Hawaiʻi Is Still Releasing Inmates Without IDs Needed To Reenter Society
Lawmakers have made multiple efforts to improve the process of getting incarcerated people the identification they need to access basic services, but little has changed.
Despite a mandate from lawmakers, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has made almost no progress in helping more people in Hawaiʻi’s prisons and jails get vital identification before they are released.
Between November 2024 and October 2025, about half of incarcerated people released from state prisons — more than 340 people — lacked the IDs needed to secure housing, obtain a job or open a bank account, according to a recent report to the Legislature.
Lawmakers passed a bill in April requiring the corrections department to help interested inmates obtain a driver’s license or state ID at least a year before they are to be released. The bill amended a 2017 law that required the department to inform people in custody that they can get assistance obtaining documents like a state ID, a birth certificate or social security card while incarcerated and moved up the date at which the department is supposed to start the process.
But new data from November 2024 to October 2025 shows that the percentage of people being released with IDs actually went down compared to the previous year. About half of the 692 people who exited prisons during that period were released without an ID, according to the report.
The director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Tommy Johnson, insists that many of the people who are marked as leaving prison without an ID may actually have one. He said his staff asks people at intake if they have vital documents. Sometimes a friend or family member is holding onto an incarcerated person’s documents. Others, he said, refuse offers to help them get one and the department can’t force them.
“A lot of people come in with the ID card already,” he said. “Because they leave without, it doesn’t mean they don’t have one. All that means is that they may already have it.”
Efforts to help more people get IDs while behind bars have fallen short for years, stymied by delays in agreements between government agencies and a lack of necessary technology at prisons and jails.
Hawaiʻi law requires people to apply for a driver’s license or a state ID in person. But incarcerated people can’t get to the DMV unless they are on furlough and allowed to leave for appointments. The corrections department was given funding to install machines in correctional facilities around the state to allow ID cards to be processed on-site, but only Hālawa Correctional Facility has a portable machine currently.
Plans to purchase more were tabled when the Honolulu Department of Motor Vehicles outsourced printing IDs to the mainland. Instead, the corrections department brought the portable machine from Hālawa to the Women’s Community Correctional Center late last year and plans to bring it to other facilities.
In the fiscal year that ended in June, about 50 people at Hālawa were able to get an ID — paid for by the department — while incarcerated, Johnson said. Since July, that number has more than doubled. About a dozen people incarcerated at WCCC also received IDs in 2025.
The corrections department also helps people get social security cards and birth certificates, documents that will help them get a state ID. The number of people marked as leaving prison without one of those two forms of ID has improved.
About two years ago, 230 people didn’t appear to have a birth certificate when they were released from prison. Last fiscal year, the corrections department helped 127 people born in Hawaiʻi and 22 born out of state get a copy of their birth certificate and covered the costs, according to Johnson. But more than 150 people also left prison without a birth certificate in the last year.
Without these other documents, people who are incarcerated can run into a timing problem when trying to get a state ID before they leave. To do that, they need proof of a valid social security number. But an application for a social security card requires a confirmed release date and can only be processed within 120 days of that date, according to Johnson. That process can take several weeks.
For people leaving jails, the numbers are even higher, but the problem is trickier to solve. The population is more fluid, with people often leaving in a matter of days or weeks rather than years. That makes it difficult for staff to help people complete the lengthy process of getting an ID or other vital paperwork. Johnson says that he thinks that the numbers may also be off here, because people might not have their identification on them when arrested or may leave it with someone to hold onto.
Still, corrections department data shows that more than 5,600 people left jail without an ID between November 2024 and October 2025. That’s about 93% of people released, a slight improvement from two years prior, when the figure was almost 98%.
Johnson acknowledged the department needs to do a better job at collecting more specific data on people leaving prisons and jails without identification. He said the department is in the process of updating the forms that are filled out when someone is getting ready to reenter into the community and plans to collect and analyze more data on people without IDs early in the new year.
“Data Dive” is supported in part by the Will J. Reid Foundation.
