13 new adult corrections officers now on the job, including 3 assigned to KCCC

Several of the state’s jails and prisons are getting some more much-needed manpower with members of a new graduating class of corrections officers now heading to their first assignments.

Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation honored the 13 graduates of Basic Corrections Recruit Class 25-01 during a commencement ceremony March 21 in the auditorium at the state Capitol in Honolulu.

The new adult corrections officers will begin their careers in facilities throughout the state, with the following number of graduates being assigned to these corrections facilities:

• Kauaiʻi Community Correctional Center; Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi: 3 graduates assigned.
• Hālawa Correctional Facility; ʻAiea, Oʻahu: 2 graduates assigned.
• Hawaiʻi Community Correctional Center; Hilo, Hawaiʻi Island: 7 graduates assigned.
• Oʻahu Community Correctional Center; Honolulu: 1 graduate assigned.

“I am proud of all graduates who completed the rigorous training course,” said Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Director Tommy Johnson.

The state Corrections and Rehabilitation Department doubled its recruit classes to 6 from 3 per year since it’s restructuring from the Hawai‘i Department of Public Safety in 2024, part of aggressive recruitment efforts to fill vacant positions throughout the islands.

“Recruitment for [adult corrections officers] positions is a priority for us,” Johnson said.

The corrections department has 1,085 corrections officers on the job now, with about 450 vacancies.

The basic corrections recruit class is an 8-week training course that includes more than 300 hours of classroom instruction and physical training.

Recruits learn a variety of subjects such as:

• Standards of conduct.
• Ethics and professionalism.
• Report writing.
• Interpersonal communications.
• Maintaining security.
• Crisis intervention.
• Security threat groups (gangs).
• Mental health.
• First aid.
• Use of firearms.
• Self-defense tactics.

All incoming classes receive recruit field training along with basic corrections training.

Each trainee — during their final weeks of basic training and with guidance from their training sergeants — spent time in the facilities where they are beginning their jobs.

Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s mission is to provide a secure correctional environment for comprehensive rehabilitative, holistic, wraparound re-entry services, including culturally-based approaches, to people sentenced to its custody and care.

Its goal is to reduce recidivism and generational incarceration along with security of the state’s communities.