
UHCDC began the engagement process without a clearly defined scope. Instead, the team relied on initial conversations with stakeholders who helped to define what was going to be most effective, accessible, and respectful to those impacted and interested in participating. As a result, the process included a variety and quantity of
engagement activities that the team hadn’t foreseen. The engagement process itself was co-created by and with stakeholders.
Who
UHCDC engaged a diverse range of stakeholders, including individuals with lived experience in corrections, their families, community members, victim organizations, social service providers, housing providers, health care professionals, faith leaders, cultural leaders, relevant agencies, organizations, and elected officials. Throughout the process, UHCDC actively followed up on referrals. There was no set numeric goal or cutoff. Instead, an open invitation was extended to all.
How
UHCDC developed a range of tools and formats to support the different goals of the engagement process:
Talk stories: to listen, understand points of view, and ask initial questions.
Site visits/listening workshops: to listen, understand points of view, learn about facilities and operations, and invite active participation.
Symposiums: to bring people together for knowledge-sharing and relationshipbuilding.
Exhibits: to communicate and increase public awareness.
Interactive games: to engage youth. Co-design workshops: to invite handson participation.
Community of Practice meetings: to bring people together around a common cause, and bolster collective action.
Overview
In total, UHCDC hosted over 120 talk stories, 18 site visits/listening workshops, 8 co-design workshops, 3 exhibits, 3 knowledge-sharing symposiums, 5 in-
person/and virtual Community of Practice meetings. UHCDC also participated in 5 ʻAiea Neighborhood Board meetings and 5 ʻAiea Community Association meetings. The following pages document these activities to demonstrate breadth. However the less concrete, but perhaps equally important measure of the engagement process lies in the conversations and relationships that resulted from these activities, before and after events, over food, and walking out. These intangibles are also part of the engagement work.
“This is a special moment in Hawaiʻi’s history where there’s a genuine interest in seeing human-centered change, which is hope-inspiring. There’s so many great examples we have to draw on from across the country and from here at home. We need everybody at the table to make it happen.”
- Breaking Cycles Symposium Attendee
YWCA Laniākea
June 26, 2023
YWCA Fernhurst
June 27, 2023
Care Hawai‘i Kua Hale
July 11, 2023
Care Hawai‘i Palekana
July 12, 2023
Habilitat - Visit 1
July 13, 2023
Hawaiʻi State Judiciary
Hawaiʻi Substance
Kapiʻolani Community College
Parents and Children Together
Women’s Prison Project
YWCA Fernhurst
Elected Officials
Incarcerated individuals
Furloughed individuals
Post-release individuals
Family members of incarcerated individuals
Ka Hale Pomaikai
Fall
OCCC
August 1, 2023
Kokua Kalihi Valley
August 1, 2023
Makana O Ke Akua
August 8, 2023
Queen’s Care Coalition
August 9, 2023
Correctional Reform Working Group
August 22, 2023
Waimanalo Health Center
August 11, 2023
Touch A Heart
September 5, 2023
Habilitat - Visit 2
September 21, 2023
Breaking Cycles Symposium
October 9-12, 2023
Ke Ola Mamo
March 8, 2024
He Ala Hou O Ke Ola
April 4, 2024
Loko Iʻa Pāʻaiau
June 27, 2024
Hale O Honolulu Clubhouse
July 12, 2024
Habilitat - Visit 3
July 30, 2024
Hālawa Correctional Facility
August 20, 2024
Correctional Reform Working Group
August, 22, 2023
Breaking Cycles - Day 2
October 10, 2024
Habilitat
September 21, 2023
Breaking Cycles Symposium UPDATE
March 6, 2024
Breaking Cycles Virtual Roundtable
April 12, 2024
UH Research Day
February 6, 2024
Key Project Job Fair
March 28, 2024
Mental Health Day at Capitol
May 1, 2024
‘Aiea Shareout Workshop
February 1, 2024
He Ala Hou O Ke Ola
April 3, 2024
Makana O Ke Akua
July 10, 2024
Ke Ola Mamo
July 12, 2024
Habilitat
July 30, 2024
Community of Practice 1
June 5, 2024 Community of Practice 2
July 19, 2024 Community of Practice 2
Virtual Shareout
August 2, 2024
Engagement List
88 Community Organizations
Community Organizations/ Affiliations
A More Just NYU
Achieve Zero
‘Aiea Neighborhood Board
American Civil Liberties Union Hawaiʻi
Architects Hawaiʻi Ltd. (AHL) AlohaCare
AMEND Washington State Tri-Cities Reentry Center
AMEND University of California San Francisco
AMEND Norwegian Correctional Services
Arrington Watkins Architects
Bowers + Kubota Consulting
Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi
Care Hawaiʻi
Carlsmith Ball LLP
Columbia University
Community Alliance on Prisons
24 Public Agency Offices 10 Public Officials
Community Oriented Correctional Health Services (COCHS)
Connections Health Solutions
Consuelo Foundation
Correctional Reform Working Group
Crime Victim Compensation Commission
DLR Group
ʻEkolu Mea Nui
E Ku Ana I Ke Akea
EPIC ʻOhana
Episcopal Diocese of Hawaiʻi
Extended ʻOhana Services LLC
Family Programs Hawaiʻi
Family Promise Hawaiʻi
First Assembly of God
First LAP (Life After Prison)
Focalize
Green Island Films
Going Home Hawaiʻi
Gino Behavioral Health
Hawaiʻi Community Foundation
Hawaiʻi Community Health Worker Association
Hawaiʻi Friends of Civil Rights
Hawaiʻi Friends of Restorative Justice
Hawai‘i Health and Harm Reduction Center (HHHRC)
Hawaiʻi Homeless Healthcare Hui
Hawaiʻi News Now
Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute
Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic
Violence
HDR Architecture, Inc
He Ala Hou O Ke Ola Inc (HAHOKO)
Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies
HHF Planners
Higa Mechanical Consultants, Inc
Hina Mauka
Hilopaʻa Family to Family Inc.
HMC Architects
Hoʻomau Ke Ola
Institute for Human Services
Island Plastic Bag Company
Ka Hale Pomaikaʻi
Kasdan Turner Thomson Booth LLC
Ke Ola Mamo
Key Project
Kōkua Kalihi Valley & Hoʻoulu ʻ ina
Kōkua Support Services
KYA Design Group
Lenkey Consulting Group, Inc.
Lāhui Foundation
Liliʻuokalani Trust
Loko Iʻa Pāʻaiau
Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership (LARRP)
Los Angeles Office of Diversion and Reentry (ODR)
McKinley Community School for Adults
Makana O Ke Akua (MOKA)
Men of PAʻA
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
Myles S. Breiner & Associates
Nashville Behavioral Care Center
Native Hawaiian Church of Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center
ʻOhana Hoʻopakele
OWRCLTUR Enterprise INC
Papa Ola Lōkahi
PBR HAWAIʻI and Associates, Inc.
Parents and Children Together (PACT)
Partners In Care
Pono Advocacy
Project Vision Hawaiʻi
Prison Reform Hui
Purple Maiʻa
Queen’s Care Coalition
Queen’s Health Systems
Queen’s Medical Center - Day Treatment Services
Reimagining Public Safety in Hawaiʻi Coalition
ReThink Consulting LLC
RS Security, LLC
RYSE Hawaiʻi
SSFM International Inc
Touch a Heart
TryThink
University of North Carolina School of Medicine - Psychiatry
United Self Help
US Vets
Waikīkī Business Improvement District
Waikīkī Health
Waimānalo Health Center
Women’s Prison Project
Worknet, Inc.
WSP USA Inc
YWCA Oʻahu
Public Entities Public Officials
Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry
Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission
Honolulu Police Department
County of Kauaʻi - Office of the Prosecuting Attorney
City and County of Honolulu - Department of Community Services, Work Hawaiʻi
City and County of Honolulu - Honolulu Emergency Services Department, Crisis Outreach Response and Engagement (C.O.R.E.)
City & County - Honolulu Police Department
City & County - Office of the Mayor Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida Courts Interagency Council on Intermediate Sanctions
John A. Burns School of MedicineDepartment of Psychiatry
Kapiʻolani Community College - Community Health Education Program
Maine Correctional Center
Pima County - Department of Justice Services
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Accounting & General Services
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Attorney General, Grants and Planning Branch
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Attorney General, Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Education, Adult Education Program
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Education, Alternative Learning Branch
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Health, Behavioral Health Services Administration
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Health, Adult Mental Health Division
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Human Services, MedQuest Division
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Correctional Industries
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Healthcare Division
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Institutions Division
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Reentry
State of Hawaiʻi - Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Services Administration
State of Hawaiʻi - Hawai‘i Paroling Authority
State of Hawai‘i - Hawai‘i Community Development Authority
Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority
Hawaiʻi State Legislature, Senate
Hawaiʻi State Judiciary, First Circuit
Hawaiʻi State Judiciary, Supreme Court
Hawaiʻi State Judiciary, Office of Administrative Director of the Courts
Hawaiʻi State Judiciary, Criminal Justice Research Institute
State of Hawaiʻi - Office of the Governor
State of Hawaiʻi - Office of Planning and Sustainable Development
State of Hawaiʻi - Office of the Public Defender
State of Hawaiʻi - Office of Hawaiian Affairs
State of Hawaiʻi - Office of Wellness and Resilience
Statewide Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Social Sciences, Sociology
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Thompson School of Social Work
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Governor Josh Green
Senator Brandon Elefante, Hawaiʻi State Senate District 16
Senator Michelle Kidani, Hawaiʻi State Senate District 18
Senator Karl Rhoads, Hawaiʻi State Senate District 13
Senator Glenn Wakai, Hawaiʻi State Senate District 15
Representative Sonny Ganaden, Hawaiʻi House of Representatives District 30
Representative Mark Hashem, Hawaiʻi House of Representatives District 19
Representative Nadine Nakamura, Hawaiʻi House of Representatives District 15 (Kauaʻi)
Representative Gregg Takayama, Hawaiʻi House of Representatives District 34
Representative David Tarnas, Hawaiʻi House of Representatives District 8
Site visits & listening workshops
The team conducted 18 site visits, during which 16 listening workshops were held at various community facilities, allowing the team to interact with caregivers, patients, and residents in their own environments. These visits included hospitals, health centers, cultural centers, stabilization centers, sober living homes, long-term treatment facilities, social enterprise programs, and churches. Activities included dot voting, sorting, ranking, brainstorming, and group discussions. A significant portion of the participants in these workshops were individuals with lived experience.
Habilitat. Photo credit: UHCDC
Touch a Heart. Photo credit: UHCDC
YWCA Fernhurst. Photo credit: UHCDC
Makana
“What we feel that is important, is family is important—[and] creativity— so you gotta keep learning.”
- YWCA Fernhurst Workshop participant
Makana O Ke Akua. Photo credit: UHCDC
ENGAGEMENT TOOLS
Using the template created by Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, UHCDC utilized Justice Cards as an engagement tool using local imagery. “Peace and Justice Cards are a conceptual deck of cards that can be used to explore design ideas with communities across cultures and language barriers. They cover a range of themes, including places, people, objects, materials, and textures. By selecting images in response to prompts and queries, participants can create a photographic essay of the qualities of space they enjoy, reflect on the values they hold, and explore various emotions. They are a fast and easy way to elicit insights from participants in any gathering, and can be reused repeatedly with the same group of people with different results, or with different prompts.”
Image credits (from left to right):
Row 1: Hawaiipublicradio, Gettyimages, Hawaii.com, Skylinehawaii, Finegardening, Wikipedia
Following the listening phase of the engagement process, UHCDC held 8 codesign workshops at community meetings and with community organizations to invite participants to participate in a hands-on design exercise. Participants used a kit of parts and dry erase pens to communicate their vision for a new facility. The conversations and outcomes of these exercises were documented and used to develop the design considerations and proof of concept approaches for a future facility.
Habilitat. Photo credit: UHCDC
Makana O Ke Akua at University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa School of Architecture. Photo credit: UHCDC
He
ENGAGEMENT TOOLS
“Continue
Exhibits
To provide greater legibility to existing data and issues, the team designed a set of visual exhibits aimed at raising public awareness and bringing issues to the attention of policy makers. These exhibits were installed at various events to invite additional knowledge-exchange and feedback.
Mental Health Day at Hawaiʻi State Capitol
On May 1, the Department of Health celebrated Mental Health Month with a public event held at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol. Mental Health Month seeks to disrupt the barriers to seeking treatment through encouraging acceptance of mental health care and ending discrimination and prejudice toward mental health.82 UHCDC installed the Breaking Cycles exhibit to highlight important overlaps between mental health, substance abuse, houselessness, and incarceration, and to speak to visitors.
KEY Project Job and Resource Fair
The Kualoa-Heʻeia Ecumenical Youth (KEY) Project hosted a Job and Resource
Fair on March 28 at the KEY Project MultiPurpose Center to connect individuals from Kualoa to Heʻeia to various employment resources. The UHCDC team participated in the Job and Resource Fair to share information and collect community feedback.
University of Hawaiʻi Research Day
In February 2024, the UHCDC team attended Research Day, an event sponsored by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol. The purpose of this event was to showcase current research conducted by faculty and students at UH Mānoa to legislators and other government officials.
UH Mental Health Day at the State Capitol. Photo credit: UHCDC
Youth Engagement
UHCDC introduced justice system issues to local high school students. Students were invited to play an interactive and cooperative board game that asked them to break cycles of incarceration by working together to provide off-ramps and support for justice-impacted individuals.
Pearl City High School at University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa School of Architecture. Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
ENGAGEMENT
“We need to fix the system so it’s about giving people second chances, not just punishing them and keeping them stuck in the same cycle.”
- Pearl City High School student
Breaking Cycles Symposium
The broader community highlighted the need for a collective discussion across agencies, organizations, and individuals to facilitate alignment and collaboration. As a result, UHCDC hosted a 2-day Breaking Cycles Symposium at YWCA Laniākea in partnership with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission, Correctional Reform Working Group, YWCA Oʻahu, and AMEND from the University of California San Francisco.
Over the two days, 31 speakers from Hawaiʻi, Los Angeles, and Norway, participated in the event with 80 organizations in attendance. The event included an afternoon plenary workshop soliciting recommendations for prevention, diversion, correctional culture, facility design, and reentry.
On the days before and after the symposium, DCR also participated in seminars with AMEND on leading correctional culture change, and dynamic security.
There were four main goals of the symposium:
Share new models, approaches, and proven practices for corrections, diversion, and reentry.
Facilitate collaboration between health, housing, and justice agencies and community organizations.
Build on recent justice-related discussions to develop a plan for legislative, departmental, and individual action.
Increase public and political awareness.
The Breaking Cycles Symposium Workshop outcomes are included in the Appendices of this report.
Governor Josh Green. Photo credit: UHCDC
Troy Vaughn. Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
“This is a special moment in Hawaiʻi’s history where there’s a genuine interest in seeing human-centered change, which is hope-inspiring. We need everybody at the table to make it happen.”
- Governor Josh Green
“We cannot be silos ourselves even as a nonprofit provider. We need to find ways to work togethereven if we are not agreeing on different types of programs, services, or approaches - for the betterment of the community’s health and safety.”
- Les Estrella, President of Going Home Hawaiʻi
Breaking Cycles Symposium. Photo credit: UHCDC
From left to right: Monica Lortz, Les Estrella, Jamee Miller, Troy Vaughn, Shoshanna Scholar, James Koshiba. Photo credit: UHCDC
Breaking Cycles Symposium Update
The March 6, 2024 Breaking Cycles Symposium Update held at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol Auditorium, acted as a follow-up to the Fall 2023 Breaking Cycles Symposium. UHCDC shared out preliminary findings from the Fall 2023 symposium, and featured six presenters to build on information that was presented in the Fall. This included John Mizuno, the Governor’s Office; Nikos Leverenz, Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center; Dr. Chad Koyonagi and Kainoa Castro, Department of Health; Judge Melanie May, Hawaiʻi State Judiciary; Dr. Judy Peterson, Department of Human Services; and Iopa Maunakea, Men of PAʻA. There were a total of 83 attendees at this in-person event.
“It is our responsibility, or kuleana, to mālama each other, to take care of our ʻāina, take care of each other. This symposium has all the tools to do it, I can see it.”
- Iopa Maunakea, Executive Director of Men of PAʻA
Director Tommy Johnson, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Photo credit: UHCDC
Breaking Cycles Virtual Roundtable
On April 12, 2024, the Breaking Cycles Virtual Roundtable event consisted of two presentations from the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office - Behavioral Care Center, and HMC Architects, on alternative jail programs and facilities. Following the presentations, a roundtable discussion gathered stakeholders to reflect on diverse models and share visions for the New Oʻahu Jail. Roundtable stakeholders consisted of representatives from the Office of the Public Defender, Hawaiʻi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Makana O Ke Akua, Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission, Care Hawaiʻi, Ke Ola Mamo, and the Correctional Reform Working Group. There were a total of 106 attendees at this virtual event.
“I remember when I was incarcerated in OCCC (jail) there weren’t too many resources for rehabilitation...I truly believe that if resources start during jail time, a lot more success could be achieved.”
- Lois Kim, Case Management Program Manager at Care Hawaiʻi
Image credit:
Hayley Cheng
Keoki Dudoit Director of
Makana
Ke Akua
Lucy Easley
Christin
Lois Kim
James Krueger Director of Design HMC Architects
Bob Merce Chair Correctional Reform Working Group
Eugenie Naone Director of Programs Ke Ola Mamo
Presenters
Roundtable
ʻAiea Neighborhood Workshop
On February 1, 2024, UHCDC held an event at the ʻAiea Elementary School Cafeteria to share progress and to solicit feedback through interactive dot voting, brainstorming, and group conversations. Invitations were sent to every residential address in the surrounding zip codes, posters were set up near the highway, and the event was announced at neighborhood board and community association meetings.
Director Tommy Johnson, from Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Francine Dudoit from Waikīkī Health, and Pastor Scott Sonada from First Assembly of God spoke to the community prior to updates and workshop activities. Approximately 60 people attended.
In addition, UHCDC attended or presented at 5 ʻAiea Neighborhood Board meetings and 5 ʻAiea Community Association meetings, 10 meetings in total.
Pastor Scott Sonada. Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo
Photo
Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo
Community of Practice Meetings
A community of practice refers to a group dedicated to a common cause. UHCDC framed a series of three Community of Practice meetings as opportunities to share-out progress, gather feedback, and strengthen relationships to continue to support long-term system reform beyond the timeline of this project.
Community of Practice Meeting 01
The first of three Community of Practice Meetings was held on June 5, 2024 as a hybrid meeting, located at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Architecture and online via Zoom. This meeting focused on the mission, vision, and purpose of the new facility as well as programming and population scenarios. There were a total of 56 attendees at this first meeting.
Community of Practice Meeting 02
The second Community of Practice Meeting was held in-person on July 19, 2024 at the State Office Tower. This meeting focused on sharing UHCDC proof of concept design considerations and approaches that were created based on public input. There were a total of 31 attendees. A virtual share-out of the meeting was offered on August 2, 2024, which included an additional panel of speakers. There were a total of 51 attendees.
Community of Practice Meeting 03
The third Community of Practice focused on updates from DCR and DAGS on the timeline for the professional project, consultant scopes, procurement approaches, an outline of UHCDC’s final report, and a brainstorm to envision continued community engagement. There were a total of 51 attendees. A virtual share-out of the meeting was offered on November 7, 2024, which included an additional panel of speakers. There were a total of 55 attendees.
“[We] need to design communitybased treatment; this jail belongs to the community, it is a reflection of us. We cannot allow them to build the jail the state wants, but we can change that so that when UHCDC shares their report, the community is behind it.”
- Bob Merce, Correctional Reform Working Group
Community of Practice Meeting 1. Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
Community of Practice Meeting 3. Photo credit: UHCDC
Community of Practice Meeting 2. Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
Hālawa Correctional Facility Workshop #1
UHCDC held a listening workshop at the Hālawa Correctional Facility to learn directly from the stories and experiences of the men there. Dot voting, card sorting, brainstorming, and group discussions invited different forms of interaction.
Halawa Correctional Facility. Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
Photo credit: UHCDC
“When a man wants to change, society should be there to help us stay out with school, jobs, housing, and support.”
- Incarcerated individual from TryThink Workshop at Hālawa Correctional Facility
Hālawa Correctional Facility Workshop #2
UHCDC joined an evening class at the Hālawa Correctional Facility hosted by TryThink which is a conversationbased program that provides a space for incarcerated people to feel safe and share their opinions, perspectives, and hopes.83 The class began with an ice breaker that asked the 15 participants to reflect on a space or place where they felt safe. Participants were then invited to create a collage that visualized their understanding of healing and wellbeing. Each individual presented their collages to the class in an open discussion. These collages and the comments that were written, are included in the Appendix.
Collages. Image credit: HCF Participants
10.0 Design Guide
Engagement findings led to the development of the following: a conceptual framework, Design Principles, Design Considerations, and Design Elements. Each are briefly described below, with illustrations and examples in the following pages. While these were developed in our conversations about the relocation of OCCC, they represent a way of thinking about correctional environments in general.
Conceptual Framework
The Kāī Koi Design Framework is based on the Kāī Koi kalo breed that grew in Hālawa Valley. The Kāī Koi kalo is used to represent the role of the new facility, and its relationships. At the root of the kalo, several key components are required as nutrients for growth: communication programs, new policies, resources, changed mindsets, and rehabilitation-focused programs, individuals, and environments. Once these nutrients are in place, individuals can begin to grow, building and rebuilding relationships with family, friends, staff, victims, the community, the ʻāina, and akua.
Design Principles
Nine design principles emerged from the engagement findings to guide the proof of concept design process. The nine principles include: holistic, health-centered and trauma-informed, nuture relationships, connect to ʻāina, culture and identity, safety, strengths-based, improvement and empowerment, learning, and respect.
Design Considerations
Feedback on regional and physical design were synthesized into a set of design considerations, related to six different categories: Program Adjacency, Site Design, Staff Spaces, Housing Modules, Sleeping Arrangements, and Transition Housing.
Program Adjacency
Program adjacency relates to the functions or programs in a facility and how they are
arranged or organized spatially. The first consideration relates to an island scale organization of program elements. People want investments in a continuum of care spread throughout the island, especially serving the most vulnerable and justiceimpacted communities. For the new facility, people advocated for a community service hub that supports people inside and outside of the facility, a program-centered facility, clear separation between sentenced and pretrial populations, and adjacencies that will allow for decommissioning and adaptive reuse or an overall smaller facility.
Site Design
In terms of site design, layouts of other facilities in Norway, Australia, New Zealand, and California are provided to help represent preferred strategies such as orienting to central green space, progressional and graduated housing, enclosed courtyards, access to smaller landscape areas, campus approach, and smaller units for the sentenced population.
Staff Spaces
Stakeholders recommended investments in staff spaces such as a staff lounge, dining room, wellness courtyard, walking path, training room and classrooms, and a staff gym, to address the occupational health concerns and the absenteeism that impacts programs, progress, staff well-being, and overall budgets.
Housing Modules
Considerations for housing module designs focused on the components of a typical housing module. Housing modules would become more normalized for lower risk situations. The housing modules would include a treatment room, glazing for views and sunlight, green space, recreation yard, wall murals, multi-purpose room, dynamic security, varied furniture configurations. Many advocated for smaller housing module sizes of 30 to 40 people.
Sleeping Arrangements
UHCDC solicited feedback on sleeping arrangements from people with lived experiences in corrections. They prioritized (in descending order): windows/views, enclosed/shielded toilet, non-bunk beds, comfortable and multi-purpose furniture, personal storage, color/painted walls, and natural materials.
Transition Housing
UHCDC also gathered input on transition housing from many individuals currently residing in transition programs. They agreed that transition housing should be located off-site, to provide as much separation as possible from the jail or prison that they were leaving. They wanted to cut ties. A nurturing and smaller scale environment was preferred, but more importantly, people with and without lived experience wanted transition housing located closer to families, jobs, transportation, and services.
Design Elements
UHCDC also asked people to envision an alternative model for a new facility, and to speak concretely about what it might be. This resulted in design elements consolidated across 9 areas: Malama ʻ ina, Spiritual Reconnection, Keiki to Kūpuna, Ritual & Practice, Making & Makana, Art & Music, Sustainability & Resilience, Learning & Working, Restorative Landscapes. Each design element is represented in this report with corresponding examples and actions that offer steps and ideas for implementation. Many of them could be funded and implemented through grants and community partnerships.
Design Framework
Design Principles
Adopt a holistic, healthcentered, trauma-informed approach.
Nurture relationships to self, family, community, land, and the spiritual world.
Connect to ʻāina, provide spaces to interact with the land.
Honor diverse cultures and identities.
Ensure safety, both physical and emotional.
Take a strengths-based approach that focuses on assets.
Create opportunities for improvement and empowerment.
Support learning through educational programs and spaces.
Demonstrate respect for each individual, through comfortable and dignified environments.
Design Considerations
Program adjacency
Invest in a distributive continuum of care, that locates prevention, diversion, and reentry services across the island to serve communities most impacted by the justice system.
Community service hub: a communityfacing facility that provides people inside and outside of the facility with social, cultural, health, employment, and other services.
Program-centered: a facility where program spaces, such as education or health spaces are at the center.
Separate pretrial and sentenced populations: ensure that people are separated according to need and risk. Misdemeanants should not be next to murderers. Separate gang members. Design for decommissioning: organize programs to allow for maximum flexibility, to be partially built, or to be partially decommissioned and adaptively reused.
Site design
Orient to central green space to provide views and access to nature.
Progression/graduated housing to incentivize behavior.
Enclosed courtyards for secured open space within each module.
Access to smaller landscape areas that offer refuge or retreat.
Campus approach to facilitate movement and daily commutes.
Smaller units for the sentenced population for a more normalized environment.
Staff spaces
Prioritize dedicated staff spaces to promote a healthier work environment, to demonstrate investment and care for staff, and to incentivize attendance at work.
Establish a dedicated staff lounge to promote relaxation.
Designate a dining room for staff meals and social interactions.
Create a wellness courtyard for relaxation and privacy.
Develop a walking path to encourage physical activity.
Set up training rooms/classrooms for staff development and skill-building sessions.
Equip a staff gym to support fitness and overall well-being.
Housing module
Workshops with incarcerated men from MOKA, Habilitat, and HAHOKO revealed the need for the following attributes to provide a more normalized environment.
Provide treatment rooms to support rehabilitative services for mental health, substance abuse, etc.
Incorporate glazing for natural sunlight to enter the space.
Develop accessible green spaces to foster a connection with nature.
Provide an outdoor recreation yard to promote physical activity.
Integrate wall murals to create a visually uplifting and calming environment.
Establish multi-purpose rooms for educational programs.
Implement dynamic security with ACO stations to balance safety and positive interaction.
Introduce varied furniture configurations to support different needs and activities. Design with views to the outside to reduce feelings of confinement.
Sleeping unit
Additional workshops with Habilitat also revealed the following preferences for double rooms with the following attributes that support well-being (in descending order):
Include windows with views of nature or the surrounding environment. Provide enclosed toilet to provide privacy and dignity.
Avoid bunked beds to prioritize comfort and personal space.
Incorporate functional furniture to meet daily living needs effectively. Provide personal storage to secure belongings.
Transition housing
People value transition housing as an essential part of reintegration. The neighborhood community, general community, and previously incarcerated men felt that transition housing should be located off-site, closer to families, jobs, transportation and services. They recommended that on-site transition housing should be provided only for those who cannot be safely housed elsewhere. The following models were shared:
Kauhale Model
Health Facility Model
Mixed-use Apartment Model
Restorative Care Village Model
Program
Adjacency
Image credit: UHCDC
Community-based Continuum
Invest in prevention, diversion, and reentry facilities on Oʻahu alongside the new jail.
Image credit: UHCDC
Community service hub
Consider a community facing facility that provides services for released individuals AND the community, i.e. help with documentation, transportation, and community partners to help individuals and families.
Image credit: UHCDC
Center the facility around programs
Locate housing modules around a central program and support spaces.
Image credit: UHCDC
Separate pretrial and sentenced
Separate sentenced and pretrial population, and separate people by offense. Separate housing for health unit and special housing unit.
Image credit: UHCDC
Design for downsizing
Design for the downsizing of the facility through subtractive alternatives and consideration of future adaptive reuse for noncorrectional uses.
Site Design
People liked the idea of a central open green space, smaller landscape areas, and smaller living units for the sentenced population and transitional housing. They also suggested progression or graduated housing that allows for a step down process, a campus approach, and enclosed courtyards for more open space access to gardening, aquaponics, loʻi, and nature.
1. The Halden Prison in Norway allows for every building to have clear views into the surrounding greenery emphasizing the rehabilitative effects of nature.
2. The Dillwynia Correctional Center follows a similar strategy that involves a series of adjacent landscape elements on a smaller scale that offers softened areas for retreat for staff and incarcerated individuals.
3. The Auckland South Correctional Facility’s site design accommodates a wide range of housing options that allows incarcerated individuals to work towards graduating from secure areas to less secure areas.
4. The Los Colinas Detention Center in California takes on a campus approach which includes clusters of housing and large admin and visitation buildings that fosters a normative environment.
5. The Ravenhall Correctional Center takes an approach of creating various smaller communities through their quad courtyard layout. This allows for the prison to manage a diverse population by placing them in the most appropriate setting.
6. The Kimberley Regional Prison in Australia allows for smaller scale housing units that encourages self care and communal aspects while remaining behind a high security perimeter.
UHCDC
UHCDC
5. Enclosed courtyards
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit:
Image credit:
1. Orient to central green space
3. Progression/graduated housing
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
4. Campus approach
6. Smaller units for sentenced population
2. Access to smaller landscape areas
Staff Spaces
People also stressed the need for spaces that prioritize staff well-being to address the dramatic health disparities, reported trauma, divorce rates, and early mortality for correctional workers. Suggestions include a staff lounge, dining area, wellness courtyard, walking path, staff training room, private counseling room, and a staff gym. These would also be designed with trauma-informed or healing-focused design considerations. Staff amenities promote a healthier work environment, demonstrate investment and care for staff, and incentivize attendance at work.
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC Staff lounge Walking Path
Dining room
Training room/classrooms
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Wellness courtyard
Staff gym
Staff Spaces
“A 25-year officer spends 56,250 hours or six years of their life in a jail facility by the time they retire. In most cases, the officer will spend more time in the facility than any inmate who passes through.”
- DLR Group
Image credit: UHCDC
Housing Modules
Housing module feedback came from service providers and men with lived experience, who participated in our workshops at MOKA, Habilitat, and HAHOKO. The men advocated for housing modules of approximately 25 to 30 individuals. They identified desired features such as big windows, vibrant wall murals, flexible furniture arrangements, and televisions––to fend off boredom. They wanted a multi-purpose room for their classes, a treatment room, and access to green spaces and recreational areas. Artificial turf was preferred to nothing at all. While they advocated for these basic components in the module, there was also a strong push to locate larger programmatic spaces away from the module to require a commute to work or school, more similar to a normal routine.
Housing module mock-up of potential programs and services
Image credit: UHCDC
Treatment room
Recreation yard
Dynamic security/ACO station
Varied furniture configurations
Views to outside
Wall murals
Multi-purpose room
Glazing/sunlight
Green space
Housing Modules
Sleeping Arrangements
Preferences for sleeping arrangements within the housing units reflect a desire for double rooms. When asked to rank different attributes for their living units, participants ranked windows with a view the highest, followed by an enclosed toilet, non-bunk beds, furniture, personal space, color/painted walls, and natural materials, in that descending order. This information was recorded on illustrated worksheets.
Have you ever been detained or incarcerated?
Which unit would most benefit your well-being?
Which attribute would most benefit your well-being?
Holmsheidi Prison, Iceland Single Unit
HM Prison Berwyn, Wales Double Unit
Hawai‘i Community Correctional Center Dormitory Units
Single Unit
Triple Unit MASS Design Group Report Single Unit
Transition Housing
In general, people value transition housing as an essential part of reintegration. However, the neighborhood community, general community, and previously incarcerated men felt that transition housing should be located off-site, closer to families, jobs, transportation and services. They recommended that on-site transition housing should be provided only for those who cannot be safely housed elsewhere.
The following models were shared.
Kauhale Model
Health Facility Model
Mixed-use Apartment Model
Restorative Care Village
Kauhale Model ~ 50 Beds
Creates a community of individual housing units with shared spaces that foster a sense of belonging and support.
Health Facility Model ~ 80 Beds
Focuses on spaces dedicated to providing rehabilitative, and wellness services care centers and wellness hubs that centered care and efficient service
Image credit: UHCDC
providing medical, services such as specialized that prioritize patientdelivery.
Mixed-Use Apartment Model ~ 200 Beds
Integrates housing with amenities like shops, restaurants, offices, and community services, creating a selfcontained, vibrant, and convenient environment.
Restorative Care Village ~ 500 Beds
Provides integrated, campus-like facilities, combining housing, mental health care, medical services, substance use treatment, and job training in one location to support holistic recovery and reintegration into the community.
Transition Housing
“Everyone is here for different reasons. For the most part, all of our needs are different upon release, so there should be many options for change.”
- Incarcerated individual from TryThink Workshop at Hālawa Correctional Facility
Design Elements
Mālama ‘Āina
Spiritual Reconnection
Keiki to Kūpuna
Ritual & Practice
Making & Makana
Native reforestation
Star compass (Wayfinding)
Family bench
Event gathering space
Culinary
Lo‘i
Ahu
Natural playscape
Meditation maze
Drawing and painting
‘Auwai
Pokahu Wahi pana
Family placespace Family picnic space
Hula mound
Woodworking Lei making
La‘au lapa‘au garden & nursery
Pule circle
Art & Music
Sustainability & Resilience
Learning & Working
Mālama ʻĀina
“When you take care of the ʻāina, it takes care of you.” - Interviewee
Case Study:
Kupu ʻĀina
Kupu ʻāina translates to “indigenous food for the people of Hawaiʻi” and is located in the Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center. This program provides opportunities for mentorship and low barrier work training at the farm. The farm features native and indigenous plants such as a variety of Native Hawaiian taro and bananas. It serves as a place for learning, healing, and connection to ʻāina.
Actions
Develop partnership with ‘āina-based program providers.
Cultivate historically and regionally relevant native plants like kāī koi taro. Cultivate medicinal plants for use in the facility or for the community. Imagine a dispensary of native medicines. Cultivate plants for drought tolerant xeriscape to support green infrastructure program.
Partner with Loko Iʻa Pāʻaiau or other cultural restoration programs off-site. Partner with ʻāina-based community organizations that can continue to offer ʻāina-based jobs or opportunities after release.
Image credit: UHCDC
Native reforestation
Photo credit: Hawaiʻi News Now
‘Auwai (native irrigation system)
La‘au lapa‘au (native medicinal) garden & nursery
Loʻi (taro field)
Spiritual Reconnection
Signify sacred sites and connect to important landmarks to strengthen connections to place.
Case Study:
Ahu at UH Bachman Hall
The ahu in the courtyard of Bachman Hall serves as a reminder to UH leadership of their kuleana, or responsibility, to Kānaka Maoli. The ahu features rocks from across the islands and plants representing four major akua: ʻKū (niu), Lono (ʻuala), Kāne (kalo), and Kanaloa (maiʻa).
Actions
Collaborate with cultural practitioners and kumu (teachers) to incorporate spiritual markers that help to focus or orient individuals.
Establish ahu that allow for ceremonial offerings and bring mana to a space. An ahu, a piled stone marker that is built out of stone, coral, or local material, is used to mark significant boundaries or shrines. Include wayfinding elements that connect to the wahi pana in the area such as heiaus, royal birthing sites, legendary sites, and places of significance.
The Hawaiian star compass holds significance in navigation, where rising and setting points of the sun, stars, moon, and planets are named and identified to help orient oneself while voyaging.
Star compass (Wayfinding)
Photo credit: Ka Leo O Hawaiʻi
Image credit: UHCDC
Pohaku
Wahi pana
Ahu
Keiki to Kūpuna
Provide intergenerational spaces where children, parents, and kūpuna can comfortably spend time together to maintain familial relationships.
Case Study:
Supporting Families Affected by Incarceration (SFAI)
The SFAI program helps children, their caregivers, and incarcerated parents maintain strong bonds through mentoring, parenting classes, and parent-child activities, aiming to build resilience and support children’s well-being. The purpose is to strengthen families affected by incarceration.
Actions
Incorporate family-friendly spaces that support safe visitation in welcoming environments for children. Provide spaces for play. Provide different types and sizes of seating areas that allow for more comfortable interaction.
Design for a wide range of ages and mobility needs.
Host ʻohana, or family days with performances, storytelling, or cultural activities that strengthen family connections.
Provide technology and space for virtual visits.
Family bench
Photo credit: Keiki O Ka ʻAina
Image credit: UHCDC
Ritual & Practice
Honor traditional rituals and practices that strengthen social, cultural, and spiritual identities and holistic well-being.
Case Study:
Incarcerated individuals at Waiawa Correctional Facility participated in makahiki, a celebration to honor Lono, the Hawaiian god of fertility and rain. For the men, makahiki was an opportunity to cultivate their Native Hawaiian identity and grow spiritually. It was a “time of abundance, nonviolence, peace, diplomacy, and healing.”
Actions
Provide meditation spaces to promote mental well-being. Create hula mounds or outdoor amphitheaters for performances. Offer a larger area for makahiki (annual event).
Create spaces for religious worship.
Makahiki
Photo credit: Office of Hawaiian Affairs
Hula mound
Pule (prayer) circle
Meditation maze
Making & Makana
Cultivate
skills that help individuals to create things of value that give back to their communities.
Case Study:
Baker’s Heart Hawaiʻi
Touch A Heart provides food service vocational training through its social enterprise, Baker’s Heart, a program that offers practical, hands-on experience for individuals. Baker’s Heart features a diverse assortment of goods that highlight local ingredients such as ‘ulu (breadfruit) and kiawe, combined with familiar ones like coffee, cacao, and coconut.
Actions
Teach skills that help individuals to give back to their communities.
Invite proposals from social enterprise partners to establish a short duration program that supports individuals in and out of corrections.
Provide hale building area. Provide teaching kitchen for culinary program.
Provide workshop space for woodworking and other shop use.
and heal through music and art. Celebrate existing talent, cultivate new skills, and build a creative culture.
Case Study:
Murals at Women’s Community Correctional Center (WCCC)
Local artists and residents of WCCC collaborated to create life-sized murals featuring ocean scenes and marine life, promoting a sense of tranquility and vibrancy. This initiative provided the women an opportunity to showcase their artistic talents while working alongside some of Hawaiʻi’s most renowned muralists.
Actions
Incorporate murals and art that connect to place, history, or other themes aligned with the mission, vision, and values of the facility.
Collaborate with local artists to develop a program that includes residents in the conceptualization and implementation of murals and other art forms. Provide dedicated spaces for musical practice and performances. Host events where individuals can perform their talents in front of their family and friends.
Consider signage and wayfinding graphics as opportunities for art and design.
Murals
Photo credit: eHawaii
Image credit: UHCDC
Sustainability & Resilience
Demonstrate care for the natural environment, creating a resilient and climate-adaptive facility to safeguard resources for future generations.
Case Study:
Colinas
The landscape design of the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility is driven by both the need and commitment to create a sustainable campus. Guided by sustainable principles, every element of the landscape serves a dual purpose. For instance, gently graded, boulder-lined arroyos naturally manage stormwater runoff while enhancing the aesthetics as ephemeral stream beds.
Actions
Utilize renewable energy systems such as solar panels on the roof to reduce consumption of fossil fuels. Integrate low impact development strategies such as bioswales to clean, filter, and divert stormwater runoff. Include low maintenance, drought tolerant, native plants. Locally sourced materials to minimize carbon footprint. Implement waste, recycling, and composting programs.
Las
Detention and Reentry Facility
Photo credit: Landlab
Learning & Working
Educational opportunities that advance life skills, job skills, and general education give individuals a better chance of succeeding after they leave.
Case Study:
Habilitat is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people overcome substance abuse and homelessness. As part of their program, individuals gain knowledge and experience in various fields including demolition and hauling, landscaping, remodeling and maintenance, vinyl fencing, masonry, catering, car washing, and more.
Actions
Provide access to computers and technology to build digital literacy. Provide televisions and technology for individuals to access classes and information during lockdowns. Provide job readiness training. Provide multi-purpose spaces that can be used for different teaching and learning activities.
Connect individuals to trade, certificate, or degree programs that can be continued upon release.
Habilitat
Computer and technology room
Photo credit: Habilitat
Image credit: UHCDC
Restorative Landscapes
Promote healing and enhance well-being by providing calming, nature-based environments that foster physical and emotional rejuvenation.
Case Study:
Dillwynia Women’s Correctional Centre
The curved fencing, low-profile plantings, and thoughtfully arranged exercise and gathering zones in the landscape design were tailored specifically to meet the needs of female incarcerated individuals. These spaces are strategically located with dedicated oversight, allowing incarcerated individuals a degree of autonomy and a sense of freedom within a secure environment.
Actions
Provide courtyards that can be used as gathering spaces that are enclosed and secured.
Create space that has views of the sky and adequate airflow.
Create space that is beneficial to user health, allowing for walking, dancing, and other fitness exercises.
Create walking paths for employees and residents.
Provide landscape elements indoors: potted plants, artificial green walls, even artwork of nature are all shown to benefit health.
Photo credit: NBRS
"He Au Hou" A New Era
In line with DCR’s motto, “He Au Hou” translated as “A New Era”, UHCDC developed proof of concept design approaches to illustrate and envision what this new era might look like. “Proof of concept” refers to a pilot project or preliminary idea that demonstrates feasibility. The findings from our research and engagement process, along with design principles, considerations, and elements, informed the development of three proof of concept design approaches. These approaches visualize community aspirations and do not address the technical, functional, regulatory, and financial requirements that will be managed by the professional design team. The proof of concept ideas presented here are intended to highlight possibilities and serve as a basis for future discussion.
Cultural History
The facility is situated in Hālawa in the easternmost ahupua‘a of the moku (or kalana) of ‘Ewa. Before the introduction of Western values, ideas of land ownership, as well as commercial endeavors of the 19th century, Hālawa was centered around the natural resource and wahi pana of Pu‘uloa (Pearl Harbor), with its extensive shoreline and estuaries that were home to numerous loko i‘a (fishponds) and lo‘i kalo (pondfield complexes).84 Hālawa was known for its abundance in resources and ancient sites. The valley’s landscape included varieties of upland kalo, ʻawa groves, medicinal herbs, feathers for cloaks, pili grass for thatched homes, and dozens of fishponds. It was also dotted with ancient temples, house sites, cave burials, and a number of sites associated with royalty.85
In 1854, the islands were fighting free of a smallpox epidemic that had taken approximately 6,000 lives. Within months after his accession, Kamehameha IV recognized the devastating impact of the epidemic on the Native Hawaiian population and urged for the establishments of hospitals to treat the sick. Queen Emma showed keen interest in the development of hospitals and became its enthusiastic supporter.86
In 1859, Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma established the Queen’s Hospital which focused on the health and well-being of Native Hawaiians. Their primary concern was the welfare of their people in which the hospital played an important role in healing and treatment.87
Kāī koi Taro, a rare variety of taro, was significant to the ʻEwa moku, which grew in Hālawa Valley and was noted to be the best tasting on Oʻahu. The name of this kalo translates to “the forceful kai of ʻEwa,” as it sent out more shoots than other kalo, and only those native to ʻEwa can pound it.88 This variety unfortunately does not grow in Hālawa Valley currently.
Queen Emma
Kāī-Koi Taro
Queen Emma. Photo credit: Andreas Avelino Montano Kai-Koi Taro. Photo credit: University of HawaiʻiCollege of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources
The earliest mention of Hālawa in history is when the high chief Mōʻīkeha brings and plants ʻawa in the valley, a plant that plays a crucial role in religious and cultural tradition.89 ʻAwa only propagates when it is planted by humans. It is extremely important to have ʻawa in cultural practices because it is the most important offering to the gods. It also aids in opening communication channels with others and with the elements.
Mo‘olelo
Hālawa Valley is mentioned in two similar legends that tell of the daughter of the leading high-priest or kahuna of Kauaʻi and her struggle to survive after escaping the battlefield where Kalanikupule (also spelled Kalanikapule) reigned victorious. According to Kamakau, Kahulunuika‘aumoku, daughter of Ku‘ohu had been picked up for dead, carried with the others to Pa‘aiau, and left in the heap of corpses. It was about one o’clock in the afternoon when she fell. At about ten o’clock that night, she was aroused by an owl that flew over her and beat its wings on her head. She opened her eyes from a deep sleep and found herself lying with the dead in a great heap. A guard was walking to and from. The owl flew seaward and she followed, crawling, until she reached the sea. Then, she swam to the opposite shore in spite of her many wounds and landed at ‘Aiea, where the owl led her up Hālawa Valley into the mountains. There she found a cave and fell as if dead. While she lay unconscious, the owl flew to a former Kahu of hers who knew the country well around Hālawa, and this person brought her food and anointed her wounds.90
Waikahi and Waipao
The Waikahi and Waipao heiaus used to be located near the site.91 The Waikahi heiau was said to be a luakini; a sacrificial heiau which was later turned into land for agriculture. The Waipao heiau was previously used for religious purposes. However, it was buried when the land also changed to agricultural purposes. Kūpuna from the region suggested that this area should be spiritually cleansed from this previous sacrificial use.
ʻAwa. Photo credit: Forest & Kim Starr
Pueo Rockface. Photo credit: Jan Becket
Halawa Heiaus. Photo credit: Google Earth
Ke Ala Hoʻoponopono i Waikahi
wai kahi vs United, [literally] of one dye.
ke ala hoʻoponopono the path of righteousness
UHCDC worked with a Hawaiian Language expert and two ʻAiea and Hālawa kupuna to review the cultural history of the site and the feedback from the community to propose a new name for the facility: Ke Ala Hoʻoponopono i Waikahi. The new name recognizes the importance of unity and coming together around a path toward righteousness. It also respects the location of the site at the convergence of the Kamamanui and Kamanaiki streams.
Hālawa Stream
Image credit: UHCDC
"Today we acknowledge the value of inoa and try to keep to the naming practices of our kūpuna. As well-known and much beloved kupuna Malia Craver reminds us – your name is your destiny – there is an element of hope and aspiration in the giving of a name. In setting the name of a child, you place the first stone in its path forward."
- Hawaiian Language Expert
North Hālawa (Kamananui) Stream
South Hālawa (Kamanaiki) Stream
Mission
To support community equity, health, safety, and well-being, by providing individuals in custody with rehabilitation-focused and culturally-competent assessments, programs, environments, relationships, and personnel that address core needs and prevent future harm.
Image credit: Royce Hair
Values
Respect/Dignity
Pono
Restorative Justice
Well-being
WAIʻANAE
WAIALUA
Site Relocation
Site Response
The H3 freeway defines the site’s western edge, providing visibility and accessibility while presenting challenges such as noise and littering. Adjacent to a heavy industrial business district, the site aligns with economic activity and potential workforce opportunities for individuals reentering society, as some businesses employ individuals from the nearby Hālawa Correctional Facility. To the north, there is a cement quarry that contributes to ambient noise. To the south, a vegetated area offers natural elements and an existing buffer to other neighborhoods.
There are two heiau located
vegetated southern area, fostering a more natural and calming visual experience. reduce
Image credit: UHCDC Image Relate to regional cultural history
near the site: Waikahi Heiau, historically used for sacrificial purposes, and Waipao Heiau, dedicated to religious practices. This
Minimize
The station.
Image credit: UHCDC
Minimize distance to closest public transport site is about 2 miles away, or a 15-minute walk from the nearest bus station. Although the bus station is considered near, conditions such as poorly reduce infrastructure demands.
N N
transition zone between the site and neighboring areas. Other areas can support ʻāina-based activities, like growing kalo, to teach incarcerated individuals land stewardship.
Existing Oʻahu Community Correctional Center
The existing OCCC is the largest county jail facility located on a 16 acre property at 2109 Kamehameha Highway in Honolulu. It began in 1975 as a part of the county based community corrections system, with 456 beds. The facility has been expanded to its current design capacity of 628 beds and an operational capacity of 954 beds, and consistently operates above these capacities.92
Today, OCCC is an outdated, with a section as old as 110 years old from the former Oʻahu Prison, with rusted fencing, poor lighting and temperature controls, and inhumane conditions, which has led to the concern about the health and safety of the incarcerated individuals and correctional staff.
Image credit: UHCDC
Suicide watch units. Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Outdoor exercise spaces. Image credit: UHCDC
Staff spaces. Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Storage spaces. Image credit: UHCDC
Visitation Room
Programming
People are deeply interested in the programming of the new facility. They are interested in a comprehensive intake or assessment tool, and health, job, education, housing, cultural, spiritual, and family programs to support their assessed needs.
Given the short turnaround for jail stays, the intake and health programs are the most critical to identifying needs and stabilizing a person’s conditions. Once stabilized they can be connected to peer mentors and programs that can support them both inside and outside of corrections.
The following are programs that were suggested.
Intake Health/Wellness Programs
Screening and Assessment
ASAM
Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R)
Motivational Interviewing
SAMHSA Screening and Assessment
Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) to be made available
Pre-assessments conducted with community collaboration
Use other evidence-based models
Communication and Consistency
Central data sharing hub
Increase coordination between Intake Services, HPD, DCR, and community organizations
Comprehensive Support
Access to Certified Substance Abuse, Counselors, social workers, peer specialists
Access to telehealth upon intake
Mental health
Addiction treatment
Health care
Hoʻoponopono
Wellness practices
Restorative justice program
Victim/offender program
Detoxification area
Triage center (or triage services available)
Job/Education Programs
Trade skills/job training
IT programming + computer
Social work training
Reading + writing skills
Animal training & socialization
Environment/conservation
Sustainable agriculture (degree-focused)
Apprenticeship programs
Communication and emotional intelligence
Housing Programs
Clean and sober housing
Coordinated education, employment, housing
Housing discipleship/healing classes
Transitional housing for men
Transitional housing for families
Step-down housing
Faith-based housing
Cultural/Spiritual Programs
ʻ ina-based (food, stewardship, restoration)
Hoʻoponopono
Lāʻau lapaʻau
Makahiki
Cultural healing (all cultures)
Cultural ritual/ceremonies (all cultures)
Faith-based programs
Family Service Programs
Parent training
Family healing
Family mentoring “Building healthy relationships”
Family reunification
Staff Programs
Trauma-integrated/healing centered training
Employee wellness
Normalization
Dynamic security
More community health background
More social workes and case managers
Journey Map
A journey map is a visualization of a process that a person goes through in order to accomplish a goal. People stressed the importance of a new process, as being much more important than a new facility. The process needs to include the right assessments, connections to services, transitions, and off-ramps, to ensure that each individual receives suitable supervision and care.
Image credit: UHCDC
Step-up Campus Approach
The first approach, referred to as the “Step-up Campus,” incorporates a series of buildings that individuals progress through, structured along a central spine which symbolizes the linear progression reflective of the rehabilitation process. Upon arrival, individuals enter the main administration building for processing. Individuals then progress through various stages, starting with medical and substance abuse detox, followed by pretrial, sentencing, and ultimately transition to the community center before exiting the facility and returning to society. The navy setback on the property is maintained as a large open area for ʻāina-based activities.
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Visitation
Entry / Intake
Sentenced Housing
Pre-sentenced Housing
Medical / Detox Housing
'Āina Based Activities
Visitation
Transition Center
Building Integrated Cultural Art
The stateʼs 1% public art program, which designates 1% of the total construction budget to art (which could be up to $10M in this case) might allow a local artist to collaborate with the architect to integrate their work into the building design and fabrication.
These images reflect ways that cultural arts might be integrated in the larger identity of the campus. Tattoo art, kākau or kākau uhi, is significant to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander culture, as well as to the contemporary incarcerated community. Traditionally, the tattoos were a reflection of oneʼs identity, status, lineage, and connection to the land and ancestors. They were part of a personal narrative and storytelling practice.
This example shows the translation of a tattoo pattern onto a perforated building screen (similar to the perforation of the skin) that also provide shading and heat mitigation. Precast concrete patterns developed by kapa makers could enliven typical construction types and materials.
tattoo pattern
Woven Screening (lauhala weaver)
Perforated Screening (tattoo artist)
Precast Panels (kapa maker)
Community Resilience Center Approach
The second proof of concept approach, known as the “Community Resilience Center,” features a compact main building and a health hub, designed to minimize the facility’s footprint and be more resource efficient. There is a central courtyard and education center at the core of the building surrounded by the administration, intake, and services. Adjacent is the health hub that includes a substance abuse and detox area to facilitate the screening of individuals prior to placement. This approach also has a large open area with an outdoor amphitheater and star compass at the center.
The solar roof of the main building generates energy and shades the building and roof deck. These panels would also direct water to bioswales around the building. Food waste and other programs would help to minimize the impact of the facility on the environment, and create learning opportunities for adults in custody, for example, PV repair and installation, green infrastructure installation, and aquaponics or hydroponics.
Image credit: UHCDC
Image credit: UHCDC
Visitation
Entry
Transition Center
Intake
Medical / Detox Housing
Certified behavioral care center
Pre-sentenced Housing
Program / Education
'Āina Based Activities
Sentenced Housing
Community Resource Village Approach
The third proof of concept approach, termed the “Community Resilience Village,” proposes a core of services for the community and those in custody. The outer hub includes a courtroom, entry, visitation area, and reentry services which would include care management, health, family, and job support. Community partners will collaborate with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide these services for the individuals in jail, those transitioning out, and members of the broader community. The inner hub provides education and health services for the men in custody. The housing modules at the end resemble urban housing.
This secure, village-style transition housing provides a safe, supportive environment with essential resources, including temporary beds for individuals without immediate housing after release.
Animal Quarantine
Courtrooms
12.0 Conclusion
The work in this report represents layers of unprecedented collaboration that should be recognized. The UHCDC partnership with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and collaboration with the Oversight Commission, Governor’s Office, and multiple community organizations to host and support multiple engagement events represent a new way of working together. The UHCDC team itself reflects a first ever partnership across Architecture, Planning, Peace Studies, Public Health, Social Work, Hawaiian Studies, and Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The high level of participation and engagement throughout a 2-year process signals continued interest and support for these joint efforts.
This report is intended for a broad range of audiences. UHCDC offers it to DCR as our client, as well as to all stakeholders involved, with a clear call for continued collaboration. We recommend that the state commit to a comprehensive, statewide planning initiative aimed at reducing incarceration and expanding communitybased care through a health-centered, care-focused approach. These objectives are already aligned with the state’s goals, but they currently lack the necessary leadership, coordination, and funding for effective implementation.
We also urge DCR, DAGS, and their current and future design and development teams to carefully consider the design research, principles, considerations, and elements presented in this report. These reflect the collective aspirations of the stakeholders involved and should be regarded as foundational to the vision for change. For consultant teams that consist primarily of non-Hawaiʻi based members, this report aims to illuminate the ways in which Hawaiʻi’s past requires additional
sensitivity, and how its culture might facilitate new ways to approach health, well-being, and design.
UHCDC recognizes the distinction between solutions and aspirations. This report does not propose specific solutions; rather, it outlines aspirations and visions that are crucial for inspiring and enabling transformation. We present this work as a contribution to that change, with gratitude, hope, and a firm belief that such transformation is not only possible but essential to our collective well-being.
1
“DCR News Release – New Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Provides Hope for a Brighter Future for Inmates and Employees.” DCR News Release – New Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Provides Hope for a Brighter Future for Inmates and Employees. January 2, 2024. https://governor.hawaii.gov/ newsroom/dcr-news-release-new-department-of-corrections-andrehabilitation-provides-hope-for-a-brighter-future-for-inmates-andemployees/.
2 “O’ahu Community Correctional Center.” State of Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Accessed September 9, 2024. https://dcr.hawaii.gov/about/divisions/corrections/occc/.
3 Johnson, Christin. “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System”. Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium. Honolulu, HI. October 10, 2023.
4 King, George. Email message to author. November 27, 2024.
5 Johnson, “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System.”
7 State of Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “Weekly Population Report - September 2024.” Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. State of Hawaiʻi. September 30, 2024. https://dcr.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PopReports-EOM-2024-09-30.pdf.
8 Johnson, “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System.”
9 Johnson, “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System.”
10 “Oʻahu Community Correctional Center,” State of Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
11 Johnson, “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System.”
12 Johnson, “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System.”
13 King, email message.
14 Johnson, “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System.”
15 Johnson, “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System.”
16 Johnson, Tommy. “Closing Remarks.” Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium Update, Honolulu, HI, February 6, 2024.
17 Bodon, Sabrina, “Chronic Understaffing at Hawaiʻi Prisons Balloons Overtime Costs,” Hawaiʻi Public Radio, May 30, 2023, https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2023-05-30/chronicunderstaffing-at-hawai%CA%BBi-prisons-balloons-overtime-costs.
18 Trask, Haunani-Kay. From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaiʻi (Revised Edition). University of Hawaiʻi Press. 1999. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824847029.
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20 Valeri, Valerio. Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and society in ancient Hawaiʻi. Translated from the French by Paula Wissing.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
21 Blakemore, Kalena K. “Na Kii Laau, the Gods and Guardians at Puʻuhonua O Honaunau National . Historical Park, South Kona, Hawaiʻi. Order No. 10239557, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, 2017. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/na-kii-laau-godsguardians-at-puuhonua-o-honaunau/docview/1926759901/se-2.
22 Levin, Stephanie S. “The Overthrow of the Kapu System in Hawaiʻi.” Journal of the Polynesian Society. 1968. Vol. 77, No. 4. 402–430.
23 Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation & State of Hawai’i. Investment in Hawaiʻi’s Correctional Facilities Needed Now: Future of the Oahu Community Correctional Center. Vol. 41. February 2022. https://dps.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ Hawaii-OCCC_newsletter_Vol41.pdf.
24 Claveria, Susan. “Review of the Implementation of the Hawaiʻi Correctional Master Plan.” No. 1. Honolulu, HI: Legislative Review Bureau. 1982. https://lrb.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/1982_ ReviewOfTheImplementationOfTheHawaiiCorrectionalMasterPlan. pdf.
25 Claveria, “Review of the Implementation of the Hawaiʻi Correctional Master Plan.”
27 The Correctional Reform Working Group. “Getting It Right: Better Ideas for a New Jail.” Correctional Reform Working Group. December 2021. https://ag.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ Merce-Report.pdf
28 CRWG, “Getting It Right: Better Ideas for a New Jail.”
29 Hawaiʻi Health and Harm Reduction Center. 2024 Oʻahu Sequential Intercept Model. 2024. https://www.hhhrc.org/_files/ ugd/960c80_57295252137446ef9002b9db1e8c8deb.pdf.
30 Washington, Melvin. “Reducing Jail Use: What’s Working.” Vera Institute of Justice. November 2021. https://www.vera.org/beyondjails-community-based-strategies-for-public-safety/reducing-jail-usewhats-working.
32 Leifman, Steve and Timy Coffey. “Jail Diversion: The Miami Model.” CNS Spectrums 25. No. 5 (2020): 659-66. https://doi. org/10.1017/S1092852920000127.
33 Leifman and Coffey, “Jail Diversion: The Miami Model.”
34 Leifman and Coffey, “Jail Diversion: The Miami Model.”
35 Vaughn, Troy. “Breaking Cycles Symposium: Re-envisioning a Health, Housing, and Correction Continuum.” Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium. Honolulu, HI. October 11, 2023.
36 Scholar, Shoshanna. “Office of Diversion and Reentry.” Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium. Honolulu, HI. October 11, 2023.
37 Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. “MIST: Misdemeanor Incompetent to Stand Trial Diversion.” Office of Diversion and Reentry. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://dhs. lacounty.gov/office-of-diversion-and-reentry/our-services/office-ofdiversion-and-reentry/mist-cbr/.
38 Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. “FIST: Felony Incompetent to Stand Trial Program”. Office of Diversion and Reentry. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://dhs.lacounty.gov/officeof-diversion-and-reentry/our-services/office-of-diversion-and-reentry/ fist-cbr/
39 Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. “LEAD (Let Everyone Advance with Dignity/Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion”. Office of Diversion and Reentry. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://dhs.lacounty.gov/office-of-diversion-and-reentry/ourservices/office-of-diversion-and-reentry/lead-2/
40 Los Angeles County Alternatives to Incarceration Work Group. Care First Jails Last: Health and Racial Justice Strategies for Safer Communities. March 2020. https:// ceo.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1077045_ AlternativestoIncarcerationWorkGroupFinalReport.pdf
41 Cheung, Terrance, Ramos, Maya. Interview via Zoom, November 9, 2023.
42 Superior Court. “Superior Court Launches STEPS Pre-Indictment Diversion Program. Arizona Superior Court in Pima County. March 31, 2021. Accessed November 2, 2024. https://www.sc.pima.gov/news/superior-court-launches-steps-preindictment-diversion-program/
43 Lomayesva, Sara. “Pima County Transition Center - Six Month Progress Report.” Pima County Justice Services. February 22, 2024. https://content.civicplus.com/api/assets/317a0b44-7813-4352ac6f-a6db95268068
44 Criminal Justice Resource Department. “Diversion Programs”. Orange County North Carolina, 2024. https://www.orangecountync. gov/2821/Diversion-Programs
45 County Manager’s Office. “Crisis Diversion Facility”. Orange County North Carolina, 2024. https://www.orangecountync. gov/3168/Crisis-Diversion-Facility
46 Bybel, Barbara-Ann. Interview via Zoom. February 14, 2024.
47 County Manager’s Office. “Crisis Diversion Facility”.
48 Orange County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. “Crisis Diversion Facility”. Orange County North Carolina, 2024. https:// www.orangecountync.gov/547/Orange-County-Juvenile-CrimePrevention-
49 Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. “Juvenile Crime Prevention Council County Plan, Orange County, For FY 2021-2022”. Orange County North Carolina, 2021. https://www.orangecountync.gov/ DocumentCenter/View/18608/
50 Bybel, “Interview via Zoom”.
51 North Carolina Department of Justice, "North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice Information Sheet." Accessed November 16, 2024. https://ncdoj.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ TREC_Pre-Arrest-Diversion_InfoSheet.pdf.
52 Orange County Pre-Arrest Diversion Program (OCPAD). "OCPAD 2019–2020 Fiscal Year Data Report," Accessed November 16, 2024. https://www.orangecountync.gov/DocumentCenter/View/13452/ OCPAD-2019-2020-Fiscal-Year-Data-Report-PowerPoint?bidId=.
53 Smiley, Sarah. “Criminal Justice Diversion Programs Redirect, Guide Individuals.” The Daily Tar Heel. March 28, 2024. https:// www.dailytarheel.com/article/2024/03/dth-city-orange-countydiversion-program-solutions
54 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity; Anderson KM, Olson S, editors. The Effects of Incarceration and Reentry on Community Health and Well-Being: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US). September 18, 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/ NBK447172/
55 Johnson, “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System.”
56 Budiono, Victoria. “Lawmakers Frustrated by Deficiency in Handling Mentally Ill Defendants.” Hawaiʻi Tribune Herald. February 7, 2024. https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/02/07/hawaiinews/lawmakers-frustrated-by-deficiency-in-handling-mentally-illdefendants/.
57 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity; Anderson KM, Olson S, editors. The Effects of Incarceration and Reentry on Community Health and Well-Being: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2019 Sep 18. 3, Mass Incarceration as a Public Health Issue.
Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK555719/
58 Brisson, Daniel, et. al. "Designing for Healing, Dignity, and Joy: Iterating on the Trauma-Informed Design Framework” Version 2. Accessed November 16, 2024. https://shopworksarc.com/wpcontent/uploads/2023/06/2023-TID-Framework-v3.pdf
59 Lopez i Ferrer, Marayca, Helena Pombares. “Blending TraumaInformed and Salutogenic Principles in the Design of Modern Correctional Facilities.” Justice Trends. June 28, 2024. https:// justice-trends.press/blending-trauma-informed-and-salutogenicprinciples-in-the-design-of-modern-correctional-facilities/
60 Engstrom, Kelsey, Esther Van Ginneken. “What is Ethical Prison Architecture? An Exploration of Prison Design and Wellbeing.” July 17, 2023. 29-37.
61 Grabowska, Sam, et. al. “Architectural Principles in the Service of Trauma Informed Design”, Denver, Colorado, 2021. https:// shopworksarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Arc-Principles-inthe-Service-of-TID.pdf
62 Menschner, Christopher, Maul, Alexandra. “Issue Brief: Key Ingredients for Successful Trauma-Informed Care Implementation”. Advancing Trauma-Informed Care, April 6, 2016. https://www. samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/programs_campaigns/childrens_ mental_health/atc-whitepaper-040616.pdf
63 Brisson, Daniel, et. al. “Designing for Healing, Dignity, and Joy v2: Iterating on the Trauma-Informed Design Framework”. Shopworks Architecture, Group 14 Engineering, University of Denver Center for Housing and Homelessness Research, and Bryn Mawr College. 2023. https://shopworksarc.com/wp-content/ uploads/2023/06/2023-TID-Framework-v3.pdf
64 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014.
65 Benjet, C., et.al. The epidemiology of traumatic event exposure worldwide: results from the World Mental Health Survey Consortium. Psychological medicine, 46(2), 327–343, 2016. https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4869975/.
66 Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health. “MythBuster: Trauma and Mental Health in Young People”. Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, 2018. https://www.orygen.org.au/Training/Resources/ Trauma/Mythbusters/Trauma-mh-yp/Trauma_and_MH_in_YP_ Mythbuster?ext=.
67 Brisson, et al. “Designing for Healing”.
68 SAMHSA. “SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma”.
69 SAMHSA. “SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma”.
70 Van der Kolk, Bessel. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. United States: Penguin Publishing Group, 2014.
71 Van der Kolk. The Body Keeps the Score.
72 Shopworks Architecture, Group 14 Engineering, University of Denver Center for Housing and Homelessness Research. “Trauma Informed Design Manual: Promoting Physical Health, Mental Health, and Well-Being Through Trauma-Informed Design.” October 12, 2021. https://shopworksarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ TID-Four-Phase-Process-Manual.pdf
73 Lopez i Ferrer, Marayca, Helena Pombares. “Blending TraumaInformed and Salutogenic Principles in the Design of Modern Correctional Facilities.” Justice Trends. June 28, 2024. https:// justice-trends.press/blending-trauma-informed-and-salutogenic-
74 Engstrom and Ginneken. “What is Ethical Prison Architecture?”
75 Lerman, Amy E. “Officer Health and Wellness - Results from the California Correctional Officer Survey." University of California, Berkeley. November 2017. https://gspp.berkeley.edu/assets/ uploads/research/pdf/executive_summary_08142018.pdf
76 Lerman. “Officer Health & Wellness.”
77 Lerman. “Officer Health & Wellness.”
78 Eberhardt, Tom, Engstrom, Kelsey, Hermann, Jeff. “Changing Correctional Culture: A Public Health Approach”. Presentation given at Breaking Cycles Symposium, Honolulu, HI, October 10, 2023, 49.
79 Johnson, Christin. “Overview of Hawaiʻi’s Correctional System”.
80 “Future of the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center.” Vol. 42. Why You and Your Community Should Care About Building the New OCCC Now. Hawaiʻi Department of Public Safety. March 2022. https://dcr.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Hawaii-OCCC_ newsletter_Vol42.pdf
81 Brevard County Sheriff's Office. "Florida Mortality Study: Florida Law Enforcement and Corrections Officer." October 17, 2011. https://www.flsheriffs.org/uploads/Florida%20Mortality%20 Study_2011.pdf
82 Department of Health. “DOH Celebrates Mental Health Month in May.” State of Hawaiʻi. April 30, 2024. https://health.hawaii. gov/news/newsroom/doh-celebrates-mental-health-month-inmay/#:~:text=To%20bring%20awareness%20to%20the,at%20 the%20 Hawai%CA%BBi%20State%20 Capitol.
83 Hawaii Council for the Humanities. “Try Think - Genuine Conversation Builds Community.” Accessed November 26, 2024. https://hihumanities.org/what-we-do/try-think/.
85 Manalo-Camp, Adam Keawe. “Through the Eyes of Hālawa.” Ka Wai Ola, November 1, 2022. https://kawaiola.news/moomeheu/ through-the-eyes-of-halawa/.
86 Chapin, Helen G. “Queen’s Hospital.” Ka’iwakīloumoku - Hawaiian Cultural Center. Accessed December 17, 2024. https://kaiwakiloumoku.ksbe.edu/article/historical-snapshotsqueens-hospital#:~:text=Prior%20to%201778%2C%20 Hawaiians%20had,on%20the%20Queen%27s%20 Hospital%20website.&text=Queen%27s%20Hospital%2C%20 Honolulu.&text=Emma%2C%20Queen%20consort%20of%20 Kamehameha%20IV%2C%201836%2D1885.
87 Komeji, Kawena. “Hawaiʻi History Month - Queen Emma & Queen’s Hospital.” University of Hawaiʻi - West Oʻahu. September 8, 2021.
88 Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Ka Wai Ola, Volume 16, Number 1, January 1, 1999.
89 Tanaka, Nicholas. “Hālawa Valley Mālama ʻ ina, the Stewards of Hālawa Valley.” Plan B. Project for M.A. in Hawaiian Studies University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 2009.
90 ASM Affiliates. “Volume III - Oahu Community Correctional Center.” Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, October 27, 2017. https://dcr.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AppendixVolume-3_M-T.pdf.
91 “Hālawa Ahupuaʻa.” Kamehameha Schools.
92 State of Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Site Choices Narrowed for New Community Correctional Center. Future of the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center. Vol. 8. February 2017. https://dcr.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ OCCC-Newsletter_vol-8_v11.pdf.
A: Breaking Cycles Programs and Flyers
B: Comment Forms and Letters
C: Breaking Cycles Symposium Workshop Results
D: Comparison of Recommendations
E: Hālawa Correctional Facility TryThink Workshop
F: Graphic Narrative
Appendix
A: Breaking Cycles Programs and Flyers
Breaking Cycles Symposium Program
October 10 - 11, 2023
Abbreviations
CRWG
PSD
HCSOC
HHHRC
HPA
HPD
KKV LARRP
LA
UPW
UCSF
UHCDC
Correctional Reform Working Group
Department of Public Safety
Hawaiʻi Correctional Oversight Commission
Hawaiʻi Health and Harm Reduction Center
Hawaiʻi Paroling Authority
Honolulu Police Department
Kōkua Kalihi Valley
Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership
Los Angeles Office of Diversion and Reentry
United Public Workers
University of California San Francisco
University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center
Symposium Partners
The Department of Public Safety (PSD), Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Architecture/UH Community Design Center (UHCDC), Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, William S. Richardson School of Law, Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health, Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Matsunaga Peace Institute, Correctional Reform Working Group, along with AMEND at the University of California San Francisco and YWCA Oʻahu.
Re-envisioning a Health, Housing, and Corrections Continuum
We are gathering local and national subject matter experts and stakeholders together to share knowledge and explore new approaches to corrections, diversion, and reentry.
October 10 & 11, 2023 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
YWCA Laniakea 1040 Richards Street
Log onto the feedback poll: Visit the symposium website here:
our project website here:
Image credit: UHCDC
8:30 AM
Oli
Jonathan Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio, UHM Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge
Welcome
Governor Josh Green
Opening Remarks
Tommy Johnson, Director, PSD
9:00 AM Symposium Overview
“Breaking Cycles” Cathi Ho Schar, UHCDC
“Hawaiʻi Statues” Michael K. Livingston, CRWG
“A Snapshot of Corrections” Christin Johnson, HCSOC
9:30 AM
Perceived Barriers and Solutions
Tommy Johnson, PSD
Kalani Werner, UPW
Corey Reincke, HPA
Ronald Ibarra, HCSOC
Moderated by: Christin Johnson, HCSOC
10:30 AM
Changing Correctional Culture - A Public Health Approach
Kelsey Engstrom, Amend at UCSF
Tom Eberhardt, Norwegian Correctional Services
Jeffrey Herrmann, Tri-Cities Reentry Center
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM LUNCH
1:00 PM Designing for Health and Rehabilitation
“Engagement and Alternatives” Cathi Ho Schar, UHCDC
“Pilinaha” Puni Jackson, KKV Hoʻoulu ʻĀina “Jail Design is System Design” Robert Merce, CRWG “SIM Workshop Share-out” Heather Lusk, HHHRC
Changing the System 2:30 PM
R.Mark Browning, Oʻahu First Circuit Court
Jonathan Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio, UHM Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge
Sonny Ganaden, House of Representatives, House District 30
Moderated by: Aviam Soifer, William S. Richardson School of Law
Opening Master of Ceremonies, Terry Visperas, PSD Symposium Facilitation, Leolinda Iokepa, Hilopaʻa Family to Family, Inc
8:30 AM
Welcome Back + Overview
Mark E. Recktenwald, Hawaiʻi Supreme Court
9:00 AM
Diversion - Alternatives to Jail
Dr. Michael Champion, Office of the Governor
Shoshanna Scholar, LA ODR
Troy Vaughn, LARRP
Mike Lambert, HPD
Rebecca Like, County of Kauaʻi Office of the Prosecuting Attorney
Laura E. Thielen, Partners in Care
Ashley Shearer, Queen’s Care Coalition
9:30 AM Reentry Panel
Troy Vaughn, LARRP
Jamee Miller, ʻEkolu Mea Nui
Les Estrella, Going Home Hawaiʻi
James Koshiba, Office of the Governor
Monica Lortz, PSD
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM LUNCH
Whole System Workshop 1:00 PM
“Call to Action”
Dr. Michael Champion, Office of the Governor Workshop will solicit action items related to prevention, diversion, correctional culture, jail design, and reentry. Outcomes and recommendations will be shared out in a Spring legislative debrief.
Lead Facilitators:
Kat Brady, Cara Compani, Tom Eberhardt, Kelsey Engstrom, Cathi Ho Schar, Creesha Layaoen, Dean Matsumura, Dan Milz, Dylan Pilger, Shoshanna Scholar, Annie Valentin, Troy Vaughn, Caroline Whitesel, Michael Wilson
Closing Panel 3:00 PM
Linda Lingle, Co-chair Women’s Prison Project Dr. Michael Champion, Office of the Governor ODR/LARRP, Amend Tommy Johnson, PSD
Breaking Cycles Symposium Update, March 6, 2024
Update
Re-envisioning a Health, Housing, and Corrections Continuum
Please join us for outcomes from our workshops and recent updates from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of Health, Department of Human Services, Judiciary, Governor’s Office, and community partners.
To RSVP or learn more
Scan this QR code or visit www.breaking-cycles-symposium.org
Email: uhcdc@hawaii.edu
Phone: (808) 956-4704
Wednesday March 6th, 2024
4:30 - 6:30 P.M.
Hawaiʻi State Capitol Auditorium
415 S Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI 96813
Welcome
“Department Update”
Tommy Johnson, Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation
“Note from the Governor’s Office”
Michael Champion, Governor’s Office
“Workshop Outcomes”
Cathi Ho Schar, UH Community Design Center
“Kauhale Initiative”
John Mizuno, Governor’s Office
“Sequential Intercept Mapping Final Report”
Nikos Leverenz, Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center “Crisis Continuum”
Dr. Chad Koyanagi, Department of Health
“Post-Booking Jail Diversion in the First Circuit”
Judge Tracy Fukui, Hawai‘i State Judiciary
Kainoa Castro, Department of Health
“Med-QUEST’s 1115 Waiver Renewal"”
Judy Mohr Peterson, Department of Human Services
“Ho‘okanaka and ʻĀina-Based Recovery”
Iopa Maunakea, Men of PA‘A
Q&A
Pau!
Image credit: UHCDC
Breaking Cycles Virtual Roundtable Flyer, April 12, 2024
Breaking ycles Virtual Roundtable: OCCC Programming & Design Case Studies
Friday, April 12, 2024 9:00 - 10:30 AM
Welcome
Tommy Johnson, Director, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Lois Kim, Case Management Program Manager, Care Hawaiʻi
Presentations
James Krueger, Director of Design, HMC Architects
Lucy Easley, Facility Director, Davidson's County Sheriff's Office Behavioral Care Center
Roundtable
Hayley Cheng, First Deputy Public Defender, Office of the Public Defender
Dennis Dunn, Board Member, Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Keoki Dudoit, Director of Operations, Makana O Ke Akua
Christin Johnson, Oversight Coordinator, Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission
Lois Kim, Case Management Program Manager, Care Hawaiʻi
Bob Merce, Chair, Correctional Reform Working Group
Eugenie Naone, Director of Programs, Ke Ola Mamo
OCCC Community Engagement Workshop, February 1, 2024
OCCC Community Engagement Workshop
Please join us for project updates and to participate in co-design activities and discussions.
The University of Hawai'i Community Design Center is working with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (formerly Department of Public Safety) to envision rehabilitative models for a new jail to replace the O'ahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) and to strengthen our community-based continuum of care.
Thursday, February 1, 2024
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Aiea Elementary School Cafeteria
To RSVP or to learn more: Scan this QR code or visit www.engagehawaii.org
To request special accommodations or for inquiries, contact us at: email: uhcdc@hawaii.edu tel: 808.956.4704
Aiea
Aiea
Community of Practice Meetings
Appendix B: Comment Forms and Letters
Breaking Cycles Symposium Feedback, October 10 - 11, 2023
What was your biggest takeaway from this symposium?
This is a special moment in Hawaiʻi’s history where there’s a genuine interest in seeing human-centered change, which is hope-inspiring. There’s so many great examples we have to draw on from across the country and from here at home. We need everybody at the table to make it happen.
The system is broken, we are failing people, we’ve been failing them, and we need a major change ASAP. The system is broken on so many levels, so that means everyone from every level needs to be involved in change. Intake service centers can affect the populations in jail, provided they make clear explanations to the judges that set bail!!
We need decarceration now. The PIC in Hawaiʻi especially, is inherently a harmful institution forced on oppressed indigenous peoples by western colonization and the American empire/ imperialism.
There is hope and actions needs to start. Fear
Knowing that changes to the system is being discussed to help of people in the community.
Testimonials
Culture change in prisons & jails can happen quickly, if there are a few committed people + support from the top. Prison + punishment apparatuses state is in terrible silos + don’t stick to goals. Prison officials who work / adult men do not envision reforms for ppl w/ violent classifications. Terrible short sight.
What are you most interested in learning about or talking about further?
I think there’s an appetite for thinking together about incorporating Hawaiian culture into prisons, jails, and communities. I’d be really eager to have discussions, specifically around this and what it might look like.
Saguaro also didn’t come up as much as an issue we could address. Would appreciate intentional discussion about holding people out-of-state.
All of it, but we also need to find the best way to share all of this information with the general public because it’s hard to make change without public/community support.
How are we going to implement these visions to a healthier community?
The collaboration that is needed to assist the judicial system (judges) to assist our jails.
Why did UHDC already have jail construction as a part of their timeline before the symposium or their community outreach is pau? What is the intention of their outreach/inreach if they are already committed to designing/building a new, harmful, jail?
Fear
Hope
Learning that there is a lot of programs that have the same thoughts. Enjoyed meeting and networking. And being able to speak freely.
Support services
Implementation of ideas proposed today! Keynotes: Need more communityexpertise; fewer cops, guards + (white) men in collars.
Lots of states + professionals w/o lived criminalization experience in Hawaiʻi With all these ppl in room, it would be good to be hear from community - this needs to be planned, prepared.
Other comments for future convenings and workshops.
I would’ve loved to see more representation from formerly incarcerated people, who live the realities the decisions people in this room will make. I’d also like to have more conversations about how to support victims. There’s research and programs like Common Justice in NYC that are changing lives for both “offenders” and “victims”.
There also seemed to be an unspoken consensus that abolition is not a possibility nor a desired goal. I would’ve appreciated more space for the abolitionist perspective.
The day flowed really nicely, and I loved how many speakers we got to hear from! Would’ve appreciated just a couple of minutes between talks to stretch. Would love to see a list of ways to stay involved in these conversations and efforts.
Also would love to see a note about language to go along with setting guidelines for the day. For example, using human-centered language versus the terms like “offender”.
I want to know how this symposium will actually lead to future change. Maybe send out updates to those who attended with solutions/changes/updates following today.
Include people with lived experience! There should be at least one panel with only people who have lived experience to share their perspective. Should also invite experienced folks to attend and participate in workshops. In the invite/ flyer, encourage people to invite anyone they know with lived experience.
More collaboration
Updates on current and future changes
Have you heard of programs like pathfinders or breaking barriers?
We need impacted folks specifically on these panels; not privileged men who uphold oppression and the intentional exploitation of criminalized communities. Frankly, way too many men were put on a pedestal and took up far too much space where there should’ve been formerly incarcerated people who are actually impacted by the solutions, strategies, and policies that we’re talking about. This was an incredibly patriarchal and unsafe space because of their presence, especially for native folx who are further impacted by the issues white/non-native settlers want to solve. The high presence of HPD, judges, cops, and others who directly harm and inflict violence and literally criminalize/ send to jail & prison also made the space particularly unsafe. For future events, PLEASE give formerly impacted folks, especially Native, Black, Brown, Queer/māhū, Pacific Islander/Oceania, unhoused, disabled, and kanaka ʻōiwi voices and bodies a platform to share their manaʻo; NOT cishet white men who uphold hierarchies that fund their PIC. We already know everything they have in their keynotes because they’re talking about OUR lived experiences. Give us the space and time to have people listen to our stories because we know the best path forward already. The inclusion of Kānaka (that you could on one hand) in the symposium was tokenizing. Please do better and include more kanaka ʻiwi in your outreach; especially those at UH in POLS/AMST/ES/etc.!
Thank you
To continue having this symposium to help continue to bring providers and supporters together. If we stop everything will just sit and collect dust.
Mentor safe places for max’d out LARRP presenters - excellent. KKU excellent. Day 2 re-entry panelexcellent. Changing system Day 1 panel - weak! Did any of those guys prepare except Dr. Osario?? Just listed some work. No insight.
Day 1: Perceived Barriers + Solutions panel: gross family blaming for substance-use (Ron Ibarra + others). “mom+dad do it; uncle does it”. YEA but HOUSING? MEANINGFUL WORK? SYSTEMS ABANDONMENT? Poverty + hard circumstances? Gross, racist, paternalizing blame. Invisiblezed state as driver of organized abandonment + war on drugs.
Breaking Cycles Symposium Update
Comments,
March 6, 2024
name + email address: comment / question:
Is Kauhele permanent housing? DO YOU HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
name + email address: comment / question:
Would like more statistics to support the information
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
name + email address: comment / question:
Will UHCDC hold informational + feedback meetings in rural out of Honolulu communities such as Waimanalo, Waianae, Kailua, Hawaii Kai, Kalihi, etc. How will info about a new prison or alternatives be proliferated throughout the state? Seems like the public is not as informed or few people understand their efforts. Is there an overarching plan to educate the public about the connections between quality education <--> health <-- access to and lack there of --> to behaviors that lend to incarceration?
We are headed toward becoming a trauma-informed state - can we focus on "wellbeing" informed system wide?
In every state dept. + businesses appreciate the rapid overview shared! Mahalo
P.S. Lighting on the stage is poor. Can't see the speaker. Isn't there a better place to meet? Perhaps at UH or a community college?
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
name + email address: comment / question:
1) It seems that elected officials have been left out state and city leaders, especially the reps and senators? 2) What happens when an incarcerated person they connected to services?
out of the process. Are there plans to involve our senators? with mental health needs is released? How are
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
name + email address: comment / question:
Breaking the cycles: Does it include faith base organization? The vocational and faith base programs is not accurate. Please update.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
name + email address: comment / question:
I'm a design major; it seems like your team went through the user-oriented collaborative design motions with great effort; you put your design hats and "engaged the community" and grouped sticky notes and aligned your yellow & black Helvetica headings. And because you completed your x number of user interviews and called yourself collaborators (implying the you were on an equal playing field with the community) did you ever stop to wonder what it meant that you were contracting for the literal prison system? Did you ask whether your team was simply manufacturing consent so that your real client - the prison system - will go ahead and build a new billion dollar building to incarcerate more people, to destroy more lives, to keep expanding the carceral state?
Talk as much as you want about alternatives, about diversion, co-opt as much abolitionist language you want about "restorative justice"... but I hope you ask yourself what it means to have designed for the prison system. How manhy more people will be in hell because of your design work.
Director Cathi Ho Schar
University of Hawai‘i Community Design Center 2410 Campus Rd. #212 Honolulu, HI 96822
November 15, 2024
Re: Opposition to UHCDC’s Proof of Concept Study to Build a New Super Jail on Oahu
Dear Director Schar:
The Reimagining Public Safety Hawai‘i Coalition submits comments relating to the University of Hawai’i Community Design Center’s contract with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to lead on community engagement, programming and a proof of concept study to build a new jail to replace O‘ahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC). 1
While our coalition recognizes that the current conditions in OCCC are unacceptable, for the reasons outlined below, we strongly oppose the proposed plans to build a conservatively estimated $1 billion new jail on O‘ahu to continue the mass incarceration o f 1,000+ of our neighbors, friends, and family.
We respectfully request inclusion of this coalition statement into UHCDC’s final report to DCR and shared with the public.
Coalition Background
The Reimagining Public Safety Coalition is a diverse group of Hawai’i based organizations and everyday residents that bring both lived experience and expertise from a range of sectors including public health, the criminal legal system, economic revitalization, restorative justice, mental health, street medicine and harm reduction, and police oversight and accountability, among others. The coalition is working to transform Hawaii’s safety system away from policing and incarceration and toward an intersectional public health and wellness based approach to community safety that addresses the root causes of poverty and crime.
1 The original contract was signed by the Department of Public Safety and the University of Hawaii Community Design Center. The Department of Public Safety has since changed its name to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“DCR”).
Committed to racial justice and equity, we acknowledge that Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, African Americans and Filipinos are disparately impacted by our criminal legal system in Hawai‘i. 2 We are working to advance community based solutions that are responsive to the unique cultural, historical, and political landscape in Hawai‘i.
Jails Have Become The Place Where Hawai’i Warehouses Our Most Vulnerable Residents
No conclusive research has indicated that increased jail incarceration has a meaningful impact on crime reduction. This is especially true for crimes rooted in poverty and public health issues. The problems we are seeing on our streets that spill over into our jails are primarily driven by an affordable housing and public health crisis of mental illness and substance addiction.
We cannot arrest and incarcerate our way out of these problems.
The Hawai’i Legislature recognizes this. Over the past decade, policymakers have enacted extensive reforms to reduce the number of people in our jails and prisons from its peak over a decade ago. Specifically, the Legislature created the H.C.R. 85 Task Fo rce and Hawai‘i Correctional System Oversight Commission, and enacted pretrial reforms to divert people at the front end of our criminal legal system. 3
When Governor Josh Green ran for office two years ago, a central piece of his campaign was to move Hawai’i toward a public health based approach to safety. He promised to stop locking up people experiencing houselessness, mental health issues, and substance addiction, and instead divert them into permanent supportive housing and treatment.
This long overdue pivot reflects a deeply disturbing reality of Hawaii’s public safety system:
● Currently, at least 40% of all people in jail in Hawai’i are houseless, and many more are suffering from mental health issues and addiction.
● More than 60% of people being warehoused in our jails are legally innocent while awaiting their day in court. Many are locked up because they can’t afford to pay bail.
Simply put, most people sitting in jail right now shouldn’t be there.
3 https://www.courts.state.hi.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/HCR-85_task_force_final_report.pdf; see also Jongwook “Wookie” Kim and Samatha McNichols, “Criminal Justice Deep Dive: A Closer Look at Hawai’i Bail Statutes and Practices,” The Hawai’i Bar Journal, October 2024, p. 4-19. https://aclunationalmy.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/jfrost_acluhawaii_org/EaD6F1XVlY5BoAbB0L2IlM0BSkC9NNi4ueVjR2WNnE oEEw?e=FcK1ir
Top officials in the public safety and corrections system, including Tommy Johnson, the current Director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, have publicly stated that incarcerating houseless and mentally ill residents is the least effectiv e-most expensive option.
The Governor and state officials have repeatedly claimed they will be increasingly diverting houseless, people with mental illness, and substance addiction out of jail and into treatment, housing, and services.
The result will be a significantly smaller jail population.
Rejecting the Proposed Public Private Partnership Jail Expansion
Given this context, the Reimagining Public Safety Coalition is stunned that DCR, Governor Green and some state officials are still pushing for an unprecedented 1 billion dollar jail on O‘ahu to replace OCCC with a “public-private partnership.”
Constructing a new and larger jail is not only a highly ineffective approach for improving public safety, but also an extremely irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars.
Claims by DCR officials made during UHDC community engagement events that a larger jail is justified because the state population will balloon over the next 40 years not only disregards systematic diversion, but also basic facts such as the state population remaining essentially flat for the past 10 years with multiple years seeing declines. 4
It is crucial to note, that if history is a guide, the proposed superjail will far exceed the proposed 1 billion dollars - and will heavily burden current taxpayers and future generations. 5
We reject the proposed jail plans to replace OCCC because it is too large, too restrictive, too costly, and envisions a world in which we lock up even more Hawai’i residents than we do today.
Shifting Long Term Investments into a Care First, Jails Last Policy
As we reimagine the future of our criminal legal system, we need to focus on advancing evidence-driven policy reforms, and funding investments that enable our communities to thrive.
The public benefit from spending a billion dollars on building a bigger jail is far outweighed by spending that same one billion dollars to address the housing and public health crisis gripping our communities. After decades of underinvesting in affordable housing and public health, the infrastructure and resources required to fully implement decarceration reforms passed by the
4 Hawaii Population 1950-2023 | MacroTrends
5 See, Core Civic and GEO Group’s push for public -private partnerships in building prisons , In The Public Interest, Jan. 2018. See also, Bob Merce, Getting It Right: Better Ideas for a New Jail (explaining that P3s are not suitable for planning jails, pp. 14-18); https://www.courts.state.hi.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/HCR85_task_force_final_report.pdf
state are insufficient, and bottlenecks to systematic diversion remain an urgent issue that must be addressed.
The state has both the mandate and resources to immediately resolve diversion bottlenecks, which will dramatically reduce the jail population.
Decisions about what type of facility, if any, is appropriate can only be made once diversion has been fully funded and implemented, and an accurate assessment of needs can be ascertained. For this reason, we find it concerning that during the UHDC commun ity engagement events, DCR officials claimed that if they overbuild, “empty beds can be used for treatment.” This thinking is outdated and contravenes best practices within drug policy. Jail is not the place people should go to get treatment for obvious reasons, including because seminal studies conclude that forced treatment is not evidence-based, and is unethical, harmful, and can be deadly. 6
Care First, Jail Last Policy and Budget Recommendations
We call upon Governor Green and the Hawai’i Legislature to adopt a Care First, Jails Last policy, and to support a Moratorium that pauses further planning and spending on the proposed new super jail.
We also call upon the Hawai’i Legislature to conduct a forensic audit of DCR’s carceral expansion spending. This will provide independent, objective and transparent answers to questions about DCR’s carceral expansion spending and performance. In turn, th is will eliminate waste and inefficiency in government.
To reduce the flow of people into jails, Hawai‘i must significantly increase and sustain budget investments into housing and community based healthcare, employment, education, youth programs, restorative justice, and other crucial social services from a h olistic and cultural lens.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments in opposition to the proposed new conceptual plans for a new $1 billion dollar jail, and support for a Care First, Jails Last policy and long-term budget investments to promote true community safety.
Sincerely,
Reimagining Public Safety in Hawai‘i Coalition
Email Contact:
ReimagineSafetyHawaii@gmail.com
6 The Drug Policy Forum, The Drug Treatment Debate: Why Accessible and Voluntary Treatment Wins Out Over Forced, (September 2024). https://drugpolicy.org/wpcontent/uploads/2024/09/TheDrugTreatmentDebate_10.30.24-Interactive.pdf
THE CORRECTIONAL REFORM WORKING GROUP
841 Fort Street Mall, Suite 400 Honolulu, Hawai’i 96813
Ms. Cathi Ho Schar, FAIA, Director
December 2, 2024
UHM School of Architecture/University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center
On behalf of the Correctional Reform Working Group, I want to thank you and your team for the outstanding work you have done in providing our community with an alternative model for the new jail to replace the Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC). It has been a pleasure working with you and your team over the past two years. We have learned a lot from you, and we hope you have learned a few things from us.
Planning for the replacement of OCCC provides a unique opportunity to rethink important elements of our criminal justice and correctional systems , and to design a jail that will reduce recidivism, make our community safer, and address some of Oahu’s most intractable problems, including homelessness, addiction, and mental illness . 1
Although we have not seen your final report, based on conversations we have had, and the previews you and your team presented at community meetings, we are confident it will provide a roadmap for designing a jail that reflects our community’s values, and meets the unique needs of our community. Under your leadership, the UH Community Design Center (UHCDC) has done a remarkable job of pre-design planning, and your report can and must serve as the foundation for all jail planning going forward.
We also want to thank the UHCDC’s partners at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa whose knowledge and experience helped UHCDC give voice to the community’s desire for a more just, humane, and culturally relevant correctional system: the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health, the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, the William S. Richardson School of Law, and the Office of Public Health Studies.
As your project draws to a close, we would like to make a few comments, and share our views on the next steps in planning, designing, and building a new jail on O ʻahu.
1 Correctional Reform Working Group, “Getting it Right: Recommendations and Action Plan for Better Jail,” October, 2022, p. 1.
Cathi Ho Schar
December 2, 2024
Page Two ▪
Community Engagement
The multi-disiplinary UHCDC team conducted an in -depth and exhaustive outreach program to engage a broad range of stakeholders on the critical issues facing our criminal justice and correctional systems, and the role of the new jail within those systems. I am not aware of any city, county, or state that has ever engaged in such a rigouros and comprehensive pre-design process, and as a result, we now have a clear idea of the issues our community deems important, and the kind of correctional system and jail they want.
The UHCDC’s findings show that there is broad community support for a new correctional model. The community wants the State to decrease incarceration and increase community-based care, adopt a public health approach to corrections, adopt a Native Hawaiian well-being framework for rehabilitation, and create facilities that are therapeutic, and have a trauma-informed design that benefits both prisoners and staff.
They want the State to strengthen and expand diversion, increase funding for reentry programs, provide community-based wraparound services for people who are mentally ill or struggling with substance use disorders, and bring community-based programs into our correctional facilities.
The community recognizes that the changes they want are so broad and deep that they will require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to change the culture of corrections, adopt new vision and mission statements, and create a new identity for the Department and the jail.
And perhaps most importantly, the community has made it crystal clear that they want to be continuously engaged in reimagining and redefining the correctional system, and be full partners with the government in developoing the Request for Proposals (RFPs) for the new jail and all future consultant contracts.
The changes the community wants are closely aligned with a framework of already existing statutes, rules and regulations that provide the legal foundation–indeed a mandate– for a correctional system with a rehabilitative and therapeutic focus.2 They also align with the paper the Working Group wrote in 2022, “Getting it Right: Recommendations and Action Plan for a Better Jail,” with the recommendations of the HCR 85 Task Force on Prison Reform (2018), and with the recommendations of the Native Hawaiian Justice Task Force (2012). In other words, the ideas and concepts the community wants today, are essentionally the same ideas and concepts experts have been recommending for more than a decade.
2 See Correctional Reform Working Group, note 1 supra. pp. 16-19.
Cathi Ho Schar
December 2, 2024
Page Three
▪ The Path Forward
As we pointed out in “Getting it Right,” jails are part of a complex justice system whose policies and practices directly influence the number of beds needed in a new jail, and therefore jail planning cannot be done in a vacuum. Any consideration of jail bed needs must take place within the context of a discussion about how to manage the larger criminal justice system more effectively. 3 As your team has pointed out in your many presentations, the 2024 “O’ahu Sequential Intercept Model,” has identifed significant gaps in our justice system that are driving up our jail population and filling our jails with people who do not belong there. Accordingly, the next step in the jail planning process should be for the State to step back from its current plans , and create a planning body comprised of State, City, and community stakeholders to engage in system planning, and design a new jail based on, and informed by, the UHCDC report.
The new planning body will have to deal with a number of long-standing and highly problematic decisions that date back to the 2017 "Progress Report the State Legislature," the 2019 “Oahu Community Correctional Center Master Plan Report,” and the 2021 OCCC Population Forecast by Pulitzer Board & Associates.
1. The UHCDC report has many great design ideas, but we are concerned that the approximately 19- acre site in Halawa Valley is too small to accommodate them. By way of comparison, the 1,280-bed Las Colinas detention and reentry center outside of San Diego,which has won many design awards, is situated on a 45-acre site that allows for a low-rise, campus-style facility and outdoor activities that support a rehabilitative, therapeutic, and trauma-informed design. Trying to cram a 1,300-bed jail/reentry complex onto a 19-acre site will inevitably lead to design compromises that will defeat the goal of building a modern, trauma-informed facility We urge the State to find a site for the new jail that allows for a campus style design similar to the Las Colinas facility and that will have space to implement the design ideas in the UHCDC report.
2. The State does not need a 1,300-bed jail. The final report of the State’s jail capacity consultant, Pulizer Bogard & Associates, has two forecasts. The first assumes that the State will not take any action whatsoever to reduce its jail population. In that case, it will need a 1,300-bed jail. But if it takes very conservative steps to divert people accused of low-level or technical offenses away from incarceration, it could signicantly reduce the jail population and allow the State to build a smaller and less expensive jail. We estimate that by following the consultant’s diversion recommendations the State would save
3 See “Getting it Right: Recommendations and Action Plan for a Better Jail,” p. 28. See also, David M. Bennett and Donna Lattin, “Jail Capacity Planning Guide: A Systems Approach,” U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, NIC Accession No. 022722, November, 2009.
Cathi Ho Schar
December 2, 2024
Page Four
3. hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs, and hundreds of millions more in operational costs over the estimated 50-year life of the jail.
The State should heed Pulizer Bogard’s warning that “[u]nless population reduction (such as the diversion estimates that we have detailed) can be implemented through policy and legal reform, the new OCCC will still be a large facility with a large detention and prelease population. (Pulizer/Bogard Final Report, p. 43, emphasis added).
4. Designing and building a new jail with a public-private partnership (P3) is a bad idea. P3s are an expensive and inefficient way of financing public infrastructure. They lack transparency, prioritize private financial gain over the public interest, reduce public control over public infrastructure, and are subject to corruption. 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. Additionally, jails reflect the values of the community, and as such, their design should never be outsourced to a private corporation under a P3.
5. Due to the complexity of designing and building a new jail, we strongly recommend that Governor Green immediately hire a person with extensive construction experience to serve as his representative to guide and oversee the planning and construction of the new jail. This person should be part of the Governor’s Office, have no responsibilities other than the jail, and should report directly to the Governor. The Governor’s repesentative should be tasked with ensuring that the recommendations of the community, as set forth in the UHCDC report, are implemented, and he or she should convene a group of community stakeholers to participate as full partners in the planning, RFP development, and construction process going forward.
The UHCDC report proves that Hawaii has a wealth of innovators and thought-leaders from 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 community. These people are one of Hawaii’s most valuable assets because they have decades of experience working with justice -involved individuals and embody the “wisdom of the community.” You and your team have done an outstanding job of tapping into that wisdom, and we hope you will stay engaged and continue to work with us as we move forward.
Aloha and Mahalo to you and your team, partners, and collaborators,
Robert K. Merce, Chair Correctional l Reform Working Group
Foster connections within the community to facilitate active participation and partnership.
Neighborhood boards
Community organizations
Community
Government
Coalitions
HCAP
Provide housing that is both affordable and supportive. Integrate Native Hawaiian cultural principles to aid individuals in crisis.
Diversion
Expand and fund community services to increase residential treatment, cultural programming, diversion, and reentry options.
ACLU Hawaiʻi
Native Hawaiians
People with lived experience
Program leaders
Indigenous populations
OWC to convene to determine provider hui
Provider association hui
Office of Wellness and Resilience
HHHRC
DOH
DHS Office of Wellness and Resilience
Restorative Justice Groups
ACLU Hawaiʻi
GHH
Fund Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission.
Holistic criminal justice reform to include bail and sentencing and education of police, prosecutors, judges, public safety.
HCSOC
Judiciary
OHA
Judiciary
UH Innocence Project/
Hawaiian Studies
Legislators, Chair House
Probation
Who Supports Budget Request Policy Change Next
Steps
Puna Action Committee
DOE
DOH
DHS
OHA
Alu Like
Community
Honolulu Tenants Union
Community members
Governor’s Office
<$100,000 (support emerging community acting groups)
$50,000 (community planning)
<$100,000
Raise Section 8 and emergency housing vouchers
Reinvest capital to county to redistribute Resolution
Legislation
Illegal to discriminate based on poverty
Environmental scan
Committee for communication
Identify leader
Initial signatures
Flexible, low-barrier, affordable housing
State funding preference
<$100,000
HHFDC
Providers through GIA’s
DCR
DLNR
OHA
HCSOC
OHA
Judiciary
Adult Probation
OHA
Law enforcement
General public
$10 million (for site/ construction/land)
$5 million (10-year fund for operations)
Evidence base built via evaluation
Identify definitions to put into contracts
Mandatory attachments
Outcomes linked to culturally appropriate measures
Identify sustainable funding to maintain non-profit services
Create 24/7 community based service centers Act 117
Increase rapid rehousing (vouchers)
Cooperate on Act 117: Puʻuhonua
Review PSD intake and population
Identify partners
Commission submits budget to legislators
None
None
Identify next budget and submit
Legislation Pass Law
Submit legislation
Recruit bill sponsors
Public education
Identify community organization to lead
Work on curriculum for judicial training and training probation
Breaking Cycles Symposium Workshop
Recommendations
Action Who Leads
Correctional Culture
Develop a training program for both existing and incoming correctional personnel.
Streamline the recruitment process for new correctional staff to fill vacancies.
Enhance staff leadership within correctional facilities.
Reentry
Diversify housing options.
Community/County Council
Government/Private Sectors Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions
Expand reentry services.
DCR
CBO Peer support trainers
Conduct mental health assessments to provide the appropriate placement of individuals within a correctional facility.
DCR HCSOC
Who Supports Budget Request Policy Change Next
Steps
AMEND
Union
Facility leadership
DHRD
$2.5 million
$250,000 for consultant, or overtime costs
Training and expectations (academy)
Hire AMEND
Facility leadership/downtown
HCSOC
$750,000
Government/private
Business community
Neighborhood board
HPHA
DCR
Governor’s Office
Legislators
Service providers
Legislature
Business Community
Governor’s Office
DOH
State
City and County
$1 billion
$4,100/person for 6 months
Increase funding by 30% for housing cost and service providers for a living wage
DCR handles hiring
Find bottleneck
Mental Health Kokua
Community care services
Hawaiʻi State Hospital
Community
DOH
$700 million (pre-reentry training)
$1 million (treatment services)
$150 million (essential documents e.g. birth certificates, ID’s, bus passes)
Less punishment, more listening
Assess the needs of staff, including improvements based on staff feedback and wellbeing
Legislature funding Bill for service (halfway house, affordable housing)
Prioritize projects that are for population
Create a community board or intermediary
Receive legislature/private funding
Link community providers to RFP
Community/Advisory Board
Contracts for treatment and NH healing practices
Legislature Policy Statue
Change Waiver
Create an advisory community board
Connect treatment providers to DCR
Request for funding and support needs
Immediate policy change waiver of fees
State and contracts with providers
Mental health assessments throughout a person’s incarceration
Work with DCR to change policy on mental health assessment
Appendix D: Comparison of Recommendations
Intercept 0 Community System
Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center
2024 Oʻahu Sequential Intercept Model
Provide significant investments in housing and supportive housing.
Provide long-term supporting housing for the aging out population.
Help with contracting with state entities.
Establish an Emergency Rental Assistance program to prevent evictions and the accompanying houselessness that increases the risk of incarceration.
Establish a residential mental health treatment facility for severely and persistently mentally ill people.
Establish a Drug/Mental Health “Drop-Off” Center where anyone can bring a friend or family member who is in crisis and get immediate help.
Increase collaboration between the Community Care Services (CCS) / Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Adult Mental Health Division (AMHD) systems. Figure out the churn for people who are involved with the justice system as they are moved between case management systems. The same provider may have to work across multiple payers to provide case management. Implement more linkages to services for people with complex medical issues. These people often face rejection due to lack of services and places for long-term care. No “wet” shelter on island.
Expand C.O.R.E. services islandwide.
C.O.R.E. services are mainly supported through federal COVID dollars, and there is a need to ensure services long-term.
Need to pass the crisis continuum services. Need for providers who accept Medicaid.
Provide a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic on Oʻahu.
Lessen duplication efforts within the justice system requirement. Need more coordination with providers.
Provide more long-term beds.
Need for streamlined technical response. Perhaps Partners in Care.
Need more partnerships and contracts in place.
Needs for guardians ad litem, which are necessary to support ACT.
HHIE (Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly) is not real time. Some Epic access exists, but it can be challenging to track clients without access.
C.O.R.E. sometimes does not have immediate answers but a recording that says they’ll return an answer in 24 hours.
"Encompasses the early intervention points for people with mental and substance use disorders prior to being charged for an offense by
enforcement."
Source: SAMHSA
law
Correctional Reform Working Group Getting It Right: Better Ideas for a New Jail
Establish a 24/7 Islandwide Crisis Response Team that is effective as CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) which keeps people in crisis out of jail and saves the city millions of dollars every year.
University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center
Breaking Cycles: Alternative Models for Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice for Oʻahu
Communicate the extent to which public health issues impact incarceration.
Invest in stronger public communication programs to promote public awareness and political will around justice reform.
Establish more collaboration across justice and health systems and organizations.
Consider a department like the Los Angeles Office of Diversion and Reentry, housed in the LA Office of Health Services.
Integrate restorative justice circles and related programs into public school systems.
Strengthen support for adolescent mental health, including residential treatment and family support.
Support community and cultural health centers that provide support to vulnerable populations. Take advantage of federal funding for certified behavioral care centers and other communitybased programs.
Develop a statewide plan to decrease incarceration and increase community-based care.
Establish Governor’s Office level support to facilitate public sector cooperation. Select an agency to lead. Appropriate funds for a planning process.
Establish community co-leads including people with lived experience.
Set benchmarks to facilitate tracking and accountability.
Intercept 1 Dispatch and First Response
Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center
2024 Oʻahu Sequential Intercept Model
Honolulu Police Department (HPD) Community Outreach unit no longer exists. Fire Department/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has challenges requesting a CIT person when they need HPD backup, but HPD said that EMS dispatch could request CIT.
Need for peers and pathways out of crisis care.
One-stop shop for crisis and services
Increased support for the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) to expand number of cases.
"Law enforcement and emergency services responses to people with mental and substance use disorders."
Source: SAMHSA
University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center
Breaking Cycles: Alternative Models for Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice for
Support crisis line, crisis center, mobile crisis units, and crisis training for police and community-based services.
Oʻahu
Intercept 2 Cell Block Arraignment
Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction
Center
2024 Oʻahu Sequential Intercept Model
Lack of coordination with health plans for diversion programs.
Act 26 might not have actually diverted many people.
Greater use of citations in lieu of arrest, and authorization for police to issue citations for nonviolent class C felonies.
Possible concerns about attorney access to clients in jail.
Jail diversion is run by AMHD, which can create challenges with coordinating care with health plans.
Bail reform. At a minimum, people charged with nonviolent Class C felonies and lower level offenses (misdemeanors, petty misdemeanors, violations) should be released without posting money bail.
Need to create an offense - PDD4 - which provides that possession of 2 grams or less of a dangerous drug is a misdemeanor.
Need for investment on where people can be diverted.
Need for methamphetamine addiction support. There are no diversion opportunities for any domestic violence charges. This can create major challenges for families who might have adult children with serious mental health needs who may be decompensating. Families attempting to remain intact do not have systems that support them appropriately. The system does not fit families trying to support family members with mental health needs.
Too much is mediated by the public defender, who is serving a legal role. Need for support from health systems for clinical discussions around people’s needs.
People need to plead not guilty to get access to an attorney, which means the process is too far underway for meaningful diversion.
People are detained at OCCC while fitness is being determined. Caseloads for evaluating fitness - 50 people on each caseload.
Participants mentioned that the evaluation process is too slow to help people be released due to fitness.
Turn arounds are so tight that it is challenging to do in-depth evaluations.
No linkage to electronic health systems to identify medications that an individual is receiving.
Non-therapeutic and not much input from those who have moved through these systems about how these systems operate.
No peer support to help people moving through these systems.
Need a bill prohibiting denial of pretrial released based solely on defendant’s first positive drug test.
"An individual is detained and faces an initial hearing presided over by a judge or magistrate."
Source: SAMHSA
Correctional Reform Working Group
Getting It Right: Better Ideas for a New Jail
Issue citations in lieu of arrest for non-violent, class C felonies to reduce the number of people who are taken into custody.
Enact bail reform by eliminating money bail for select non-violent class C felonies, misdemeanors, petty misdemeanors, and violations.
Make possession of 2 grams or less of a dangerous drug a misdemeanor.
University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center
Breaking Cycles: Alternative Models for Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice for Oʻahu
Support bail and sentencing reform to facilitate more diversion, starting with low risk individuals with non-violent offenses.
Intercept 3 Court and Jail
Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center
2024 Oʻahu Sequential Intercept Model
Need for diversion models that can avoid the legal process around fitness determinations. Evaluators have 50 people on their docket, and it can take up to 55 days before the primary evaluation occurs.
Give defendants who do not show up in court a 48 hour “grace period” before issuing a bench warrant (would codify current practice) A person who was deemed fit might find themselves decompensated after they stay in incarceration too long.
Currently there is not a functioning electronic health record, but the state is currently procuring one. This could allow PSD to create business associate agreements that will allow for the sharing of data.
"People
with mental and substance use disorders who have not yet been diverted at earlier intercepts may be held in pretrial detention at a local jail while awaiting the disposition of their criminal cases."
Source: SAMHSA
Correctional Reform Working Group Getting It Right: Better Ideas for a New Jail
The planning and design process for the new jail should begin anew, but with the understanding that the planning and design work done to date may be considered as part of the new process.
The proposed public-private partnership model is not conducive to a public works project such as building the new OCCC and should be rejected. The state should use general obligation bonds to finance the jail and work to make the design and operation of the facility as efficient as possible while meeting statutory and constitutional requirements.
The planning and design process for the new jail should generally follow the approach outlined in the NIC Jail Design Guide and the NIC Jail Capacity Planning Guide. Consonant with the recommendations in the Jail Design Guide, the Predesign Planning process should be distinguished and separated from the actual design process.
The planning and design process for the new jail should also draw on other NIC resources, including the NIC The Greening of Corrections: Creating a Sustainable System, to increase efficiency, reduce operating costs, and ensure that the new facility is in line with the State’s energy and environmental policies and goals
Due to the scope and complexity of the Predesign Planning process, a qualified correctional planning consultant or professional project manager will be essential.
The Oversight Commission and Oversight Coordinator should convene an Advisory Committee to provide input and recommendations regarding the planning and design of the new jail, and the process for selecting a qualified correctional planning consultant.
The Oversight Commission should prepare a "scope of work" that will define a comprehensive scope of services, and a management plan and process, to direct and govern the work, duties, and responsibilities of the correctional planning consultant or project manager.
The Oversight Commission and Oversight Coordinator should prepare a budget for completing the Predesign Planning process, as outlined in the NIC Jail Design Guide, and this budget should be submitted to the Legislature for funding.
University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center
Breaking Cycles: Alternative Models for Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice for
Oʻahu
Continue and increase diversion resources to fully realize all critical pieces.
Develop Hawaiʻi-specific assessment tools for diversion.
Commit resources to dedicated diversionary personnel.
Connect diversion programs to temporary and permanent supportive housing options to reduce similar cycling through the crisis system.
Establish a secure diversion center or secure behavioral care center.
Compile information into directories, manuals, and other resources to promote awareness and use of diversion resources by families, case managers, prosecutors, defenders, and judges.
Learn from or build on Kauaʻi Diversion Program, Hawaiʻi Youth Juvenile Justice System diversion, Miami-Dade County, and Pima County.
Consider including a Certified Behavioral Care Center, potentially eligible for federal funding as part of the new jail.
Communicate a clear facility mission, vision, values, and identity.
Communicate initial programmatic intentions for the facility. Make clear how the new facility will function differently as a new model.
Rename the facility to signal a new mission, vision, values, and function.
Require expertise in working with local communities in Hawaiʻi, especially Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
Require cultural expertise on project team. Require lived experience on project team.
Require proposers to show how they integrate community feedback and include this in the scoring rubric of each proposal.
Consider the Design Framework, Design Principles, Design Considerations, and Design Elements in this report that are based on a broad research and engagement.
Intercept 4 Reentry
Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center
2024
Oʻahu
Sequential Intercept Model
Money, child care, SNAP, Medicaid, rental assistance and utilities, work-training, family strengthening, after school, domestic violence support
Homeless outreach and support and more housing
Reentry is chronically understaffed and only supports people who are incarcerated for more than 30 days.
Coordination with reentry and Med-QUEST is just beginning and there are still challenges with identifying what paperwork is necessary. Work with Social Security to get documents.
Acquire naturalization documents.
Reentry documents dependent upon a higher level of literacy than many might have.
Reentry case managers are overworked and disconnected from the health systems. There are only two staff.
Provide better accessibility for community providers to enter the facility.
Lack of a place to go leaves people on parole. Medical Release bill for terminally ill or seriously debilitated individuals.
There is a lack of housing for people coming out of jail. Housing in the community should be built as part of the jail construction. The units should include supportive housing and should be reserved for people leaving jail.
Supportive housing for people granted compassionate release, particularly for prisoners with Alzheimer’s disease.
Housing should include available beds at acute, subacute, and foster care levels of care.
Leahi and Maluhia should be required to accept compassionate release prisoners who require skilled nursing care.
Consider contracting with a care home provider for those who do not qualify for skilled nursing care.
Compassionate release legislation with time limits for reviewing cases and effectuating release. Expedited process for rapidly dying incarcerated persons.
Mandatory classes in Cognitive Skills. Mandatory classes in Anger Management. Exit plans are not provided for incarcerated individuals when they reach maximum term.
"People plan for and transition from prison or jail back into the community."
Source: SAMHSA
Correctional Reform Working Group
Getting It Right: Better Ideas for a New Jail
Expand diversion programs to including the following: 1) Triage centers for people who are experiencing a mental health or drug-related crisis, and 2) Diversion centers that provide case management services to people who are not in a 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.
University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center
Breaking Cycles: Alternative Models for Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice for
Establish clear strategies to provide mental health, substance abuse, and other wraparound services with housing to address root causes of houselessness, crime, and incarceration.
Expand support for smaller residential facilities, like group homes, that can be established in existing houses or buildings, with shorter start-up times, lower development costs, and normalized living environments. Eliminate barriers to housing for individuals with records.
Expand reentry funding and services within corrections and in the community to ensure warm hand-offs and continued support.
Create an advisory board or coalition to represent and advocate for reentry and reentry providers.
Locate reentry and transition beds closer to families, jobs, transportation, and services.
Provide some reentry and transition beds at correctional facilities, with the aim of housing individuals who can safely be housed in the community, off-site.
Develop full step-down reentry housing pathways that provide graduated living options for individuals to move from high to low intensity substance abuse treatment programs, for example from residential living, to therapeutic living, to a clean and sober facility.
Consider the current OCCC site and Laumaka renovation as a future restorative care village, that could support correctional and other reentry for a spectrum of individuals in need of reentry housing. Redevelopment plans should address the history of incarceration tied to the site, and provide spaces for healing and care.
Oʻahu
Intercept 5 Probation and Parole
Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center
2024 Oʻahu Sequential Intercept Model
Probation and AMHD touch the same people and there needs to be coordination and collaboration to ensure that there isn’t a duplication of services.
Need for more pathways for interfamily violence with chronic mental health needs.
The current system does not support families and many feel cornered into getting a restraining order for adult children with mental health disorders.
No place for people on the outside and it leaves people with sex offender cases without a place to land.
Lose “chronic homeless status” if someone is incarcerated for more than 90 days.
Parole says “they will not allow someone to become homeless” but uncertainty about what that means.
Parole support is just sending someone phone numbers to find housing. Parole considers shelter “housed” which is a major challenge.
There is minimal funding to support housing from parole.
Clean and Sober housing is only available for 6 months.
Clinical failures can lead to revocations.
"Not in my backyard" (NIMBY) challenges restrict the opportunities to create housing. Approximately 20% of people are incarcerated because of HOPE probation.
There is need for more protection and support for women who are experiencing abuse/ violence by an intimate partner.
Men and Women in furlough are not having basic assistance to meet essential needs.
Furlough sites do not have training facilities for any classrooms.
The education facilities are not accessible at OCCC because the furlough site requires a security escort to reach the learning center and personnel is not available.
Furlough residents are not allowed to have cell phones which some employers require.
"People under correctional supervision are usually on probation or parole as part of their sentence, as part of the step-down process from prison, or as part of other requirements by state statutes."
Source: SAMHSA
Correctional Reform Working Group Getting It Right: Better Ideas for a New Jail
Stop housing probation violators in the jall by 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.
Appendix E: Hālawa
Correctional Facility
TryThink Workshop
education
family health change restoration
Appendix E:
Hālawa Correctional Facility
TryThink Workshop
UHCDC collaborated with TryThink—a conversational-based program that holds classes with residents at the Hālawa Correctional Facility—to hold a workshop.
During this workshop, Residents were provided with tools and asked to create a collage based on the following questions:
What do you consider to be comfortable? What do you consider to be healing? What elements create a healing space? What aspects of a space support your own well-being?
The following images were produced by men who participated in the TryThink workshop at Hālawa Correctional Facility.
“People have [a] mentality and can accomplish a lot when we share and unite together.”
“Change isn’t for everyone, it must be desired.”
“Inspired with strategy and training and with encouragement you can have the world.”
“Everyone is here for different reasons. For the most part, all of our needs are different upon release, so there should be many options for change. Programs to help with transition and then help to keep us out of prison. I’m not looking to be comfortable but the opposite. Not wanting to come back. When a man wants to change, society should be there to help us stay out with school, jobs, housing, and support. If we can’t change, then we’ll find these things here. School, job, housing, which does nothing for society as a whole.”
“Family food and friends.”
“Inspiration to do good activities and be a better person for my family.”
“My picture collage represents the challenges I go through everyday. The food we get served.”
“The ocean brings you peace and harmony. A doctor can fix your dreams and build your legacies.”
“For this picture of mine it means the facility needs more good with less salt and more flavor also a lot more portions.”
“Also this facility would need more workline jobs and opportunities.”
“Also my safe place will be at work or eating or in the taro patch.”
“Hawaiʻi is our home first of all more green and open space more job training for men while incarcerated helps with self-esteem and builds better character helps embrace my want to change. Drug abuse program, mental health, programs. Working with our hands.”
“Connecting the inmate with family, friends and their community. Things such as more phones and phone time. Opportunity for inmates to stay a part of their homes. More devices and forms of communication with outside of the facility.”
“Educational opportunities: new skills and trades to use when going back to the community.”
“Better fitness equipment and facilities.”
“Better food, a hungry inmate is an angry and distracted person.”
“Healing/Restoration.”
“My collage represents me and my two siblings. I have two biological sisters, whom should be a part of my healing and restoration, correction/rehabilitation, safety, health, and my welfare, and a part of my healing, so I pasted it on my collage. Words black and white. At corrections, I try to be the wisest, smartest person I can be. I focus on self and school and education. My collage represents me as the picture which were made available to me. Health and healing and restoration. Safety and healing/ restoration. Welfare and healing/restoration. School, family a part of my healing/restoration. How can correction restore me to my self, since I feel I was destroyed by this gov’t of ours. Amend is a powerful place, also hurtful. Both. Rest, nurturing, recovery is a part of healing. How can prison be such a place? Can TryThink turn this place into healing/restoration? Corrected 100%, Rehabilitation 100%, Healed 100%, Restored 100%. Based upon pictures available, these represent me, unsure if it best represents me. How can I use my family/culture to benefit me to the best of my ability? Can this prison heal me? Or am I just another statistic?”
“Dog program.”
“Computer tablets with latest technology.”
“Better food at chow hall.”
“Weekly store orders with pizza or KFC/ Popeyes chicken.”
“Allow wrist watches.”
“People have [a] mentality and can accomplish a lot when we share and unite together.”
Appendix F: Graphic Narrative
APPENDIX F
Graphic Narrative
People didn’t quite understand how programs were integrated into our new public input approaches, so UHCDC created two visual stories based on the feedback we received from the community. The graphic narratives describe the experience that an individual and a staff member would go through, entering the new facility.
