2024 is ending with renewed energy for Ohana Hoʻopakele! We have:

• Celebrated the release of Van Keoki Kahumoku after 23 years of incarceration. He has been out for a year and four months, is doing well and adjusting into a role of Ohana Ho'opakele officer. With his release Ohana Ho'opakele is championing the release of older pa'ahao, including "lifers" who have shown by their service to others that they should be released to spend the rest of their lives with their ohana. On November 14-16, 2024 a Prison Jail Innovation Lab (PJIL) Conference on Deaths in Custody held at the University of Texas in Austin head this large poster--"A Prison Sentence Should Not Be A Death Sentence." Is this a sign of changes happening?
  
  
• Participated actively in the monthly hearings of the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission (HCSOC) and organized ex-pa'ahao and family members to participate and testify, in person if at all possible. We believe that the HCSOC and their excellent staff are crucial in helping the newly named Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to be truly "rehabilitative." We sent two of our members to testify at the State Legislature in favor of retaining a sufficient budget for their functioning.
• On November 13, 2024 we participated in the opening of the Makahiki observance at Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, AZ. With our delegation of five, both the Chair of the HCSOC and the Oversight Coordinator plus the Deputy Director for Rehabilitation Services joined in the one day activity. Over 70 of the pa'ahao participated in the annual observance and the warden and staff of the correctional facility showed strong support for the ceremony by their presence. Rev. Rosemary McCombs Maxey, Muscogee UCC pastor who was key in supporting the initial observance of the Makahiki in Diamondback Correctional Center in Watonga, OK joined our delegation, and her presence was celebrated, especially by those who remembered her from Oklahoma. The Closing of the Makahiki Celebration will be held on February 19, 2025 and we plan to send another delegation.
• Shared a draft curriculum with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as part of a proposal to work with the pa'ahao at the Kulani Correctional Center to help develop a culturally appropriate/faith-based program for the pa'ahao that would initiate observances of Makahiki and other year-long ceremonies that would help prepare themselves for re-entry into the community.
• Received recognition of our work by being awarded grants from The Hawai'i People's Fund and The New Breath Foundation. Perhaps even more important than the funding are the contacts and experience that these organizations provide.

Join the effort to support pa’ahao and bring people home!

• With our recent renewed contact with the cultural/religious leaders among the pa'ahao, we want to build on contacts with pa'ahao, ex-pa'ahao and their families to work together to decrease the disproportionate number of Kanaka pa'ahao incarcerated.
• From our experience we want to work together with families to help release loved ones from prolonged incarceration.
• We are always looking to work with others to make the system more "rehabilitative." Join us!
  We believe that the best model for rehabilitation is the Pu'uhonua, the traditional healing village developed in the past.

Contact us to get involved:

Mailing address: Ohana Hoʻopakele, P.O. Box 5530, Hilo, HI 96720
Email: ohanahoopakele@gmail.com Website: www.ohanahoopakele.org