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The mission of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) is to provide a secure correctional environment for comprehensive rehabilitative, holistic, and wraparound re-entry services, including culturally based approaches, to persons sentenced to our custody and care with professionalism, integrity, respect, and fairness. Our goal is to reduce recidivism and enhance the safety and security of our communities. 

To transform Hawaii’s unified correctional system, which has been historically perceived as a punitive model, into a rehabilitative, restorative, and reentry focused system, that reduces recidivism and promotes safer communities.

Rehabilitative sustainability through evidence-based programs, including  culturally based approaches, to rebuild and restore lives and the community. Transparency and accountability will remain the hallmark of the department to inspire trust in our employees, from those in our custody and care, and the community we serve.

To protect members of the community and their property from victimization, caused through criminal actions, by managing secure institutions to detain individuals ordered into our custody and care, and provide a safe and humane correctional setting for our employees and offenders. Also, to provide rehabilitative, holistic and reach-in wraparound reentry services to reduce recidivism and achieve better outcomes for offenders. To reach these goals, the DCR will coordinate legislation as necessary to collaborate with community and cultural organizations and where appropriate, to compensate victims of crime.

Over 95% of those who come to our correctional facilities will eventually be released. Most have challenging backgrounds, but they all have great potential. We strive to make the best use of the time we have with them. We want them to see the possibilities for their lives.

At first, these individuals may not see in themselves what we can see, but our hope is that each one makes that pivotal course correction, begins to turn their life around, and be ready to seize every opportunity to lift themselves to a new place, rejoin their families, and start their lives afresh.

That’s why we assess each individual in our care, devise personalized plans, and provide holistic support services, all to ensure a successful re-entry into the community. We offer a spectrum of services and opportunities, and with ongoing support from the state, we can continue to invest in their lives. Better physical facilities, expanded programs, and additional supportive services are all important to create an optimal environment to help them flourish.