Governor Appoints Three to Hawai‘i Paroling Authority

Gov. David Ige on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, announced the appointment of three new members of the Hawai‘i Paroling Authority board.

Clayton Hee, Cheryl Inouye and Max Otani have been appointed to the Hawai‘i Paroling Authority, effective immediately. The interim appointments are subject to state Senate confirmation. Their terms will expire June 30, 2023.

Clayton Hee was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1982 while residing on the island of Moloka’i where he worked as a public school teacher. He was first elected to the State Senate in 1984 and later served 12 years as a member of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs where he was chairman for six years. Hee was re-elected to the State Senate in 2004 and served there until 2014. He was a long-time chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor and is the author of more than 100 laws, many of which relate to the Hawai‘i Penal Code.

Previously, Hee was a lecturer at the University of Hawai‘i and taught at Windward Community College and the Windward School for Adults. In addition, he was an instructor of Hawaiian history and culture at various public schools on O‘ahu and all five public schools on Moloka‘i.

Hee is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools. He earned one undergraduate degree and two graduate degrees from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Chery Inouye began her criminal justice career in probation with the Judiciary in 1981, first in District Court and in Circuit Court on O‘ahu, until her retirement in 2017. She served in a variety of probation officer positions and was also section administrator—overseeing three units of probation officers. Inouye also specialized in managing sex offenders and high-risk substance abusers during her tenure.

Inouye was instrumental in developing the first sex offender unit in the State of Hawai‘i, creating and piloting an innovative domestic violence intervention strategy for felony domestic offenders, developing a specialized unit to manage high risk substance abusers, and co-developing an effective strategy for managing probation violations (later named Hawai‘i’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement—HOPE).

Inouye was born and raised on Kaua‘i. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and master’s in social work from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Max Otani worked at the Judiciary as a Family Court Officer and Circuit Court Probation Officer. He was later employed at the Hawai‘i Paroling Authority where he served for more than two decades in various positions, ranging from parole officer to division administrator. Otani was also the Intake Service Center Division Administrator and Deputy Director for Corrections with the Department of Public Safety (PSD).

During his career in corrections, Otani initiated evidence-based practices with the parole and pretrial populations in efforts to reduce recidivism. He retired from PSD in 2016.

Otani was born and raised in Hilo, Hawai‘i. He is a graduate of Hilo High School and the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Otani also attended the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa where he earned a master’s in social work.

The five-member Hawai‘i Paroling Authority is an independent quasi-judicial body, which is attached to the Department of Public Safety for administrative purposes only.