Hawaii health officials propose doubling State Hospital capacity, citing a flow of court-ordered forensic admissions
Civil Beat reported that the updated master plan would replace the aging Goddard Building with a 144-bed facility for high-risk patients and later add a second building, creating a two-hospital model that separates patients by risk. The state's health director described a wide-open front door of new forensic admissions and a narrow back door, because forensic patients can be discharged only after a complex evaluation process and a judge's written authorization.
The hospital was built for 178 beds and licensed for 202, but its budget assumed 168 patients. On the day of reporting it held 205, with another 42 placed in overflow units at a private hospital in Ewa Beach. Officials said the hospital must accept court-committed patients whatever the bed count, and the plan would let the overflow patients return to the Kaneohe campus.
The proposal still needed approval and funding from the governor and legislators. It followed a 2014 Senate investigation of the hospital and put forensic capacity at the center of the state's mental health budget debate.
Source: Health Officials Unveil Plans to Expand Hawaii State Hospital — Honolulu Civil Beat, by Nathan Eagle
← Back to the map