Releases From Hawaii Prisons Slowed During Pandemic Despite Supreme Court Orders … U.S. Department of Justice statistics show the state prison system released 30% fewer inmates in 2020 than the year before, the biggest decrease among the states.
Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice show that even as Covid-19 surged among inmates and staff in Hawaii’s crowded prisons and jails in 2020, the state correctional system actually reduced the number of inmates who were released from Hawaii prisons during that first year of the pandemic.
That new federal data is particularly striking because the Hawaii Supreme Court issued orders in April and August of 2020 to expedite releases of lower-risk inmates in an urgent effort to reduce overcrowding and control the spread of the virus inside.
Those court orders primarily applied to jail inmates, meaning prisoners who were awaiting trial or were low-level detainees serving short term sentences. Prison inmates who were convicted and serving terms of more than a year did not qualify for expedited release under those court orders.
