Hirono Secures Commitment to Reopen Mahoney Hale

The recently closed federal Residential Reentry Center (RRC) on O‘ahu is set to reopen within the next several months.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Nov. 19, Sen. Mazie Hirono secured a commitment from Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to provide regular updates about the status of efforts to reopen the state’s only RRC, Mahoney Hale.

Sawyer affirmed that BOP’s timeline to reopen an RRC is within the next several months.

Mahoney Hale closed on Sept. 30 after providing transitional services and programs for nearly three decades. Those services and programs included employment counseling, case management, and skills training to help men and women successfully reenter the community after serving federal prison sentences.

Mahoney Hale’s closure had a significant impact, not only on those reentering the community who will no longer receive these critical transitional services in Hawai‘i, but also on other community members. The nonprofit Touch A Heart, for example, has frequently worked with Mahoney Hale to recruit interns for its culinary vocational program.