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Hawaii’s troubled network of prisons and jails will fall under the newly created Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation starting Monday, and its director is determined to make change. But he warns that deep reform will take time.

Over the years, to the correctional system, legislators ordered an overhaul and would-be reformers have pleaded for change, but raw problems remain.

As Public Safety Director Tommy Johnson explained during his Senate confirmation hearing in April, the department is coping with “overcrowding, antiquated and aged facilities, severe infrastructure woes, lack of sufficient funding, (and) a litigious clientele.”

Many of those problems “have been around for decades,” he told lawmakers.

Perhaps most unsettling is the recidivism rate. shows more than 50% of a large sample of Hawaii felons released on probation or parole — or who served their entire sentences — were rearrested or had their probation or parole revoked within three years.

Johnson, a former corrections officer and former administrator of the Hawaii Paroling Authority, said he is already moving to change the system.

“We have to keep plodding along,” he said.

Breaking His Silence

The prisons and jails currently fall under the state Department of Public Safety, which will be dissolved on Monday under a 2022 law called . That law shifts the state Sheriff Division and Narcotics Enforcement Division from Public Safety to the new Department of Law Enforcement.

The corrections system and the Hawaii Paroling Authority will become a separate entity, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Johnson will remain in charge of the prison and jail system as the new director of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Until now Johnson has said little publicly about what specific changes he plans to make, but he said in an interview Friday that “we have to do a paradigm shift.”

Johnson recalled working as a youth corrections officer decades ago and meeting teenagers in the system who had parents in the adult prisons. Years later, he saw those same youths serving time as adults, “and they have children,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to help stop that generational incarceration.”

Recent trends in the state’s prison and jail populations may give Johnson some room to maneuver.

Hawaii’s overall inmate population has declined by nearly 21% since late 2019 — from just before the pandemic to .

There has also been a sharp 36% decrease since 2019 in the number of prisoners housed at the privately run in Arizona. Johnson attributes that in part to a policy he put in place months ago.

“Too often, the jail setting is not the appropriate setting for someone with mental health issues.”

Public Safety Director Tommy Johnson

That policy dictates that “no non-violent Class C (felony) offender will be sent to the mainland” to serve his sentence, Johnson said. “To me, it didn’t make sense to send these guys there when we have work camps available here for them to go to.”

Class C offenses are the lowest-level felonies, one step above misdemeanors. Many of those Class C offenders are serving time for drug crimes, which can include possession of small amounts of drugs or even possession of drug paraphernalia.

The decline in the mainland inmate population in recent years has been extraordinary. Hawaii was holding nearly 1,400 prisoners at Saguaro, but that number is down to 876.

Some Island Jails Over Capacity

Still, the Oahu Community Correctional Center and the Hilo jail house inmate populations . Johnson believes part of the solution there is to steer mentally ill people away from jail and into mental health services.

The average cost of housing an inmate in the Hawaii system is $253 per day, and Johnson contends jails are the “least effective, most expensive option” to house the mentally ill. He wants the police, the courts and the departments of health and human services to work together to find another way.

“It’s easier said than done,” Johnson said. “We’re talking about a complete shift in philosophy for some folks and a considerable amount of resources up front, but if we don’t put the resources up front to do diversion, then we pay more in the long run for the least effective options.”

“We all need to work together as stakeholders to figure out what is the best and most efficient option that we can use to try to get people to the right settings to address their needs,” Johnson said. “Too often, the jail setting is not the appropriate setting for someone with mental health issues.”

On the prison and jail side of the equation, Johnson said the state has contracted with the to review Hawaii’s intake and assessment processes.

The processes provide a roadmap that inmates follow as they progress through the prison system, including what treatment they receive and which programs — educational or otherwise — they are expected to complete before they are released.

The study is “to ensure we are properly identifying offenders with mental health and/or substance misuse disorders, and that they are referred to and receive the appropriate level of treatment and care,” according to a department statement.

“Let’s face it, corrections is not sexy, and it’s a tough job.”

Tommy Johnson

The state has also contracted with Professor Janet Davidson of Chaminade University to review its inmate classification system, which may dictate whether they are allowed to participate in programs that they must complete before they can be paroled.

For example, some drug treatment or sex offender treatment program slots may be available only at minimum security facilities, and prisoners must be classified as minimum security inmates before they can move to those facilities to participate.

But members of the have repeatedly voiced concern in recent years that as many as half of the beds have been empty at minimum security facilities such as Waiawa Correctional Facility in Central Oahu and Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island.

“We should be able to move people downstream fast,” Johnson said.

Critical Staff Shortages Hinder Programs

Staff shortages may also affect whether inmates can participate in required programs. Johnson said he is addressing that issue as well.

Treatment and educational programs can only run at a facility that is adequately staffed. If instructors are not available or all available security staffers are needed simply to operate a facility, programs may be canceled.

Johnson said about one-third of the 1,535 authorized adult correctional officer positions are vacant, about 100 more officers are out at any given time on sick leave or other types of leave, and about 300 officers currently qualify for unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

That leaves some facilities with critical staff shortages, and Johnson said the department has been burning through $21 million a year in overtime. Meanwhile, mandatory overtime burns out corrections officers, who may be forced to stay at their posts for 16 or 24 hours or until they can be relieved.

The department has ramped up its recruitment efforts, but Johnson said it also needs to boost pay to help attract and retain corrections officers.

“Let’s face it, corrections is not sexy, and it’s a tough job,” he said.

Possibilities include hiring bonuses, restoring “step movements” for officers to increase their earnings and “longevity pay” to offer lump sums to help retain veteran officers. Johnson wants any longevity pay tied to officers’ attendance records to encourage them to show up.

Johnson said he has also ordered a review of the treatment programs now in place to be sure they are effective, including drug treatment. And he said he is restarting training programs to help qualify prisoners for commercial driver licenses and forklift operator certificates.

Inmates need to have marketable skills that allow them to earn a living wage when they are released, he said, adding that he has ordered correctional staff to seek out partnerships with union apprenticeship programs and community colleges to make similar training available.

‘He Doesn’t Have The Capacity’ To Change

Before he became director of the Public Safety Department, Johnson had two stints as deputy director in charge of the correctional system. He has acquired critics along the way.

One of those is Eric Seitz, a Honolulu lawyer who has repeatedly sued over conditions inside the jails and prisons. He is currently pursuing a federal lawsuit that alleges the state fails to provide adequate mental health services to prisoners.

Seitz said Johnson is the wrong person for the job of running the state’s correctional system, describing him as a hard-liner focused on punishment and isolating prisoners.

“From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t have the capacity and the people working closely with him do not have the capacity to adopt a different perspective,” Seitz said.

“They’re very locked in to what they feel ought to be done to protect the public, and that essentially means locking people up, and not really providing them with the wherewithal to be able to turn around and change their lives,” he said.

Johnson has shown little interest in reintegrating people into the community, Seitz said, and “we’ve got to bring in new people with new ideas to do that.”

Johnson replied that he does not believe Seitz has “all the information,” and said he would welcome an opportunity to discuss what the new department is planning and doing.

“I think maybe Eric doesn’t know me as well as he says,” Johnson said.

The department also said in a statement that it has again submitted a request for $45 million to improve medical and mental health services at the state’s largest prison, the Halawa Correctional Facility.

“In addition, the department will be submitting requests for additional medical and mental health services staffing next legislative session,” according to the statement. “In the interim, the department will be establishing a ‘special project,’ focused on determining our medical and mental health care treatment needs across the state.”

“The department has had challenges for a long time, and to be perfectly frank, it’s going to have challenges moving forward,” Johnson said. “But I think now we have a good leadership team in place, we’re getting the right folks where they need to be in key positions in the department to do this paradigm shift.”