The state has a legal duty and a moral obligation to protect people in custody as well as the men and the women who work in our correctional facilities.

Independent oversight of correctional systems is absolutely essential because jails and prisons are closed institutions.

They are separated from the community by high walls and concertina wire. Entry is limited to those who are vetted and approved by correctional officials, and visitors are strictly limited in where they can go and who they can talk to within the prison. Cameras are not allowed, visiting hours are limited, reading materials are restricted, and phone calls are monitored.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan said that incarcerated people live in a “shadow world” that few of us can imagine. Justice Anthony Kennedy called it a “hidden world,” and said if we were to enter that world, “we should be startled by what we see.”

Hawaii’s jails and prisons have been part of the hidden world of punishment for decades, but that began to change nine months ago when Christin Johnson was hired as the coordinator of the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission.

Johnson was selected from among three candidates whose names were submitted to Gov. David Ige by the Oversight Commission. She had previously served as an investigator overseeing the prisons in Michigan, and more recently she worked as an oversight specialist at the notorious Rikers Island jail in New York City.

As the new oversight coordinator, Johnson wasted no time in stepping into the hidden world and her reports tell us exactly what she saw.

Poor Conditions At Correctional Centers

In August 2022, Johnson reported that at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center nearly every cell designed for one person had three or four occupants. In one part of the facility five women were crammed into a small cell that had no water or toilet and were sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

A woman who appeared to be on suicide or safety watch was locked in a cell that had no bed, mattress, toilet or water. In the Punahele building approximately 15 men were sleeping on mattresses on the floor of a day room that had no toilets or running water.

Men who had been exposed to Covid-19 were locked up in a shipping container that had “little circulation, no food slot, and a small window with low visibility for officers to see inside.” The lights were not working in two of the shipping container cells, which left the men in total darkness.

Some cells were locked with padlocks, which is a dangerous practice because it delays reaching the occupants of the cells in case of an emergency such as a fire. There was no outdoor recreation due to construction, some of the men lacked soap, hygiene products, and underwear, programs were lacking, mail took weeks to be delivered, and grievances were simply ignored.

At the Oahu Community Correctional Center there were not enough staff to provide direct observation of men and women on suicide and safety watch. Four people were housed in cells designed for one or two people, and the infirmary was located in a hallway and lacked privacy

At the women’s prison in Kailua the air conditioning was out and cameras were not working, and at the Halawa Community Correctional Center where mentally ill men were locked up under punitive conditions, and out of cell time was limited due to staff shortages.

And finally, Johnson has reported that for the past eight months the Department of Public Safety’s Electronic Medical Records System has been out of commission, which means that the medical staff do not have access to vital information they need to treat their patients.

Doing The Work Of 3 Commissions

Although the Oversight Commission was created in 2019, it did not have the funds to hire staff until July 2022 when Johnson came on board. In the past eight months she has been working tirelessly to create a commission from the ground up that is equipped to handle its broad statutory responsibilities.

Johnson and the five commissioners have done an outstanding job of addressing the correctional system’s most urgent problems by documenting dangerous and unconstitutional conditions and recommending remedial measures, but their statutory duties go far beyond that.

Under Hawaii Revised Statutes 353L, the Oversight Commission assumed the responsibilities of two older commissions — the Reentry Commission and the Corrections Population Management Commission — and thus has the responsibilities of three commissions: Oversight, Reentry, and Population Management.

The Oversight Commission has an incredibly broad mandate.

It is required by law to, among other things: 1) investigate complaints; 2) facilitate the correctional system’s transition to a rehabilitative and therapeutic model; 3) establish maximum population limits for each correctional facility in the state; 4) formulate policies and procedures to prevent overcrowding in our jails and prisons; 5) review and make recommendations for improving the comprehensive reentry program; 6) study and investigate correctional laws in other states and countries and recommend changes to Hawaii’s laws; 7) identify and report on any federal laws that might affect the operation of the commission; and 8) study and investigate current and proposed correctional policies and the public’s reaction to proposed changes in the law.

Commission Needs Adequate Funding

The commission cannot possibly meet its demanding statutory responsibilities with only one or two employees, a fact the legislators clearly understood when they said that the Oversight Coordinator shall be authorized “to hire staff necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter (HRS 353L) including a minimum of two researchers and one clerical assistant.”

The commission needs $995,000 for staff, travel, and operating expenses in fiscal year 2023-2024 and $880,00 for fiscal year 2024-2025. Those amounts are just 0.13% of the Department of Public Safety’s budget, and would fund four new positions: two correctional oversight specialists to investigate complaints and monitor conditions at the state’s nine correctional facilities, and the two research positions that are specifically mentioned in HRS 353L.

These four positions are in addition to the already existing oversight coordinator, the special assistant to the coordinator, and a diversion and reentry oversight specialist who will soon be joining the existing staff. It would also cover the travel expenses to fly interisland and to the Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona which houses more than 900 men from Hawaii, and cover miscellaneous operating expenses for a Commission that, while three years old, is essentially in start-up mode.

Make no mistake: Hawaii needs a robust, effective and fully staffed oversight commission because our correctional system is in crisis. In July of 2021 a federal judge found substantial evidence that the Department of Public Safety was deliberately indifferent to the safety of incarcerated people during the pandemic by not following its own Pandemic Response Plan.

In February 2022, the state agreed to pay $550,000 to the family of a young woman who hanged herself in her cell at the Maui Community Correctional Center after her request to be put on suicide watch was refused.

In March 2022, a state court judge awarded more than $1.3 million in damages to the family of a man who committed suicide at the Halawa Community Correctional Center while he was on suicide/safety watch.

In April 2022, the head of training at the Department of Public Safety was arrested for falsifying information about her credentials.

In July 2022, three correctional officers who worked at the Maui Community Correctional Center were convicted of brutally beating an incarcerated man and then conspiring to cover up their crime. That same month a class action lawsuit was filed seeking damages for men and women who became infected or died of Covid-19 because the Department of Public Safety failed to take reasonable steps to protect them.

Hawaii needs a robust and effective Oversight Commission to ensure that our correctional system operates honestly, fairly, and in accordance with state and federal constitutional standards. The Legislature should give the Oversight Commission the funds it is asking for and needs to do the job the law requires it to do.