Examining For-Profit Correctional Facilities in Hawaiʻi

Hawai‘i Community Safety Coalition

The State of Hawaiʻi is proposing a public-private partnership to finance, design, build, and maintain a new and larger 1,300-bed jail on Oʻahu, at an initial estimated cost of $1 billion. Join a panel of experts as they facilitate an informed, balanced examination of the potential costs, benefits, and impacts of this proposal.

Examining For-Profit Correctional Facilities in Hawaiʻi

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

12:00 – 1:00 PM (HST)

Ali‘iōlani Hale, Hawai‘i Supreme Court

In person or Zoom

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The panel includes voices with direct experience across the spectrum of this public policy issue: moderator Liam Chinn facilitates the Hawaiʻi Community Safety Coalition and brings two decades of experience designing and implementing data driven public safety frameworks; Carrie Ann Shirota is a civil rights attorney and public policy advocate who has studied for-profit prison incarceration; Eric Seitz is a civil rights litigator whose work has advanced accountability in correctional systems; and Jim Richardson taught as a University of Hawaiʻi business professor for 30 years, where his research included evaluating the economic costs of recidivism in Hawaiʻi’s prisons.

Together, they bring legal, policy, and business expertise to bear on the proposal’s risks, costs, and potential benefits. The discussion will be grounded in evidence, respectful of the legitimate public safety and fiscal considerations that motivate public-private partnership proposals, and focus on what best serves the long-term interests of Hawaiʻi’s communities and justice system.

This public program is presented in partnership by the King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center, Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice, and Hawai’i Community Safety Coalition.

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To join via Zoom webinar, or to receive a recording of the discussion, please RSVP here: https://courts-hawaii-gov.zoom.us/…/WN…