Kulani Correctional Facility News

When Kulani Prison on the Big Island closed it sent a ripple effect through the Department of Public Safety allowing senior prison guards to bump lower workers.

Two prison guards at Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island are asking a state judge to halt the state's plan to lay off hundreds of government workers as a way to close a budget deficit.

The closing of Kulani Correctional Facility in Hilo presents many disturbing questions about what's driving this administration's decisions.

Hawai'i's unprecedented budget shortfall has required the state to streamline its operations and evaluate its core functions.

A move to save almost $3 million a year has just finished in the Big Island. Thursday the last of the inmates from Kulani correctional facility were moved to other prisons across the state.

HILO - The 63-year history of Hawaii Island's only prison quietly ended yesterday when the last 30 Kulani Correctional Facility inmates were transferred to Oahu facilities.

The closure of Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island is not in the best interest of our state.

The Lingle administration and the Hawai'i Government Employees Association have exchanged new contract offers that bring the two sides closer together on furloughs and would stop many of the 1,100 layoffs of state workers ordered by Gov.

The state has begun transferring 123 prisoners from Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island to prisons on O'ahu. Kulani, the only prison on the Big Island, is being closed to save money.

There is nothing like a long-lasting recession to clear the mind and set priorities.

Earlier this month, officials from Hawai'i's Department of Public Safety traveled 4,500 miles to the mountains of eastern Kentucky to investigate allegations that 23 inmates of Otter Creek Correctional Center, including seven from Hawai'i, were sexually assaulted by guards.

The state Senate has launched an assessment of the impact of Gov. Linda Lingle's plans for layoffs and furloughs of state workers, starting with an ad hoc committee to examine the closure of Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island and cuts to agriculture inspectors.

A special state Senate committee has been appointed by Senate President Colleen Hanabusa to look into the effects of the state-ordered layoffs and furloughs.

The state Senate has launched an assessment of the impact of Gov. Linda Lingle's plans for layoffs and furloughs of state workers, starting with an ad hoc committee to examine the closure of Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island and cuts to agriculture inspectors.

A day after 1,100 state workers learned they could be out of jobs by Thanksgiving, public employees battled feelings of fear, anger, anxiety and sadness as they came to work yesterday.

The 123 prisoners in Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island are being relocated to other secure locations as the state prepares to close the Hilo prison by the end of October.

Gov. Linda Lingle on Friday announced that the state will close Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island at the end of October.

The Big Island mayor and a state senator yesterday questioned the potential public safety implications of the Lingle administration's possible layoff of the entire staff at Kulani Correctional Facility, a minimum-security prison in Hilo.

State officials on Wednesday what KITV first reported -- that all the employees at Kulani Correctional Facility have been notified their jobs will be eliminated if the state moves forward with layoffs.