Church looking to buy land under OCCC
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By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
One of Hawai'i's largest churches is exploring the possibility of buying the O'ahu Community Correctional Center in Kalihi and turning it into a place of worship or a base for church programs.
Leaders of the New Hope Christian Fellowship discussed the idea with Gov. Ben Cayetano last month and toured the prison a week ago.
"We had a chance to walk through and see mainly just the size of it, but nothing more than that," said church executive pastor Elwin Ahu. "It's the same as if you were house hunting. You want to look at all locations."
The prison is not officially for sale, but the Legislature has urged that it be closed because of security problems related to its design, age and proximity to schools and homes.
Ahu said news reports about the Legislature's stance have sparked church leaders' interest in the property and prompted them to discuss it with Cayetano.
The governor's spokeswoman, Kim Murakawa, said Cayetano met with church leaders as a courtesy, but that is was too soon to say whether their idea was feasible. And there is no guarantee the church would be allowed to buy the prison if the state decides to sell it.
"It's not something that might ever, ever come to fruition," Murakawa said. "It's still way too early to even consider."
The state could not sell the 18-acre site along Dillingham Boulevard for less than its appraised value, and the property may have to be sold at auction, she said.
The church's 8,000-member O'ahu congregation holds services and Sunday school at nearby Farrington High School and has been searching for a centrally located site of its own.
"We want to acquire a site that's more permanent," Ahu said. "We'd like it (OCCC) to be a place of worship, but we don't know yet." The church also is thinking about consolidating a range of church programs in one location and is considering the OCCC site for that as well, he said.
"There are some very, very, very preliminary, embryonic plans for multi-use, for community-oriented programs," Ahu said. He said it was too early to discuss specifics.
State public safety director Ted Sakai, who oversees the prison, said officials had yet to identify an alternative site. Most of the inmates at OCCC are awaiting trial, so a replacement site would have to be in reasonable proximity to courts, he said. However, any proposed prison site on O'ahu would likely stir enormous community opposition.
Sakai said the church group was allowed to tour the facility at the request of Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono. Her spokeswoman said it was not unusual for a group of private individuals to be shown the facility, regardless of their interest in it.
A small prison was first built on the site in 1917, when Kalihi was mostly rural. OCCC was designed to hold fewer than 300 inmates when it was built in the 1970s, but it has since grown into a crowded complex of modules that hold more than 1,100.
At the same time, Kalihi has grown into a sprawling, urban neighborhood that has five schools within a few blocks of the prison.
After the March escape of two inmates — including an accused killer — the Legislature passed a resolution stating that it "firmly believes that the O'ahu Community Correctional Center should be relocated, and a new secure facility should be constructed at a new site."
The measure called for state departments to conduct a study of the issue.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com
