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Hawai‘i has No Girls in Juvenile Detention. Here’s How It Got There.
July 25, 2021

Fellows mentioned in this story: Jessica Munoz, Cohort VII

From The Washington Post:

When Mark Patterson took over as administrator of the Hawai‘i Youth Correctional Facility in 2014, he inherited 500 acres of farm ranch — and the care of 26 boys and seven girls between 13 and 19 years old.

By 2016, his facility, in Kailua, O‘ahu, was only holding between five and six girls at a time. And in June, the last girl left the facility.

For the first time, there are no girls incarcerated in the state of Hawai‘i.

Patterson said this moment is “20 years in the making,” and the result of a systemwide effort to divert girls from the judicial system and into trauma-based care programs. The number of incarcerated boys has also lowered significantly in the past decade, he added.

Continue reading at washingtonpost.com.