Two visions for Kulani prison: Lawmakers consider a new plan for the closed facility<\/h1>\nMar 24, 2010 – 01:52 PM | by Alan McNarie<\/a> | Hawaii Island<\/a><\/div>\n![\"A](\"http:\/\/www.ngycp.org\/site\/state\/hi\/files\/u119\/EdOut_AtRisk_06.jpg\")
<\/div>\nA robotics club was initiated as a pilot project for the Hawai\u02bbi National Guard Youth Challenge Academy on O\u02bbahu.<\/em><\/div>\nHILO\u2014When Hawai\u02bbi Island\u2019s Kulani Correctional Facility closed last year, the site quickly found a new tenant. The United States National Guard plans to open a new branch of its Youth ChalleNGe Academy in 2011, which will provide housing and education to about 100 \u201cat-risk youth\u201d in buildings that once held the State\u2019s sex offender treatment program.<\/p>\n
But some Hawai\u02bbi residents question why the military is involved in public education. And the State Legislature is considering another plan that would use Kulani for a new \u201cpu\u02bbuhonua\u201d (place of refuge) where prisoners could undergo a program based on the Hawaiian custom of ho\u02bboponopono, or reconciliation.<\/p>\n
A military vision<\/strong><\/p>\nAccording to National Guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony, the Youth ChalleNGe Academy is designed to give high school dropouts their last best chance of getting a diploma by instilling military discipline.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey wear uniforms, they march in formation, they get up early, they do calisthenics, they run,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cIt\u2019s very similar to what basic trainees might do in the military. … It\u2019s amazing how many of these kids actually thrive better in a highly structured environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
But some community members question whether the military is the best branch of government to handle kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe military\u2019s becoming the family for kids,\u201d says Catherine Kennedy, who gives presentations in Hawai\u02bbi Island schools to counterbalance the efforts of military recruiters. \u201cIt\u2019s the strict mom and dad. It\u2019s the tough love for kids. That\u2019s one of the problems that I have with the military. It\u2019s not a caring, understanding family. It\u2019s a disciplinary family, it\u2019s an authoritarian family, it\u2019s a sexist family.\u201d<\/p>\n
So why is the National Guard is in the education business?<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we\u2019ve been doing it for a long time now,\u201d Anthony answers.<\/p>\n
The program, he says, started in ten other states in 1993. The Hawai\u02bbi National Guard opened a Youth ChalleNGe Academy in a former Navy barracks at Kalailoa on O\u02bbahu in 1994. That program has been operating ever since, working with about 100 to 150 students at a time.<\/p>\n
The majority of the academy\u2019s funding comes from the federal government. Most of its classroom instructors, Anthony says, come from the Department of Education; National Guard personnel do administration and handle the disciplinary training.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re designing a program to help instill discipline in teens, who better than the National Guard cadre to help do that?\u201d Anthony said.<\/p>\n
Some critics note the National Guard has a conflict of interest: It needs young bodies to fill out its ranks. And \u201cyouth at risk,\u201d especially minorities and kids from lower-class homes, could be especially vulnerable to military recruitment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way that the military has capitalized on the economic downturn is to cast itself as the only alternative for education and a career,\u201d said Kyle Kajehiro of the American Friends Service Committee. \u201cWe call that the \u2018poverty draft.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Academy opponents can point to examples such as that of Wilson Algrim, an orphan from Colombia who was adopted by a Michigan couple. He\u2019d never attended school in Colombia, and had difficulty in American public schools, but he graduated from Michigan\u2019s Youth ChalleNGe Academy and then enlisted in the Michigan National Guard. In 2006, two days before Christmas, he was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq.<\/p>\n
At least two Hawai\u02bbi Youth ChalleNGe graduates, Marine Lance Corporal Kristen K. Marino and Marine Private Lewis T.D. Calapini, also have died in Iraq.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Guard certainly doesn\u2019t want to look at the Youth ChalleNGe Academy as a recruiting tool,\u201d Anthony maintains. \u201cWe really try to discourage [academy graduates from immediately joining the Guard] because in a lot of cases they may not have come from an environment that was conducive to keeping them on the right path. … We\u2019d really be interested in their going away from Hawai\u02bbi for a while to gain some maturity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Guard\u2019s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Robert G. F. Lee, is more explicit about how graduates could \u201cgo away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe offer them as an option joining the Guard,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cWe feel that probably active duty [is a better method of] just getting away from the islands and continuing to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee says about 20 percent of the academy\u2019s graduates join some branch of the armed services after graduating. A Department of Education survey of the state\u2019s high school seniors, in contrast, found that only eight percent of them planned to join the military.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecruiters can talk to cadets, but the amount of access they can have to cadets is really less than they have at a regular high school,\u201d Anthony maintains.<\/p>\n
But if students in the current program want to see a recruiter, they don\u2019t have far to go. An online memo, dated September 3, 2009, announced a \u201cNew Hawaii Recruiting Location!\u201d serving both the Army and Air National Guards, in Kalaeloa, \u201cadjacent to the Hawai\u02bbi Youth ChalleNGe facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee says Hawai\u02bbi National Guard headquarters is also in Kalaeloa. The new recruiting station, he said, is \u201creally to serve us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t have a recruiting office up at Kulani,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
According to Lee, most of the academy\u2019s 2,700 graduates have left with the equivalents of a high school diplomas and with significant increases in reading and math skills.Youth Challenge websites nationwide carry dozens of glowing testimonials from graduates.<\/p>\n
But the future isn\u2019t always bright for academy graduates. In 2004, the Honolulu Advertiser<\/em> reported on a Youth Challenge commencement in which the guest speaker, an Academy graduate, warned new graduates against going back to their old habits. He said he didn\u2019t turn his own life around until he joined the military, and that when he\u2019d tried to look up his four closest friends from his academy days, he learned that one was in prison and three were dead.
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/5\/5b\/PuuhonuaNHP.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHale line the beach at a pu\u02bbuhonua once used for refugees or those who broke kapu located at Pu\u02bbuhonua o H\u014dnaunau National Historical Park.<\/em><\/div>\nA Hawaiian vision<\/strong><\/p>\nRon Fujioshi, a Hilo minister involved in a Hilo restorative justice group Ohana Ho\u02bbopakele, has a different vision for Kulani.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hoping that the plan from the Department of Defense is not going to go through, and so we can use the Kulani place as the site for a pu\u02bbuhonua,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A pu\u02bbuhonua, in Hawaiian tradition, is a refuge for criminals and for those fleeing war. According to Ohana Ho\u02bbopakele\u2019s president, Sam Kaleleiki, Jr, criminals staying at the pu\u02bbuhonua can undergo ho\u02bboponopono, or \u201cmaking right the wrong,\u201d a traditional process in which members of both the offender\u2019s and the victim\u2019s extended families participate to remedy the injury so the offender can go home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they did wrong, they go and rehabilitate,\u201d Kaleleiki said, \u201cbut [they are] not punished.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nHILO\u2014When Hawai\u02bbi Island\u2019s Kulani Correctional Facility closed last year, the site quickly found a new tenant. The United States National Guard plans to open a new branch of its Youth ChalleNGe Academy in 2011, which will provide housing and education to about 100 \u201cat-risk youth\u201d in buildings that once held the State\u2019s sex offender treatment program.<\/p>\n
But some Hawai\u02bbi residents question why the military is involved in public education. And the State Legislature is considering another plan that would use Kulani for a new \u201cpu\u02bbuhonua\u201d (place of refuge) where prisoners could undergo a program based on the Hawaiian custom of ho\u02bboponopono, or reconciliation.<\/p>\n
A military vision<\/strong><\/p>\n According to National Guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony, the Youth ChalleNGe Academy is designed to give high school dropouts their last best chance of getting a diploma by instilling military discipline.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wear uniforms, they march in formation, they get up early, they do calisthenics, they run,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cIt\u2019s very similar to what basic trainees might do in the military. … It\u2019s amazing how many of these kids actually thrive better in a highly structured environment.\u201d<\/p>\n But some community members question whether the military is the best branch of government to handle kids.<\/p>\n \u201cThe military\u2019s becoming the family for kids,\u201d says Catherine Kennedy, who gives presentations in Hawai\u02bbi Island schools to counterbalance the efforts of military recruiters. \u201cIt\u2019s the strict mom and dad. It\u2019s the tough love for kids. That\u2019s one of the problems that I have with the military. It\u2019s not a caring, understanding family. It\u2019s a disciplinary family, it\u2019s an authoritarian family, it\u2019s a sexist family.\u201d<\/p>\n So why is the National Guard is in the education business?<\/p>\n \u201cBecause we\u2019ve been doing it for a long time now,\u201d Anthony answers.<\/p>\n The program, he says, started in ten other states in 1993. The Hawai\u02bbi National Guard opened a Youth ChalleNGe Academy in a former Navy barracks at Kalailoa on O\u02bbahu in 1994. That program has been operating ever since, working with about 100 to 150 students at a time.<\/p>\n The majority of the academy\u2019s funding comes from the federal government. Most of its classroom instructors, Anthony says, come from the Department of Education; National Guard personnel do administration and handle the disciplinary training.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re designing a program to help instill discipline in teens, who better than the National Guard cadre to help do that?\u201d Anthony said.<\/p>\n Some critics note the National Guard has a conflict of interest: It needs young bodies to fill out its ranks. And \u201cyouth at risk,\u201d especially minorities and kids from lower-class homes, could be especially vulnerable to military recruitment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way that the military has capitalized on the economic downturn is to cast itself as the only alternative for education and a career,\u201d said Kyle Kajehiro of the American Friends Service Committee. \u201cWe call that the \u2018poverty draft.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Academy opponents can point to examples such as that of Wilson Algrim, an orphan from Colombia who was adopted by a Michigan couple. He\u2019d never attended school in Colombia, and had difficulty in American public schools, but he graduated from Michigan\u2019s Youth ChalleNGe Academy and then enlisted in the Michigan National Guard. In 2006, two days before Christmas, he was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq.<\/p>\n At least two Hawai\u02bbi Youth ChalleNGe graduates, Marine Lance Corporal Kristen K. Marino and Marine Private Lewis T.D. Calapini, also have died in Iraq.<\/p>\n \u201cThe National Guard certainly doesn\u2019t want to look at the Youth ChalleNGe Academy as a recruiting tool,\u201d Anthony maintains. \u201cWe really try to discourage [academy graduates from immediately joining the Guard] because in a lot of cases they may not have come from an environment that was conducive to keeping them on the right path. … We\u2019d really be interested in their going away from Hawai\u02bbi for a while to gain some maturity.\u201d<\/p>\n The National Guard\u2019s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Robert G. F. Lee, is more explicit about how graduates could \u201cgo away.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe offer them as an option joining the Guard,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cWe feel that probably active duty [is a better method of] just getting away from the islands and continuing to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee says about 20 percent of the academy\u2019s graduates join some branch of the armed services after graduating. A Department of Education survey of the state\u2019s high school seniors, in contrast, found that only eight percent of them planned to join the military.<\/p>\n \u201cRecruiters can talk to cadets, but the amount of access they can have to cadets is really less than they have at a regular high school,\u201d Anthony maintains.<\/p>\n But if students in the current program want to see a recruiter, they don\u2019t have far to go. An online memo, dated September 3, 2009, announced a \u201cNew Hawaii Recruiting Location!\u201d serving both the Army and Air National Guards, in Kalaeloa, \u201cadjacent to the Hawai\u02bbi Youth ChalleNGe facility.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee says Hawai\u02bbi National Guard headquarters is also in Kalaeloa. The new recruiting station, he said, is \u201creally to serve us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe won\u2019t have a recruiting office up at Kulani,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n According to Lee, most of the academy\u2019s 2,700 graduates have left with the equivalents of a high school diplomas and with significant increases in reading and math skills.Youth Challenge websites nationwide carry dozens of glowing testimonials from graduates.<\/p>\n But the future isn\u2019t always bright for academy graduates. In 2004, the Honolulu Advertiser<\/em> reported on a Youth Challenge commencement in which the guest speaker, an Academy graduate, warned new graduates against going back to their old habits. He said he didn\u2019t turn his own life around until he joined the military, and that when he\u2019d tried to look up his four closest friends from his academy days, he learned that one was in prison and three were dead. A Hawaiian vision<\/strong><\/p>\n Ron Fujioshi, a Hilo minister involved in a Hilo restorative justice group Ohana Ho\u02bbopakele, has a different vision for Kulani.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are hoping that the plan from the Department of Defense is not going to go through, and so we can use the Kulani place as the site for a pu\u02bbuhonua,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A pu\u02bbuhonua, in Hawaiian tradition, is a refuge for criminals and for those fleeing war. According to Ohana Ho\u02bbopakele\u2019s president, Sam Kaleleiki, Jr, criminals staying at the pu\u02bbuhonua can undergo ho\u02bboponopono, or \u201cmaking right the wrong,\u201d a traditional process in which members of both the offender\u2019s and the victim\u2019s extended families participate to remedy the injury so the offender can go home.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they did wrong, they go and rehabilitate,\u201d Kaleleiki said, \u201cbut [they are] not punished.\u201d<\/p>\n
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