For Our People Inside
A look inside the newly formed Hawai‘i Abolition Collective
Flowers placed in the fence at the Oahu Community Correctional Center where members of the Hawai‘i Abolition Collective, along with family and friends, held a candlelight vigil to create a sense of community with those incarcerated inside.
Photos in this article © Hawai‘i Abolition Collective.
The holidays had descended over O‘ahu, and the city was alight with colors. The green bristles of Christmas trees glowed through neighborhood windows; porches danced in winking strings of white lights. Even at the Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) there was color and joy, thanks to the efforts of the Hawai‘i Abolition Collective.
Spearheaded by Laurel Mei-Singh, Leilani Maxera and Noelle Kakimoto, the newly formed Hawai‘i Abolition Collective (HAC) emerged from collaborations between Hawai‘i Peace & Justice and several local organizations, organizers and artists. Its stated goals are trifold: Honor the lives lost and the suffering due to the COVID-19 outbreaks; demand pu‘uhonua (a place of refuge for one pursued; a place of safety in time of war; a refuge) and transformative justice; and abolish cages on stolen ‘āina (land). Its mission? To dedicate themselves to the abolition of the prison industrial complex and all systems of violence that promote punishment rather than our collective abundance and thriving as a community.
While some might consider these goals lofty and perhaps even unattainable, these three women have remained hard at work, proving that nothing is impossible and, at the end of the day, kindness wins.
These are their stories, and this is a brief account of their journeys to form Hawai‘i’s leading initiative to abolish prisons and policing.
Noelle Kakimoto (pictured above left)
As a kanaka maoli and proud graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, Noelle Kakimoto has long had a heart for the plight of native Hawaiians and their stolen ‘āina. Though she’s always sought to become an organizer and do substantial work surrounding prisons and policing, she struggled to find the right group with which to share her efforts. Thankfully, she connected with Mei-Singh and Maxera.
“Last summer, Laurel, Leilani, and I worked together to write an article on abolition for the national publication Love and Rage Media,” she recounts. “It was such a generous and rewarding partnership. We continued our efforts by gathering 25 friends and acquaintances to participate in a Study and Struggle group where we read and discussed books and articles on abolition, capitalism, and imperialism over an eight-week period. Those discussions were what propelled our group forward to establish the Hawai‘i Abolition Collective.”
The coalition hosted its first candlelight vigil on December 23, 2020, not only in line with the holidays, but also in light of a recent COVID-19 outbreak in the Halawa Correctional Facility.
“The holiday season is usually exciting and happy for most people, so we wanted to bring attention to the disparity between celebrations for us outside, and suffering and inevitable sickness inside,” she says.
The vigil included prayer for those who are spiritual, a series of speeches, Christmas caroling and the collective honoring of communal grief — all in the name of ensuring incarcerated people and their loved ones know they haven’t been abandoned or forgotten by their communities.
When describing her abolition work, Kakimoto often encounters the same question: “What will we do with the murderers and rapists without prisons or police?” It’s a tough question, she acknowledges, one that takes time and effort to answer.
“Abolition isn’t a one-size-fits-all goal, and justice, accountability and restoration are more complicated than the only solution we currently have, which is incarceration. The goal of abolition is to build a world where everyone is safe, cared for, and given what they need to thrive.”
She explains the importance of patience and perseverance in this work.
“We can’t heal or solve the root causes of harm by heavily policing specific communities and sending them to prison — prison does not make us safer or stop the perpetuity of harm. If, however, we can begin to address why people cause harm to each other, then we’ll start to see that capitalism, imperialism, racism, and xenophobia are, in fact, far more dangerous and have hurt more people than any single individual in a cage.
“We need to be having these tough conversations in order to make lasting change,” she continues. “I want people to know that abolition isn’t a scary or impossible ideal. Abolitionists are inherent builders, and if we can imagine a world free from the shackles of incarceration, racial capitalism, and imperialism, then we can work together to make it a reality.”
And this work, Kakimoto acknowledges, is already being done, both on a national scale, as well as right here in Hawai‘i.
Leilani Maxera (pictured above center)
Growing up in a small town on the outskirts of San Francisco’s Bay Area, Leilani Maxera felt a deep calling to serve the native Hawaiian community despite never knowing her own Hawaiian family. She also felt inspired to see this service reveal itself through abolition of the prison industrial complex.
“When I was in high school, I had a particularly awful encounter with local police that left me traumatized,” Maxera recalls. “I didn’t have the language at the time to describe their abuse of power. Several years later my brother’s best friend was incarcerated. The helplessness of seeing a loved one locked up for something you’ve seen many other people get away with made me feel so powerless.
“As soon as I learned of the concept of abolition, a light went on for me. It gave me a description for what I knew was the right thing, the answers I was looking for.”
Once Maxera had saved enough money, she eventually made Hawai‘i her home, though she struggled to enter the realm of political organizing.
“It all clicked when I met Laurel and Noelle,” she says.
Maxera was introduced to Mei-Singh by abolitionist and scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore; she met Kakimoto through social media. After publishing their collaborative piece on abolition and forming the Study & Struggle group, they resolved to move their partnership forward with the Hawai‘i Abolition Collective.
Even after the Study & Struggle group ended, several participants have continued their work with HAC, working collaboratively to plan the collective’s outreach events and education initiatives.
Along with co-founding the initiative, Maxera has continued her remarkable work for the local community as Outreach & Overdose Prevention Manager of the Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center, where she oversees the statewide syringe exchange and naloxone distribution programs. It’s through this work that Maxera witnesses daily how policing and imprisonment devastate the people she serves.
“I see how Native Hawaiians are marginalized and criminalized on our own land. I see how people who use drugs, people who are houseless, sex workers, and the transgender community are hurt by policing and imprisonment. One of the things that keeps me going in this life is working toward the end of the suffering that capitalism and the prison industrial complex heaps upon us.”
Like Kakimoto, Maxera has faced similar questions and misperceptions surrounding abolition of the prison industrial complex.
“Some people think we should already have all the answers,” she says. “It throws folks off when you ask, ‘What do YOU think would be best for YOUR community?’ It’s important to understand what’s best for one community isn’t the same for all communities. While there are basic things abolition calls for, the mechanisms of what we dream and build must fit what individual communities want and need. A better world truly is possible — we just have to build it.”
Laurel Mei-Singh (pictured above right)
Growing up in a family active in the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Laurel Mei-Singh experienced her own political coming-of-age in New York City, where she lived after attending UCLA. While her time student organizing at UCLA was instrumental to shaping her future, Mei-Singh learned about abolition through friends in New York City who were part of Critical Resistance, an organization dedicated to the abolition of the prison industrial complex. She even had the privilege of earning her doctoral degree under the training of Critical Resistance’s co-founder, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, from whom she learned that abolition is sweeping and impactful in its scope.
“Through conversations with Ruthie, I realized the profound potential for abolitionist organizing in Hawai‘i, a militarily occupied place where Native Hawaiians comprise over half of the incarcerated population,” Mei-Singh reflects.
Throughout her rich and accomplished organizing career, Mei-Singh has encountered numerous misperceptions surrounding prison abolition, the most common being that the carceral system makes our communities safer. She sees the reality of the situation, however, as being far more complicated.
“Prisons and police actually perpetuate cycles of harm by isolating members of our community while exposing them to risks like COVID-19 and making them more vulnerable to poverty and structural racism,” she says. “Abolition calls us to examine the current system and build alternatives that actually address the layered issues we’re confronting as a society while promoting healing and collective well-being.
“Movement-building is collective work,” she continues. “It’s difficult and takes time, but together we can make systemic change. We only need to put in the time and effort while really caring for each other in the process.”
From Los Angeles to New York City to Hawai‘i, Mei-Singh has worked collaboratively and tirelessly in pursuit of abolishing the prison industrial complex through education, awareness, and outreach. The work of Hawai‘i Abolition Collective is just one avenue through which Mei-Singh hopes to see this goal realized, which she sees as vital now more than ever.
“Abolition is about rebuilding our connections to each other in the face of a carceral society that would rather see us separate,” she says. “In this neoliberal day and age, we’re starting to see ourselves more and more as atomized individuals while neglecting our interconnectedness. Abolition is a radical project that acknowledges our interconnectedness while highlighting the ways carceral systems produce and perpetuate race, gender and class oppression.
“Rather than reifying this oppression and separation, it works to build systems and relationships that enable us to repair these rifts and build something creative rooted in a desire for systems that meet all of our needs.”
A candlelight vigil coordinated by the Hawai‘i Abolition Collective held just outside OCCC, the state’s largest jail facility.
Why Abolition? And How?
Abolition is indeed an enormous goal without a one-size-fits-all solution. What’s heartening, however, is to see abolition taking place in local communities every day through community-oriented work.
So What Does Abolition Look Like?
Abolition looks like the work performed by organizations like Coronacare Hawaii, a mutual-aid group that provides food and other tangible resources to families in need. So often we hear stories of people arrested for shoplifting food or baby supplies, held in jail until they’re released on a couple hundred dollars bail. Rather than keeping this misdemeanor on a person’s record or sending them to jail, abolition looks like Coronacare equipping folks with the food and baby products they need before they have to resort to taking it from stores like Walmart or Target.
Abolition looks like decriminalizing drug use rather than throwing people in prison for their usage and expecting full rehabilitation.
Abolition looks like giving parents in need money to care for their children rather than having CPS traumatically separate families during an already impossible time.
Abolition will never look the same for everyone or for all communities. At its core, however, is believing that everyone should have what they need to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives in communities equipped with resources to manage harm before it happens.
The Work Continues
As HAC continues to grow and evolve, the organization’s co-founders continue to raise awareness within the local community by hosting candlelight vigils, talk stories, and other outreach initiatives all while working to free those inside. Since its inception, HAC has hosted three candlelight vigils — the first two outside of OCCC given its recent heartbreaking COVID-19 outbreaks, and the third outside of the Department of Public Safety, where the Hawaii Paroling Authority has its offices. These vigils featured brief speeches at the gathering and how the state is failing Hawai‘i’s incarcerated loved ones, along with an open mic opportunity for participants to speak, and a reading of names of all those who have died from COVID-19 inside Hawai‘i’s facilities.
Vigil held outside of the Department of Public Safety where the Hawaii Paroling Authority has its offices.
While the lights, colors and music of the holidays from the very first vigil may have passed, the joy that these three women bring to our incarcerated ‘ohana and their loved ones is limitless, and will never be confined in a cage.
What Comes Next?
The Hawai‘i Abolition Collective is calling on …
The Public Safety Department to release all Women, Femme and Nonbinary People
The Governor to issue clemency for all
The State of Hawai‘i to prioritize vaccinations of people inside
The Hawaii Paroling Authority to release the medically vulnerable
Pu‘uhonua Penpal Program
In addition to future candlelit vigils, HAC is also dedicated to expanding its Pu‘uhonua Penpal Program, established by group members Shayna Lonoaea-Alexander and Jen Jenkins back in December 2020. The program involves ongoing written communication between volunteers and incarcerated people in an effort to imagine a transformative, healing system that cares for everyone. The penpal concept is simple: in line with the belief that everyone should be free, volunteers are actively working with those who are caged to find out how they can best be supported. There are currently over 50 incarcerated individuals in facilities like OCCC, Halawa Correctional Facility and Waiawa Correctional Facility forming meaningful friendships with volunteers through these ongoing communications.
For more information on the Pu‘uhonua Penpal Program or to sign up as a volunteer, click here.
Recommended Organizations
Coronacare Hawaii
Hawaiʻi Friends of Restorative Justice
Ohana Ho‘opakele
Learn More
The Hawai‘i Abolition Collective is a new organization and is actively working to plan events and initiatives for 2021 and beyond. To stay up to date, follow them on social media or contact the founders via email.
Twitter & Instagram: @abolitionhawaii | Email: hawaiiabolitioncollective@gmail.com
Megan Kakimoto is an APIA writer based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. She graduated from Dartmouth College in 2015 and is currently a Fiction Fellow at the Michener Center for Writers. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in Boulevard, Black Warrior Review, Conjunctions, Joyland, Southern Humanities Review, and elsewhere. Find her at www.megankakimoto.com or on Twitter @megankakimoto.