Senate Committees to Hold Maui Briefing on Maui Correctional Center

The Hawaiʻi Senate Ways & Means Committee and Public Safety Committee will conduct an informational briefing to hear from the Department of Public Safety and receive an update on the emergency appropriation for Maui Community Correctional Center and the current state of the facility.

The briefing will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College, Pāʻina Dining Hall in Kahului.

“We made specific appropriations to fund improvements at the Maui Community Correctional Center,” said Senator Donovan Dela Cruz, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, “and the committee would like to hear from the Department of Public Safety on the status of the improvements at MCCC.”

Senator Clarence Nishihara, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, said that the Maui briefings are a follow-up on key issues raised in the last legislative session.

“We had very serious concerns about MCCC, including inmate healthcare, overtime, position vacancies, and of course the riot last March that literally left prison staff fearing for their lives,” Sen. Nishihara said. “I think the community is looking to us to make sure there is real, productive action on these matters, and that we don’t let anyone sweep them under the rug.”

The Senate committees request an update on:

Department of Public Safety

• Status of the health care of inmates, including physical and mental
• Status on the purchase and distribution of less than lethal equipment
• Overtime payments

Maui Community Correctional Center

• Final report on the March riot at MCCC
• Changes to existing processes and procedures
• Vacancies at MCCC and steps taking to fill positions

Inmate ratio to Adult Corrections Officers

• Status of female inmates and the ratio of inmates to female Adult Corrections Officers

The public is invited, but no public testimony will be accepted at the briefing.

MCCC. Photo courtesy Department of Public Safety.