When Tsofit Ohayon was incarcerated at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua, she and many of her fellow inmates would often walk in circles or do workouts in front of their beds.

Since construction on the property began in 2021 and took over the area formerly used as a recreation yard, opportunities for physical activity have been even more limited. 

“I gained like 20 pounds while I was there,” said Ohayon, who was released last year and is now a mentor and tutor at Windward Community College. “When I would be frustrated, I wouldn’t have an ability to release my frustration. It makes it more difficult to sleep, it causes health problems, you get sick quicker.”

But thanks to WCCC Warden Ione Guillonta’s vision and fundraising efforts by the Women’s Prison Project, a plan is underway to set up a wellness center that will provide a space for exercise equipment and regular fitness classes for inmates. 

The wellness center project is part of a series of institutional reforms at the women’s prison and throughout the corrections system since the Department of Public Safety was dissolved and the state’s jails and prisons were placed under the supervision of the new Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Guillonta, who became the first permanent female warden of the WCCC in January 2023, said the project fits in well with her overarching goals — to help incarcerated women prepare to reenter society and reduce recidivism. 

“It’s all about building better neighbors,” she said. “These ladies are getting out … Do you want your neighbor next to to you to be going into your garage, helping themselves to your property? No, we don’t. So we have to provide them skills, just changing their whole mindset, and providing wraparound resources for when they get out there.”  

Wellness Center 

Guillonta said the wellness center will be located in a repurposed 35-by-20-foot room that was previously used by staff. 

All the labor to convert the space will be provided in-house. The costs will be minor, such as around $500 for electrical rewiring, she said.

The Women’s Prison Project, a coalition of former politicians, criminal justice professionals and advocates, aims to raise $85,000 to purchase equipment and other items for the center. 

Not just any equipment will be acceptable, though, Guillonta said. For example, free weights, dumbbells and machines that can connect to the internet are not allowed. 

The Women’s Prison Project is working with Mike Sapp Fitness, a personal training and fitness company in Honolulu, to acquire strength-training machines that use air resistance instead of weights. 

“I’m looking at security aspects,” Guillonta said. “Can something be broken easily? Can metal wires come undone easily?”

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is also seeking to hire an additional recreation specialist at a starting salary of $27 per hour, she said. One recreational leader is already employed by the department.

In addition, Lorenn Walker, executive director of Hawaii Friends of Restorative Justice, said she is raising money to start a running club. She plans to purchase hats, long-sleeved shirts and running shoes for the women and hold sessions on the premises once a week or more.

Guillonta said she believes exercise will help inmates boost their self esteem, improve their health and release tension so that they’re better able to solve problems. 

“Especially people that are incarcerated, other than programming, they don’t do much else,” she said. “If we have a wellness center, they’ll feel better about themselves, they’ll be more inclined to get along with each other.”

Some women who have come out of WCCC say they wish a gym was available while they were there. 

“Working out is such a good way to build your confidence and a good way to believe in yourself again,” said Chinalyn Luuloa, who was released in 2022 after serving five years. “Mentally, it’s very draining when you don’t have something positive to look forward to.” 

Two men’s prisons already have gymnasiums — the Halawa Correctional Facility in Aiea, which houses more than 1,000 male inmates between its medium-security facility and maximum-security special needs facility, and Kulani Correctional Facility in Hilo that houses about 200 men. 

Jails, such as the Oahu Community Correctional Center, do not have gyms because their populations are transitory and most people are held for less than 60 days, according to Rosemarie Bernardo, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

OCCC, which has been cited for inhumane conditions and overcrowding, currently houses more than 1,000 pre-trial detainees, including 107 women, according to the most recent population report from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. 

The construction of a new housing unit at the WCCC that began in 2021 and is scheduled to be done this spring will increase the prison’s capacity by 176 and allow it to house all the women currently being sent to OCCC.

Reducing The Prison Population

The House Corrections, Military and Veterans Committee unanimously passed a resolution on Wednesday calling on the Women’s Corrections Implementation Commission to develop a strategy to reduce the population of WCCC by 25% over the next five years. 

The number of women in Hawaii prisons increased 14-fold between 1978 and 2017, and the number of women in jail increased 17-fold during the same time period.  

There are currently 405 women incarcerated throughout the state and 2,587 men, according to the corrections department.

One reason it’s important to focus on women in prison is because they’re so much less likely to be violent offenders and also less likely to reoffend, said former governor Linda Lingle, one of the leading members of the Women’s Prison Project.

According to a 2019 report from the Attorney General’s Office, the recidivism rate of a cohort of male inmates released in 2016 was 54.8%. It was 51.3% for the female cohort.

Women are more likely to be victims of violent crimes than perpetrators, and those who do commit crimes were often victims first, Lingle said.

Women made up 11% of violent crime offenders in Hawaii in 2022, and 42% of violent crime victims, according to FBI Uniform Crime statistics. 

“Women commit crimes out of poverty at much higher rates than men,” Lingle said. “At the same time, 85% have suffered sexual and physical trauma in their life.” 

While projects like the wellness center and a pilot program that would allow women to foster pets in prison will improve quality of life for incarcerated women, Lingle said ultimately it’s going to take criminal justice reforms and more community-based programs, such as those providing affordable housing to recently released offenders, in order to dramatically reduce the prison population. 

“They need to quit sending women to prison who are nonviolent offenders, who really need mental health treatment, drug and alcohol treatment,” she said.

Civil Beat’s community health coverage is supported by the Swayne Family Fund of Hawaii Community Foundation, the Cooke Foundation, Atherton Family Foundation and Papa Ola Lokahi.