HONOLULU, Hawai‘i – Senator Clarence Nishihara (Dist. 17 - Waipahu, Crestview, Manana, Pearl City, Pacific Palisades), Chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, was among the nearly 100 people who attended the town hall meeting on Nov. 29 at Aloha Stadium to discuss the draft environmental impact statement on the state’s plan to build a replacement for the Oahu Community Correctional Center. Sen. Nishihara is the Senate representative on two task forces created to study best practices on incarceration policies and costs and make recommendations to the state legislature on ways to improve Hawai‘i’s correctional system. In his testimony, Sen. Nishihara strongly recommended that beyond a plan on size and cost of a new prison, is a more critical need to consider how to establish a more effective penal system, improve the recidivism rate, and implement alternatives to incarceration.
The state’s preferred site for a new prison is the current Animal Quarantine Station in Halawa. It is estimated the cost of the project would be about $525 million.
The public has a chance to comment on the draft EIS through January 8.
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