As the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation continues to consider how to replace the overcrowded and deteriorated Oʻahu Community Correctional Center, the Correctional System Oversight Commission is considering alternatives to a new, bigger jail.
The state budget allocated about $30 million to complete the planning of the new jail, which would cost an estimated $1 billion and add another 350 beds.
However, Emmett Sanders, policy and advocacy associate for the Prison Policy Initiative, presented options to the commission that would reduce the number of people incarcerated in OCCC…