The Hawaii Department of Health is proud to unveil its latest psychiatric facility at the Hawaii State Hospital.
Valued at $160 million, the high-security facility is claimed as one of the country’s safest and most secure psychiatric wards.
This Kaneohe facility will house nearly 500 beds, as it adds 144 more beds to its existing capacity, growing the state hospital’s ability to accommodate more patients. Monitoring additional patients will be easier since advanced security detectors near the entrances have been installed, along with multiple cameras in various locations and a number of windows that make it possible for staff to keep watch on the patients, but only one entrance and exit for patients.
“There’s no blind corners here,” state Department of Health Deputy Director Ed Mersereau told Hawaii News Now. “We know where patients are at all times. If there’s a situation with a patient in one area, staff have easy access to get to that area.”
The Health Department also told Hawaii News Now that escapes like the one in 2017 made by convicted killer Randall Saito are all but impossible. Before any hospital staff knew that he had escaped, Saito had already managed to fly to California.
The facility also has a "rubber room" for patients in danger of harming themselves. The administrators said approximately 90% of the patients have some form of substance abuse problem.
Patients start moving in on Thursday, July 1.