Some prison inmates will not be able to spend Mother’s Day with family this weekend
By Cynthia Yip
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Hawaii (KITV) — Some Hawaii prison inmates will not be able to spend Mother’s Day with their loved ones this weekend due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases among staff and inmates.
The “Department of Public Safety” has announced that all inmate visits — to both the Halawa Correctional Facility on Oahu — and the Hawaii Community Correctional Center on the Big Island — have been cancelled this weekend.
A prison rights advocate says visitation is crucial in helping inmates to reintegrate into society following incarceration.
Since Covid-19, starting in August, 2020 visits to the correctional facilities has been largely stop-and-go.
The Halawa Correctional Facilities are not allowing visitors due to the number of active covid-19 cases. And some are not happy about it.
Kat Brady is a prison rights advocate. She says that “it’s really important that moms can bring babies to visit daddy. That’s really crucial, and on the Big Island it’s important that moms who are incarcerated get to see their kids on Mother’s Day.”
“We need to honor mothers, and lift up families”, says Will Espero, a retired Hawaii State Senator. “You have to be concerned about the health and welfare of the employees and if they don’t have enough employees to man the stations, there could be a security issue. Also, you have to look at it from the perspective of the inmates and the need for the family visitation and that connection to the outside world.”
The Public Safety Department issued a statement to KITV4, “We would like to emphasize that the action to cancel visitation was based on an abundance of caution for the safety of those in our care and custody, our staff, and to prevent any potential spread to the community, including family and friends.”
Doctor Scott Miscovich from the Premier Medical Group says, “A prison, as we have seen in the state of Hawaii, has been the worst outbreak and the highest rate of death because it has been every island we’ve had prison outbreaks.”
Kat Brady says, research shows prisoners who have visits have much lower recidivism than inmates who have no visitors.
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