Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle has backed off from a 2002 campaign pledge to build two new prisons, saying the state will continue to consolidate nearly 2,000 inmates in Arizona prisons.
Ms. Lingle said no community in the state has shown a willingness to have a new prison built in their neighborhood.
“People simply don’t want one in their community. There is no support for one anywhere,” Ms. Lingle said in Honolulu after filing re-election papers July 13. “I said if a community did come forward, we would take a look at it. I haven’t seen that community yet in the last four years.”
Instead of building new prisons, the state will refurbish and repair existing prisons and community correctional centers, she said.
“It is a major change in an issue that faces the state. …We will continue to send prisoners to the mainland and make certain they are in facilities that have appropriate programs and are well-maintained,” Ms. Lingle said.
There are 1,844 Hawaii prisoners held in mainland facilities and 3,890 in state facilities, said Louise Kim McCoy, state public safety department spokeswoman.
The mainland prisoners are currently spread out among privately run correctional centers in Arizona, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Kentucky, but the state plans to consolidate them in three Arizona facilities. The Hawaiian Legislature this year approved spending money to send an additional 676 prisoners to the mainland.
In 2002, Ms. Lingle said she wanted to build two privately funded 500-bed prisons to handle substance abuse treatment, which would allow inmates to stay close to family and facilitate their rehabilitation.
Several state legislators criticized Ms. Lingle’s plans for the prison population.
“To simply ship off the prisoners is extremely shortsighted,” said Senate Judiciary Committee chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa, a Democrat.
Democratic Sen. Brian Taniguchi said planning money for a $500 million prison-rebuilding program had been budgeted, but Ms. Lingle never released it.
“I don’t recall that we ever got any definitive word as to what her policy would be,” said Mr. Taniguchi, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
Ms. Lingle’s advisers claimed they had signaled the policy shift to legislators by indicating during budget sessions that the administration would not include any money in the budget for prison construction.
Instead, the budget showed an increase in the number of prisoners being transferred to mainland prisons, said senior policy adviser Linda Smith.
“That came hand in hand with recognizing that some money has been appropriated, but with a look to existing facilities and upgrading those facilities,” Ms. Smith said.