Windward Community College is extending its Hawaiian studies program to men from Hawaiʻi incarcerated at Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona. Partnering with the Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Windward CC aims to provide educational opportunities to the more than 900 men who are housed there to reduce overcrowding in Hawaiʻi prisons.
The Puʻuhonua: Places of Sanctuary program, launched in 2017, first served students at the Hawaiʻi Youth Correctional Facility and the Women’s Community Correctional Center. In 2022, it expanded to Halawa Correctional Facility.
This spring, 25 students at Saguaro are enrolled in their first course. Windward CC faculty and staff work to make learning engaging and relevant.
“By having someone in front of you that looks like you and talks like you and has similar stories helps you continue that spark to move forward and finish,” said instructor William Cook.
Challenges include lockdowns, staff shortages, limited learning materials and inconsistent technology access. Windward CC is planning to expand course offerings so students can complete an associate degree while in Arizona.
Creating pilina, connections, to home
Windward CC Chancellor Ardis Eschenberg founded the program as part of the college’s mission to serve Native Hawaiians, who are overrepresented in the prison system. The Arizona expansion is funded by a federal grant for Native Hawaiian-serving institutions. The University of Hawaiʻi, Gov. Josh Green’s administration, and Hawaiʻi State Legislature have supported the program with three permanent staff positions.
“We’re reinforcing who they are, and even more so in Arizona, we’re creating this pilina—connection—for them, with their home,” said Eschenberg.
