Relief for overcrowded conditions at the Kauai Community Correctional Center in Wailua is likely over 10 years away, Warden Neal Wagatsuma said yesterday.
Still, Gov. Linda Lingle’s 2005 supplemental budget includes $475,000 in general obligation bond funds to begin planning for a new KCCC.
Wagatsuma appreciates the governor’s effort.
“Every facility’s overcrowded,” said Wagatsuma, who added that state Department of Public Safety officials toured the state and want to alleviate crowded conditions at most state facilities.
“The main building is very crowded,” said Wagatsuma, preferring not to talk specifics about how many inmates the building was designed for and how many are currently housed there.
“Let’s just say it’s very crowded.”
Local attempts to alleviate the overcrowding include giving certain lower-risk inmates greater mobility on the KCCC campus.
“We’re always looking for ways to free up the main building,” but without enough suitable inmates to offer freer movement to, that main building remains crowded, he explained.
“Space to move is very limited.”
The overcrowding has existed for a decade or more, and with an estimated 1,000 people moving through KCCC this year, the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better, he said.
Fifteen to 20 years ago, there weren’t nearly that many people moving through KCCC, he recalled.
The lack of options is a bit of a frustration for Wagatsuma, too, as the cost of airfare for inmates and escorts makes it difficult to even consider moving inmates to other facilities.
“We’re trying to do the best we can with the resources we have been given,” he said.
Lingle’s long-range vision is to replace community correctional centers on Kaua’i, Maui and O’ahu, and build improvements at O’ahu’s Halawa Correctional Facility.
She is requesting $26.7 million in the supplemental budget for correctional-center improvements.
To further alleviate overcrowding, she is asking for $1.2 million to cover increased expenses for out-of-state inmate contracts; $5.1 million to send an additional 200 inmates to out-of-state facilities; and $900,000 to house an additional 25 inmates in the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.
Another $430,000 is proposed for various treatment programs.
Lingle’s supplemental budget also requests $338,000 in general obligation bond funds to renovate bathrooms at Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital in Kapa’a;
- $9,000,000 in general obligation bond funds for cesspool replacement in state parks statewide;
- $5,000,000 in general obligation bond funds for state park comfort station improvements statewide;
- $3,500,000 in general obligation bond funds for plans, design, construction and equipment for health, safety, accessibility and other requirements for public libraries statewide.
Education remains Lingle’s top priority, and to that end the supplemental budget proposes $90 million for school repair and maintenance; $20 million for new-school construction; $12.3 million in federal funds to reflect increased revenues from No Child Left Behind Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Felix Consent Decree compliance); $2.5 million to address funding shortfalls in student transportation; $3.5 million for the afterschool A+ program; and $1 million for library books and materials.
Lingle’s supplemental budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2004, is for over $625 million, and is in addition to money already appropriated by the state Legislature for the fiscal biennium (July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2005).
Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
