FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
June 4, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT
Sergio Alcubilla, Director of Community Engagement
808-371-4805, [email protected]
Reimagining Public Safety Coalition Delivers Community Petition Urging Governor Green to Veto Money for New Super Jail
Honolulu, HI - The Reimagining Public Safety Coalition (“RPS”) together with the ACLU of Hawai‘i (“ACLU-HI”) and other coalition members delivered a community petition with nearly 900 signatures to the Office of Governor Green urging the Governor, Hawaii’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“DCR”), and the Hawai‘i Legislature to withhold the $30 million allocated for new jail planning in the 2025 budget bill, to halt planning for the new super jail, and to instead fund data-driven solutions that are proven to create safer, healthier, and more just communities.
RPS coalition members ask that the funding in H.B. 300 be applied towards adopting a public health approach to public safety. According to a recent report from the Prison Policy Initiative, nearly 40% of people in jail in Hawai‘i are homeless, and many more suffering from mental illness and other substance abuse.
Governor Green and DCR officials have acknowledged that putting these vulnerable residents in jail is the least effective, most expensive option. The state spends $307 a day or over $112,000 a year to incarcerate one adult. With the new jail expected to cost at least $1 billion, the coalition considers spending on a failed policy of mass incarceration is not only ineffective and wasteful but that better public safety outcomes can be achieved by implementing proven reforms at a fraction of the cost.
Instead of wasting $1 billion of taxpayer money on an unnecessary new jail, the coalition is calling for historic investments into diversion infrastructure; including: expanding community based mental health and substance abuse treatment, a range of supportive housing options, vocational training, youth development, and restorative justice.
Liam Chinn, Facilitator of the RPS Coalition, stated at the press conference:
We agree that the conditions at OCCC is unacceptable and something must be done. But to claim that the only solution is to build a brand new $1 billion super jail that will be financed and maintained by a private for-profit company is recklessly irresponsible to Hawai‘i taxpayers. We see no evidence that any expert assessment has been carried out for other solutions to OCCC besides building a bigger jail. More affordable alternatives exist and Hawai‘i can pursue a more responsible path. . . . Now is the time to turn the page on a Care First, Jail Last approach to public safety.
ACLU of Hawaiʻi Policy Director, Carrie Ann Shirota added:
Dear Governor Green, will you rise to the occasion and follow the roadmap for transformative justice laid out by our juvenile justice system? Will you carefully consider budget recommendations for a Care First, Jail Last approach to public safety and meet with Prison Policy Initiative? And will you listen to the pleas of community members urging you to pause planning and construction of the new proposed $1 billion super jail? Will you line-item the $30 million for jail planning and instead invest in housing, public health, and diversion infrastructure – all that makes us safe to the scale required to meet the needs of our communities? Dear Governor Green, what will be your legacy?
The petition, along with a substantive community board highlighting other needs that could be addressed with $1 billion, were received by a representative from the Office of the Governor.
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The Reimagining Public Safety in Hawaiʻi Coalition is a diverse group of local organizations and individuals advocating for Hawaiʻi to adopt a public health approach to safety. The Coalition brings both lived experience and expertise from a range of sectors including public health, the criminal legal system, economic revitalization, restorative justice, police oversight and accountability, mental health, street medicine and harm reduction, among others. Instead of relying on policing and incarceration, the Coalition “reimagines public safety” by advocating for investment in systems that have the power to make our communities safer, like supportive housing, training for living wage jobs, and community-based care for mental health and substance addiction issues.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi is a non-profit, non-partisan organization with a mission to protect the civil rights and liberties contained in the state and federal constitutions through litigation, legislation, and public education programs. The ACLU of Hawaiʻi is funded primarily through private donations and offers its services at no cost to the public. The ACLU of Hawaiʻi does not accept any government funds and has been serving Hawaiʻi since 1965.
Other notable members of the coalition include: Common Cause, Community Alliance on Prisons, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaiʻi, ʻEkolu Mea Nu, Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA), Hawaiʻi Friends for Restorative Justice, Hawaiʻi Health and Harm Reduction (HHRC), Mothering Justice, and Project Vision.