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Development of housing module at MCCC designed to hold 80 inmates

Correctional Center to get more cells: Project expected to reduce ‘severe’ jail overcrowding

Inmates at the Maui Community Correctional Center may soon be getting some relief from overcrowding. The state Public Safety Department has begun planning for a new 80-inmate module at the jail in Wailuku that may be completed by 2021. This photo was taken Wednesday. -- The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

The state Department of Public Safety has begun planning a new housing unit at Maui Community Correctional Center that would house 80 inmates to help relieve “severe and persistent overcrowding.”

MCCC has a capacity of 301 beds but held 469 (399 men and 70 women) inmates on May 31 — 56 percent above operational capacity, according to the report “Pre-Assessment Consultations: Proposed Medium Security Housing Units.”

The report, released last month and prepared by consultant Louis Berger, encompasses Maui, Hawaii and Kauai community correctional center expansion projects. It was meant to state the need for the projects and to call for advice and input as the Public Safety Department prepares environmental assessments.

Plans for the relocation of MCCC to a site in Puunene near the PFC Anthony T. Kahoohanohano Armory have been put on the shelf for the time being, the report and Public Safety Department officials said.

There are no plans to expand MCCC beyond its current 7-acre Wailuku site, and “no plans to relocate the facility from Wailuku,” the report said.

A Maui Community Correctional Center cell designed for two inmates houses four in this photo taken at the jail in 2017. -- The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

“Development of an entirely new MCCC is being considered in the long term,” said Public Safety Department spokeswoman Toni Schwartz. “But at this time, to address the immediate and urgent need to alleviate crowding, PSD considers developing the housing unit to be the best, most cost-effective solution.”

While more specific specs for the expansion unit still are being developed, Schwartz said the unit is intended to accommodate up to 80 inmates and could include mini-dorms and day rooms. The unit would be located in an open area near the center of MCCC, a diagram with the report showed.

Although the site plan showed parking inside a tree line along Waiale Road, Schwartz said there are no plans to change visitor or employee parking configurations. Currently, vehicles are parked outside the MCCC fence along Waiale Road.

A total of $7.5 million has been appropriated for the MCCC expansion unit, she said. Work is preliminarily scheduled to begin in 2020 with completion in 2021.

The project is not intended to increase the capacity of MCCC and will not eliminate the overcrowded conditions, but “it will help improve living conditions for the current and future inmate populations,” Schwartz said.

Overcrowding has been a problem at MCCC for years. An American Civil Liberties Union complaint to the U.S. Justice Department in 2017 called MCCC “the most egregiously overcrowded facility” in the state.

Inmates told The Maui News in 2015 that there were four inmates in a 13-by-8-foot cell designed for two with inmates sleeping on mattresses on the floor, sometimes inches away from the toilet. There were nearly 500 inmates in MCCC at the time of the report.

There have been three inmates in a cell since 2000, Public Safety Department officials said then.

Construction in a jail facility creates special security challenges, but Schwartz assured the public that there would be no issues. The construction zone would be cordoned off from the rest of the jail and contractors would follow existing procedures for entering and exiting the facility and maintaining close control over tools, equipment and building materials.

MCCC is considered a jail and not a prison, the report said. The facility houses pretrial detainees and inmates with short-term sentences, usually a year of less, and prison inmates nearing release.

* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.

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