Tribe Won’T Get Hawaii Prison Reservation Newspaper Said State Was Considering Mainland Lockup

The Spokane Tribe has conducted public meetings on the possibility of having a Hawaiian state prison on the reservation, but Hawaiian officials say there is no such proposal.

There is no explanation for the contradiction, except that the idea may be wishful thinking on the part of a contractor.

“I can confirm that the tribe has been approached by a contractor about the possibility of locating a prison on the reservation, in the event that the state of Hawaii decides to build one on the mainland,” tribal attorney Dave Lundgren said.

He declined to identify the contractor because anonymity was “part of the deal.”

“I think it’s a wait-and-see process, to see whether the state of Hawaii decides to build one on the mainland,” Lundgren said, declining to elaborate.

The tribe-operated Rawhide Press newspaper was much more specific in its February edition. The newspaper said tribal members needed to decide by mid-April whether they are interested in the project because the current session of the Hawaiian Legislature will end this month.

According to the newspaper, the Spokane Tribe was one of “a few” a consultant contacted about the project. There was said to be a “50-50 chance the Spokane Tribe will be offered this project.”

The prison reportedly would require 100 to 120 acres and would result in annual lease payments of $500,000 to $1 million a year for 30 years. It would provide 200 to 300 jobs paying an average salary of $25,000 to $30,000 a year.

“This definitely was not done at our request,” said Ted Sakai, administrative assistant to the Hawaiian prisons director.

Sakai said officials had flirted with the idea of building a prison on the mainland but abandoned it months ago.

Hawaiian Gov. Ben Cayetano considered the possibility of building a prison in Nevada, “but it just didn’t work out,” spokesman Rich Budnick said.

He said no consultant was ever hired to explore the idea, and Cayetano decided in January to seek a new or expanded prison on the island of Hawaii. Officials now are focusing their attention on the Kau area of the “big island.”

Cayetano’s press secretary, Kathleen Racuya-Markrich, speculated that the Spokane Tribe may have been contacted by a representative of an Austin, Texas, company that houses more than 300 inmates from Hawaii’s overcrowded prisons.

“There is talk now of sending them more,” Racuya-Markrich said.

But Tony Schaffer, corporate counsel for the private prison operator, BRG Inc., said the company didn’t contact the Spokane Tribe. He said BRG has been told Hawaii is planning a new 2,300-bed prison within the state.

“I think all the soldiers are marching to that beat,” he said.

Still, Schaffer said, it is possible the Spokane Tribe was approached by a consultant who sometimes works with BRG. He said the contractor, whom he didn’t identify, works with a number of tribes around the country.

“Sometimes these contractors try to be matchmakers,” Schaffer said.

He said he hadn’t been able to contact the contractor who may have approached the Spokanes.