The head of the state prison system plans to overhaul part of the minimum security Waiawa Correctional Facility in Central O\u02bbahu to create a new space for prisoners with mental illness who are now being held in the state\u2019s largest prison.<\/p>\n
The men who would qualify to transfer from H\u0101lawa Correctional Facility to Waiawa would be minimum-security prisoners who are stabilized on their medications and are approaching their parole or release dates, according to Tommy Johnson, director of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at clearing out an entire dormitory and converting that to a more therapeutic environment for them,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a better environment than H\u0101lawa, and it\u2019s outdoors, and it\u2019s considerably less restrictive, so we think that\u2019s better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waiawa is an minimum-security work camp<\/a> in a fairly isolated area of Central O\u02bbahu about 3 miles from Mililani Memorial Park cemetery. It can accommodate up to 334 men, but as of last week housed only 189. The inmates there all participate in education or substance abuse treatment programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s plan has won praise from some experts who worry about the limited mental health services available inside the prison system, but others are raising concerns.<\/p>\n Waiawa prison is in the state House district represented by Rep. Trish La Chica, who wondered what kind of care the inmates will receive at Waiawa that they can\u2019t get at H\u0101lawa.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been there, it\u2019s a minimum-security facility,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was not designed or built to be a specialized mental health treatment facility. Everything is open. There\u2019s no bars.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson said \u201cwalkaways\u201d are a possibility at any minimum-security prison, but they are very rare. By the time inmates qualify to be housed in the open environment at Waiawa they are approaching their furlough or parole dates, \u201cso why run? They worked to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n To qualify for transfer to Waiawa, the inmates will have to be within 60 months or less of their release, he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve earned their way there, and so they don\u2019t want to mess that up and go back to H\u0101lawa.\u201d<\/p>\n Praise, But Also Concerns<\/p>\n Inmates with mental illnesses have long been a problem for the state correctional system, with hundreds of prisoners diagnosed with conditions ranging from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to severe depression. Suicides have been an ongoing problem<\/a>, and last year the state settled a class action lawsuit over the lack of mental health services inside.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n Sign up for Morning Wire:<\/strong> Two mental health experts inspected H\u0101lawa<\/a> and the O\u02bbahu Community Correctional Center as part of that class-action settlement, and the experts found understaffed facilities where mentally ill inmates receive inadequate treatment. Corrections officials then sought millions of dollars in additional state funding<\/a> from state lawmakers this year to hire dozens of new healthcare workers including psychiatrists and nurses to upgrade mental health services<\/p>\n The plan to move inmates to Waiawa is tied to that class action settlement. The outside experts who inspected state facilities under the settlement identified 63 male prisoners with mental health needs that could not be met at the prison, Johnson said, but were not so ill that they needed to be sent to Hawai\u02bbi State Hospital.<\/p>\n Corrections officials are now looking at transferring about 43 of those inmates to Waiawa, starting with about a dozen. The plan is to then continue rotating inmates with mental health conditions from H\u0101lawa to the Waiawa dorm provided they are minimum security and stable on their medications.<\/p>\n Some H\u0101lawa prisoners are so ill that they won\u2019t qualify for Waiawa, Johnson said, and in those cases the prison will work with Hawai\u02bbi State Hospital to try to address their needs. He said some of the inmates with mental health issues who are left at H\u0101lawa might quality for the state hospital or some other type of \u201cstep down\u201d facility.<\/p>\n
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