Hawaii News Now — Jail and Prison Conditions — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Jail and Prison Conditions

Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.

Short-staffed and overcrowded. And for the state’s largest jail, that’s just the start

“Oahu Community Correctional Center is the state’s largest jail facility, with more than 1,000 detainees. And like the state’s other jails, it’s over-capacity. The jail, with its peaked-roof modules surrounded by barbed wire, is the latest version of facilities that have been on a Kalihi site since 1914. Detainees at OCCC are awaiting trial, serving short sentences, or are inmates in work furlough programs. Members of the media were allowed inside Wednesday to take a first-hand look. It was originally designed to hold 628 detainees. It has a current capacity of 954, but as of Wednesday, there were 1,071 held there.“

Hawaii News Now

November 20, 2019

UnderstaffingPhillip ReevesDecember 8, 2019Hawaii News Now, HawaiiComment

Jail and Prison Conditions

Galsworthy CJR Program

Info