Lihue jail could get $15 million for new housing unit ADVERTISING Lihue jail could get $15 million for new housing unit LIHUE, Kauai (AP) — A Lihue jail in need of more space could get $15 million to expand housing
Lihue jail could get $15 million for new housing unit
LIHUE, Kauai (AP) — A Lihue jail in need of more space could get $15 million to expand housing for inmates under Gov. David Ige’s executive supplemental budget proposal.
The Kauai Community Correctional Center has an operating bed capacity of 128. As of Dec. 21, the jail’s population was 184 inmates. Hawaii Department of Public Safety spokesman Toni Schwartz said the funds would go toward constructing a building at the facility specifically designed to house inmates.
“It’s no secret that our jails are overcrowded,” Schwartz said. “A new building would help us alleviate some of the overcrowding in our current facility.”
Ige released the supplemental budget proposal Dec. 21 for the 2016 legislative session. The proposal would increase the overall fiscal 2015-17 budget to $30.7 billion, with $15 million included for the Lihue jail.
In addition to housing, Schwartz said the money could also be used to build support offices in the same building where inmates are housed.
“Support offices can include area for program space for the inmates as well as a security control area for corrections officers,” he said.
When the jail was built in 1977, it was intended to house up to 16 inmates. Another module, converted from the recreation yard, was added to the main building’s three holding cells in the mid-1980s. Temporary cabins that had been used by Kauai residents who lost their homes in Hurricane Iniki were moved to the jail in the mid-1990s, providing housing for an additional 40 inmates. The next addition came in 1997, when an 80-bed minimum custody dorm was built.
The Department of Public Safety has complained about maintenance issues brought on by the jail’s aging infrastructure. For now, Schartz said, the department is focusing on securing funding for the facility’s housing project.
“We are hopeful they will approve the funding request so we can begin planning and design,” Schwartz said.
Hawaii bans large-scale commercial sea cucumber harvesting
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii is banning large-scale commercial harvesting of sea cucumbers with a law that takes effect Jan. 10.
Gov. David Ige signed the measure Thursday. Licensed aquarium collectors will be allowed to harvest two species of sea cucumbers, but only from Oahu waters. They will be limited to 20 per day and the entire commercial fishery is allowed an annual harvest of no more than 3,600.
“These numbers are based on data collected over many years and is expected to be sustainable,” said DLNR Chair Susanne Case in a news release. “The rules allow a small level of take for personal, non-commercial use. We will continue to monitor the sea cucumber population over the next few years to determine whether we’ve correctly set the harvest at sustainable levels, and if not whether we need to make adjustments in the future.”
The Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the new rules Dec. 11.
Land officials in June approved a temporary ban on possessing sea cucumbers following mass harvests. This marked the state’s first regulation for sea cucumber harvesting.
“The DLNR worked quickly to stop the mass harvesting of sea cucumbers, and then to develop and propose permanent rules,” Ige said in the news release. “This action is expected to protect and sustain critically important sea cucumber populations in our near-shore waters.”
Family identifies woman fatally shot at Kapolei home
HONOLULU (AP) — The son-in-law of 56-year-old Francisca Funtanilla says she died New Year’s Day in a shooting that police are investigating as a murder-suicide.
Howard Howell said he didn’t know the man that police say was a family friend visiting Funtanilla’s residence in Kapolei. The 32-year-old suspect was found with a single gunshot wound and pronounced dead at a hospital.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office is not identifying either the man or the woman pending positive identification. Police say the man shot himself after shooting the woman and that a motive is being investigated.
Howell said people came to Funtanilla to pray and seek help.
