At a joint Senate committee meeting Tuesday, lawmakers merged two measures aimed at establishing a model wellness center, or puuhonua, as rehabilitation and intervention as an alternative to prison.
According to the Community Alliance on Prisons, Hawaiians represent a disproportionate majority of the state’s 6,000 inmates, a number that includes 1,800 serving their sentences on the mainland.
Jodie Maesaka-Hirata, director of the Department of Public Safety, says Kulani’s future has yet to be decided.
But she adds there might be an opportunity to incorporate a Hawaiian culture-based program with the Justice Reinvestment Initiatives,which look to alternative responses to crime when managing criminal populations.
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
