‘Exile’ of Hawaii’s prison population targeted for reduction or end

‘Exile’ of Hawaii’s prison population targeted for reduction or end

State lawmakers are pushing hard this year to clamp a pipeline established three decades ago to house convicted Hawaii felons in out-of-state prisons. Such transfers began in 1995 under then-Gov. Ben Cayetano as an anticipated temporary means to relieve overcrowding in the state’s only medium-security prison for male inmates, and have since frustrated prison-­reform advocates and others including state leaders and family members of inmates locke…