Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc.

Over the last 15 years, the State of Hawaii has dramatically increased the practice of transferring its prison population to prisons on the American continent.  This practice severs family ties, disconnects Hawaiians from cultural traditions, gives rise to prison gangs, and exacerbates challenges associated with community reintegration. 

Carrie Ann Shirota will work to mitigate and reduce the transfer of incarcerated Hawaiians to mainland prisons thousands of miles away. Shirota will collect data relating to out-of-state prisoner transfers and assess strategies employed in other U.S. jurisdictions that have reduced this practice.  She will also examine native imprisonment and banishment within the U.S., with particular emphasis on how this problem impacts Native Hawaiians.

Carrie Ann Shirota is an attorney and justice advocate on the island of Maui. She earned her undergraduate degree from Santa Clara University and JD from the University of Hawaii.   Previously, Shirota worked as an enforcement attorney for the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, as a public defender, and as the director of Maui Economic Opportunity's Being Empowered and Safe Reintegration Program.  She is actively involved with Community Alliance on Prisons, a grassroots organization dedicated to improving the conditions of confinement for incarcerated individuals and advocating for alternatives to incarceration.

Wailuku, HI