Everyone agrees conditions at Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) are unacceptable and must change. But what gets built, and whether building new is the only option, matters.

In its May 1 editorial, the Star- Advertiser says it is time to stop delaying a new jail, and dismisses advocates who question the proposed size of the new Halawa facility as “wishful thinking” driven by “political maneuvering” (“New jail will serve multiple needs,” Our View). That characterization ignores a substantial and growing body of evidence.

Evidence suggests bail reform and restorative justice programs together could reduce the jail population by as much as half. A 2023 meta-analysis of 27 studies found restorative justice programs were associated with a 17% reduction in the chances of recidivism. A randomized controlled trial published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that a restorative justice conferencing program reduced re-arrest within six months by 44% — with results persisting four years later.

And here in Hawaii, an independent evaluation of the Huikahi Reentry Circles — developed by Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice — found that re-arrest rates three years after prison release were significantly lower for circle participants compared to a control group who wanted but did not receive the program. A subsequent modeling study found that a 26% reduction in repeat crime leads to a 17% reduction in the prison population over 15 years, with benefits that substantially outweigh program costs. Calling that wishful thinking is not an argument. It’s a refusal to look at the data.

Two things are conspicuously absent from this debate: an honest public accounting of whether renovation of the current jail is feasible, and a credible plan to design any new facility with rehabilitation at its core — built with input from community members, including people who have experienced incarceration firsthand.

Before we commit to a billion- dollar new facility, the public deserves an answer to a basic question: Is renovation impossible?

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The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has claimed that renovation is not possible, but no engineering report supporting this claim has ever been made public. After spending millions of taxpayer dollars on glossy public marketing to push for a new jail, the state refuses to produce a single engineering report or study supporting DCR’s claim. The ACLU of Hawaii formally demanded this data from DCR and the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS), yet DAGS confirmed that no such evidence exists. This is not merely a lack of transparency; it is a baseless conclusion and a betrayal of the public trust.

Fulton County in Georgia recently abandoned plans for a $1.7 billion jail, choosing instead to renovate its existing facility for $300 million, a savings of more than a billion dollars. Hawaii has never seriously examined that path because DCR has blocked it by merely saying it is impossible but fails to produce evidence.

We agree with the concern raised by state Sen. Carol Fukunaga and Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission members: that designing a facility without serious input from community members — including those who have been incarcerated — and reform experts risks locking in an outdated model for the next 50 years. Concrete is permanent, while policies are not.

OCCC disproportionately holds Hawaiians in conditions that harm them and those who work there. That must end. But urgency is not the same as inevitability. A 13-member advisory committee that the Senate suggests can keep a solution on track while ensuring reform is built into the design is not a delay. It is due diligence.

Hawaii deserves a facility designed for what we want, not a replica of what we’re trying to leave behind. And before we get there, the public deserves to see the engineering report supporting DCR’s claim that OCCC cannot be renovated.

Leela Bilmes Goldstein, Ph.D., left, chairs Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice; Lorenn Walker, J.D., M.P.H., is the nonprofit’s executive director.