Work to start on new unit for overcrowded Maui jail
32-bed medium security facility will be first expansion in years
Government officials and contractors break ground on a 32-bed medium security unit at Maui Community Correctional Center on Tuesday morning. Pictured from left to right are Harold “Hal” Alejandro of the Public Safety Department Account Services Office; Tommy Johnson, PSD deputy director for corrections; Liane Endo, MCCC acting warden; Max Otani, PSD director; Dana Leatherwood, F&H Construction superintendent; Dan Blackburn, F&H Construction division manager; Sandy Baz, Maui County managing director; Rey Rios, project coordinator for the Department of Accounting and General Services Project Management Branch; Brooks Aoki, SSFM engineer; Jeff Pearson, DAGS Maui District engineer; and Audrey Hidano, DAGS acting comptroller. Photo courtesy Department of Public Safety
A rendering of the modern-style dayroom in the future medium security unit of the Maui Community Correctional Center is shown. Rendering courtesy Department of Public Safety
Government officials and contractors break ground on a 32-bed medium security unit at Maui Community Correctional Center on Tuesday morning. Pictured from left to right are Harold “Hal” Alejandro of the Public Safety Department Account Services Office; Tommy Johnson, PSD deputy director for corrections; Liane Endo, MCCC acting warden; Max Otani, PSD director; Dana Leatherwood, F&H Construction superintendent; Dan Blackburn, F&H Construction division manager; Sandy Baz, Maui County managing director; Rey Rios, project coordinator for the Department of Accounting and General Services Project Management Branch; Brooks Aoki, SSFM engineer; Jeff Pearson, DAGS Maui District engineer; and Audrey Hidano, DAGS acting comptroller. Photo courtesy Department of Public Safety
A rendering of the modern-style dayroom in the future medium security unit of the Maui Community Correctional Center is shown. Rendering courtesy Department of Public Safety
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WAILUKU -- Construction is set to begin at the Maui Community Correctional Center on a 32-bed medium security unit that will be the first housing built for female inmates at the Wailuku jail.
"The unit will provide relief for our overcrowded jail," Department of Public Safety Director Max Otani said during a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for the project. "Equally important, it will begin to address gender-specific issues, which has been very challenging at MCCC due to lack of dedicated space."
He said the two-story building will provide housing in a dormitory setting.
Its 6,620 square feet will include an upper level with two mini dorms and a lower level with an open dorm, a dayroom for programs, a viewing garden and an outdoor recreation area.
Pretrial and sentenced inmates could be separated in different wings, Otani said.
Having the housing with programs for female inmates will help "eventually get the positive outcomes we strive for," Otani said.
The $12 million project has been planned for years, with some of the funding diverted from a Kauai Community Correctional Center project that isn't going forward, officials said.
Otani and others couldn't recall the last time the Wailuku jail was expanded with a new building.
"They haven't had a new building out here in a very long time," said Rey Rios, project coordinator with the state Department of General Services Project Management and Public Works Branch.
He said the building design is a "modern concept" to configure "the basic penal system into more of a housing system so that inmates are more comfortable in it."
"That is to encourage people to be in a more relaxed atmosphere," Rios said. "It's quite unique. Nothing like it has has been done here in Hawaii for a while. It'll change the character of the facilities by having such a modern-looking building."
Dan Blackburn, division manager for F&H Construction, said that shortly before the groundbreaking ceremony, the company received word that the building permit was ready to be picked up.
"We will be breaking ground and moving forward with the project," he said.
Otani estimated it would take two years to complete the building.
Once it's open, a dorm serving as less restrictive housing for 20 women in both pretrial and sentenced status ideally would be instead used for medical needs, Otani said.
"Hopefully, the distribution of the inmates will be better, not all confined in one area" to help address overcrowding, which has been an issue for decades, he said.
On Monday, there were 317 inmates housed at MCCC, exceeding the facility's operational capacity of 301 and its design capacity of 209.
While the jail inmate count is close to its operational capacity, "design capacity is what we should be looking at," Otani said.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.