Community member and victim’s advocate Irene Nagao talks about her experience with Kulani staff and inmates, and the success of the center’s programs. She also shares her personal story of the impact of sending prisoners to the mainland for incarceration.

Senator Russell Kokubun confirms through questioning that the Going Home Project, which helps inmates make a transition back into the community—and which had been successful at Kulani—learned of the potential closure of the prison by reading about it in the newspaper, despite close relationships with Kulani administrators and the Hawaii Department of Public Safety.

Social worker and Program Specialist Susan Segawa describes the vocational programs available as a part of Kulani’s rehabilitation program. At Kulani, 100 percent of inmates are employed either on a workline or in the Corrections Industries program. The jobs are not menial, but include the construction trades, food service, agriculture, and automotive mechanics; the automotive program offers participants an opportunity to earn full ASE certification.

Kulani Branch Administrator Pete McDonald outlines the concept underlying the creation of Kulani, and the prison’s low rate of recidivism.

McDonald and Segawa describe how the caring and respectful response of inmates to the news of the facility’s closure demonstrates the success Kulani has had in rehabilitating those who have participated in its programs.

Social Worker/Program Specialist Susan Segawa outlines the potential economic and social impacts of closing the Kulani facility and transferring current inmates to the Halawa medium-security prison, the Federal Detention Center, or mainland prisons.

Eric Tanouye president of the Hawaii Florists and Shippers Association, explains the importance of the Plant Quarantine Branch to Big Island growers of plants and cut flowers, and the potential impacts on agricultural exports arising from reductions in plant and flower inspections. As Tanouye explains, inadequate inspections may exclude Big Island products from national and international markets, leading to a reduction in market share that would be difficult to recoup in the future.

Kevin Hopkins, the owner of an ornamental fish farm, represents the Hawaii Aquaculture Association in testimony describing how reductions at the Department of Agriculture’s quarantine branch will also seriously affect the state’s aquaculture industry. The lack of timely inspections could mean an end to exports, including curtailing a supply of disease-free shrimp larvae that serves shrimp farms worldwide.

Rusty Perry explains how agricultural inspectors, while employees of the state, are really partners in helping Hawaii’s agricultural industries to grow.

Clayton Nagata reviews the numerous duties of Department of Agriculture inspectors, and how those inspections benefit both the agriculture industry and the public.

Community member and victim’s advocate Irene Nagao talks about her experience with Kulani staff and inmates, and the success of the center’s programs. She also shares her personal story of the impact of sending prisoners to the mainland for incarceration.

Senator Russell Kokubun confirms through questioning that the Going Home Project, which helps inmates make a transition back into the community—and which had been successful at Kulani—learned of the potential closure of the prison by reading about it in the newspaper, despite close relationships with Kulani administrators and the Hawaii Department of Public Safety.

Social worker and Program Specialist Susan Segawa describes the vocational programs available as a part of Kulani’s rehabilitation program. At Kulani, 100 percent of inmates are employed either on a workline or in the Corrections Industries program. The jobs are not menial, but include the construction trades, food service, agriculture, and automotive mechanics; the automotive program offers participants an opportunity to earn full ASE certification.

Kulani Branch Administrator Pete McDonald outlines the concept underlying the creation of Kulani, and the prison’s low rate of recidivism.

McDonald and Segawa describe how the caring and respectful response of inmates to the news of the facility’s closure demonstrates the success Kulani has had in rehabilitating those who have participated in its programs.

Social Worker/Program Specialist Susan Segawa outlines the potential economic and social impacts of closing the Kulani facility and transferring current inmates to the Halawa medium-security prison, the Federal Detention Center, or mainland prisons.

Eric Tanouye president of the Hawaii Florists and Shippers Association, explains the importance of the Plant Quarantine Branch to Big Island growers of plants and cut flowers, and the potential impacts on agricultural exports arising from reductions in plant and flower inspections. As Tanouye explains, inadequate inspections may exclude Big Island products from national and international markets, leading to a reduction in market share that would be difficult to recoup in the future.

Kevin Hopkins, the owner of an ornamental fish farm, represents the Hawaii Aquaculture Association in testimony describing how reductions at the Department of Agriculture’s quarantine branch will also seriously affect the state’s aquaculture industry. The lack of timely inspections could mean an end to exports, including curtailing a supply of disease-free shrimp larvae that serves shrimp farms worldwide.

Rusty Perry explains how agricultural inspectors, while employees of the state, are really partners in helping Hawaii’s agricultural industries to grow.

Clayton Nagata reviews the numerous duties of Department of Agriculture inspectors, and how those inspections benefit both the agriculture industry and the public.