More than half of formerly incarcerated women in Hawaii return to prison, with the risk even higher for those without stable housing, disproportionately affecting Native Hawaiians.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs announced last month that it was contributing $180,000 to provide additional rent subsidies for Native Hawaiian women living at Mohala Mai — a permanent supportive housing project — to help combat the recidivism rate.
Mohala Mai, located in the heart of McCully, is a complex of studio and one- bedroom units that Housing Solutions Inc. opened in collaboration with the Women’s Prison Project in 2023. It provides residents with renewable three-month leases and access to an on-site social worker who assists with job searches and other reintegration efforts for the women who live there.
Residents moving to Mohala Mai directly from a correctional facility or transitional housing are given 30 days to secure employment. They are required to work at least 20 hours per week and their rent at Mohala Mai is based on 30% of their monthly income.
OHA’s grant will fund three years of rent subsidies for Native Hawaiian women at the housing project.
HSI President Gaye Johnston said that typically at least a 50% of Mohala Mai occupants are Native Hawaiian. As of Friday, 11 out of 20 residents were Native Hawaiian. Occupancy fluctuates frequently as women are released from prison and move in while others move out, finding independent housing.
“We’ve served 66 people since we opened and only five have gone back to prison,” Johnston said.
Sheena-Rae Peterman, a 38-year-old Native Hawaiian woman, was one of the first people to move into Mohala Mai when it opened in 2023.
“I was very excited. I get my own room, my own sanctuary,” Peterman said.
She said that she found purpose after getting a job at Goodwill Hawaii on South Beretania Street and that she appreciates the routine that going to work and coming back home for dinner gives her.
“I didn’t know what I was doing with my life at first and I got a job,” she said.
“If you want to better your life, start doing something with your life and get on track. Then I would consider to come here,” Peterman advised other women in similar circumstances.
She added that having independence as well as staff support is important so that residents can make the choice on their own to leave their “old ways” behind.
“You have a private area to choose between going back down the wrong path and making a difference in your life,” she said.
Mohala Mai’s residents come mostly from referrals by shelters and facilities like the Women’s Community Correctional Center, but Johnston said women who are on parole, have been incarcerated or charged with a crime in the past five years and are working 20 hours per week may reach out and seek housing, regardless of where they’re coming from.
Keala Souza, property manager at Mohala Mai, said those interested in available units may contact the office at 808-691-9500 or email keala@hsiservices.net.
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation emphasized the importance of stable housing in supporting formerly incarcerated individuals’ reentry into society.
“Affordable stable housing plays a critical role in reducing recidivism and supporting an individual’s successful reentry and reintegration into the community,” the department said in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “It provides a place for individuals to feel safe and secure in the community, to seek educational and employment opportunities, and necessary services to address and reduce physical, mental health, and substance abuse issues.”
Mohala Mai’s on-site social worker, Danmerle Capati, has worked with probationers and former inmates on the federal and state levels for over a decade. She said Mohala Mai breaks down the barriers for women transitioning back into the community. Resources such as permanent housing and emotional support are “big key in their success,” she explained.
“They feel safe, they feel supported and they have the resources here — almost like a one-stop shop,” Capati said. “That’s what makes us unique.”
OHA Maui Trustee Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey said she was excited when OHA approved the $180,000 grant.
“There’s more Hawaiian women in prison than any other nationality, so of course we are always trying to improve that number,” she said. “That’s our job at OHA, to improve the living conditions of our people.”
Lindsey is also a member of the Women’s Prison Project and remembers when Mohala Mai was preparing for its first residents.
“I was there at the very beginning, when they were just getting donations of sheets for the beds and bath towels,” she said. “It just rolled in; people were so generous with the donations.”
Former Gov. Linda Lingle, a leader within the Women’s Prison Project, said the idea for Mohala Mai was born when the group realized “that housing for women who had been involved in the justice system was a critical missing piece.”
Lingle said the OHA grantrepresents the outpouring of support Mohala Mai has received from the community.
“We call it a miracle project,” she said. “No matter what we’ve needed as we go along, we’ve been able to attract it.”
Source: The Garden Island