The Women’s Community Correctional Center (WCCC) in Kailua recently celebrated the opening of a new fitness center called “Ho la” as part of an initiative to enhance the health and well-being of its inmates. The Women’s Prison Project (WPP) and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR), who have been important partners in this effort, attended a ceremony yesterday to commemorate the milestone. A news statement on the Office of the Governor website states that “exercise provides a long list of health benefits, including improved self-esteem, which will help prepare our residents for a positive future when they reenter the community,” as stated by Warden Ione “Noni” Guillonta during the event.
The community correctional facility has taken a more rehabilitative approach with the new fitness center, which is named after the Hawaiian word for healing. Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke and other dignitaries, including former Governor Linda Lingle, a co-founder of WPP, praised the facility as a step forward in providing inmates with a semblance of normalcy and care, moving the focus from containment to one that bears the seeds of transformation and growth. Under the direction of fitness expert Mike Sapp, the facility, which was formerly an 800-square-foot records office, has been transformed into a health hub with 16 new exercise machines that were made possible by community members’ combined gifts of $140,000.
In addition to delivering physical training, the “Ho la” Fitness Center hopes to serve as a resource for women who are incarcerated by providing them with organized exercise sessions guided by leisure specialist Marina Hutchinson. On the Office of the Governor website, DCR Director Tommy Johnson emphasized the center’s significance, saying that it “represents our commitment to the health and rehabilitation of those in our custody and care,” which reflects the organization’s larger commitment to the general welfare of its residents.
The construction of the fitness center is in line with the objectives of the WPP coalition, which aims to decrease the number of women incarcerated and facilitate their reintegration into society. The group has previously worked with WCCC on projects like painting murals on the walls to improve the center’s ambiance and provide the residents with a more positive environment. A peek inside this most recent endeavor was provided by the dedication ceremony photos and videos that were published.
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