UPDATED: But some employees felt coerced to support Public Safety Director Nolan Espinda’s confirmation, the Ethics Commission writes in a guidance letter to Jodie Maesaka-Hirata.

The measure also includes $2 million to temporarily house 248 additional Hawaii inmates at a private prison in Arizona.

UPDATED: Gov. David Ige had stood behind his embattled director amid concerns about jail overcrowding, fatal shootings and a recent riot.

A stubborn insistence on sticking with flawed nominee Nolan Espinda seems to value loyalty over leadership.

UPDATED:  A Senate committee harshly criticized Nolan Espinda’s leadership of Hawaii’s prisons and the Sheriff Division.

Committee members grow frustrated during a second hearing on the renomination of Nolan Espinda as director of the Department of Public Safety.

Several criminal justice measures are still alive and will likely be hashed out in Senate-House conference committees.

A total of 37 prisoners were flown to Oahu after their suspected involvement in the disturbance, but five have been returned to Maui.

One key bill is dead but lawmakers should still act on other legislation that could improve our jam-packed, aging correctional facilities.

Supporters, including the Department of Public Safety, are backing legislation that would make Hawaii one of a handful of states that allow inmates to cast a ballot.

Nolan Espinda’s renomination to run the state’s prisons and jails is reported to be in peril.

UPDATED: The group opposes the construction of a bigger Oahu Community Correctional Center and calls for a new focus on rehabilitation.