Teens need mental health services and mentorship instead of imprisonment, advocates say — strategies that a $20 million grant is bolstering in the state.

For years, state officials have been unable to move forward with plans to build an entirely new jail at Puunene. Now, even a modest addition to the existing jail is being delayed.

A Hawaii inmate died of a meth overdose at the Saguaro Correctional Center last fall.

Artrina De Lima’s death is the sixth suicide at the Maui jail in the past four years. That is more than the total number of known suicides at all other Hawaii correctional facilities during that time.

The facility’s lengthy hiring process has made it difficult to hire cooks and increased its reliance on meals ordered from nearby restaurant chains.

The project, which is intended to help foster relationships between inmates and their families, is the first of its kind at a correctional facility in the state.

In some cases commissary prices in the private prison suddenly increased by 200% or 300%, corrections officials say.

Joycelyn Simeona says that the department’s failure to provide her daughter with mental health services led directly to her suicide.

Outside observers said the lack of working cameras was a red flag because cameras provide a deterrent to misconduct.

Prison officials say he was discovered in his cell with injuries that ‘appeared to have come from an assault.’