Windward Community College is one of the only higher education institutions in Hawaii offering culturally focused classes in prison.  

A pilot program includes peer tutoring, a counselor, correspondence classes and a reentry planning program.

The settlement is surprising because a federal court jury refused to award any damages to the women after a trial last fall.

The Senate proposed spending $25 million to plan and solicit bids to replace the aging Oahu Community Correctional Center. The House offered nothing.

Jimuel Gatioan hung himself at OCCC despite warnings by a prosecutor and a defense lawyer that he was suicidal, court records show.

Johnson is a veteran of the existing system but pledged “a complete paradigm shift” if confirmed as the director of the Department of Public Safety.

Newspaper accounts at the time portrayed Alfred Tai as a leader of a stick-up crew. He was convicted of killing two Honolulu police officers.

Big Island Chief Judge Judge Robert Kim, who toured the packed facility in January, has been refusing to send some defendants to the jail, letting them await trial at home.

The state says the labor board exceeded its authority and made a “clearly erroneous” decision regarding Jonathan Taum.

Kapiolani Community College has offered courses to women at the Women’s Community Correctional Facility since 2008.