Sexual trauma, physical abuse and psychological abuse began for 45-year-old Lisia Talakai-Padayao when she was a child.
“Drugs, alcohol, violence and criminality became my medicine, ” she said. “Hurting those that hurt me became my way of life, not realizing that I was only hurting myself.”
Talakai-Padayao is one of six women who share similar stories of trauma, but facing incarceration they instead were given the opportunity to embark on a path that required making fundamental changes in their lives.
The six in June were the first ever to graduate from Women’s Court, an Oahu Circuit Court opportunity to avoid prison.
“We’re their last chance, ” said probation supervisor Kristal Brown. If the women did not enter the program, they would likely have faced jail time, she said.
Women’s Court provides trauma-informed care and gender-responsive services, substance use disorder treatment, education and training in domestic violence prevention, and life skills.
It was made permanent after a bill passed by the Legislature was signed June 26 by the governor. It also provides for a pilot program on Hawaii island.
Probation officer Nicole Manuma said the specialty court began with 35 women, who are at different phases of the program.
Talakai-Padayao is one of six who recently completed Phase III, and is clean and sober through mental health and substance abuse treatment. She and the other graduates are productive members of society who work and stay out of trouble, Manuma said.
On the verge of getting her probation revoked, Talakai-Padayao’s probation officer introduced her to Women’s Court, and in March 2023 she was accepted into what was then an Oahu Circuit Court pilot program that had just been launched that January.
Talakai-Padayao had given up custody of the infant son she had at 17, got arrested at 23 and served 11 years. “I grew up behind bars, ” she said.
She ended up living in seven different foster homes, a detention home, Hale Kipa, and on the streets of Hawaii island.
In her 40s, Talakai-Padayao lost custody of her young son, was living on the streets and looking at a 10-year term for second-degree drug promotion—the identical dilemma she faced as a 23-year-old.
“I put my son and myself in situations of domestic violence, drugs, criminality, and I was totally in denial of being a good mother, not realizing my son’s life was at stake, ” Talakai-Padayao said.
She said the road wasn’t easy. “I had to get rid of my self-will and let Women’s Court be my guide.”
The six who completed the arduous program graduated June 25, feted at the Hawaii Supreme Court by friends, family, judges, a former governor and other participants in varying phases of the program.
Talakai-Padayao vowed to accomplish three goals : 1 ) Getting a job ; 2 ) finding a home ; and 3 ) regaining custody of her son.
She concluded her graduation speech by announcing she had reached all her goals, including getting custody of her 4-year-old boy in April and remaining clean and sober. The attendees broke out in cheers and applause.
Confirmation of success Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald said that were it not for their individual successes, the program would not have succeeded in becoming permanent.
“This is what justice should look like, ” he said. “This is what providing peace and freedom and a fair shake to people in our community.”
Women’s Court is a team approach, involving the judge, deputy prosecutor, deputy public defender, case managers and probation officers—and all are women.
Women’s Court Judge Trish Morikawa credits the many individuals involved in the success of the program, but her deft approach with women who come from difficult backgrounds—with different personalities and situations—clearly is part of the success of the program.
“Judge Morikawa has been nothing short of amazing. She made this program from basically nothing but an idea that Judge (Mark ) Browning had and turned it into reality, ” Rectenwald said.
Potential participants are usually referred by a judge or public defender, which includes getting mental health and substance abuse treatment, finding employment, housing and schooling.
“Everyone realizes that there’s something we could do better, something we could do differently, especially when we see multiple generations of folks coming into the criminal justice system and realize there has to be a way to break that cycle.
“So many women come into the system in a little bit different way, ” he said. “It’s usually something that’s happened, some drama, some events that have happened to them that we need to address, ” Recktenwald said.
Morikawa, who has worked with the six graduates and other participants for two years now, knows their kids, their moms, their work and housing situations, needs and future plans.
During their final court session before graduation, her empathy, compassion and kindness shone through, as she spoke with the casual, familiar manner and tone as that of a good friend, a beloved mentor or a loving mother.
“You go girl ! You’re doing so well, ” the judge praised a participant who enrolled in Drug Court classes.
The women, in turn, open up to her, which helps the judge, case managers, probation officers and attorneys guide them in the right direction when it comes to their cases and needs such as affordable child care and job opportunities.
Tana Kekina-Cabaniero, the deputy prosecutor on all Women’s Court cases, said of Morikawa : “She’s caring and she’s compassionate and is going to put in the time to develop a relationship. Because she cares, they listen to her.”
“She makes it a comfortable and safe place, ” she added.
Sister to sister The participants themselves are key in helping one another and call one another “sisters ” in the program.
Graduate Abcede Keawe, who Morikawa described as tough on the outside but soft on the inside, credited, among other things, the Sand Island Treatment Center, where she learned how to understand the root causes of her behavior and how to refrain from the negative responses to situations she had resorted to in the past.
During the final court session, a young woman told the judge she left the treatment center after a day because of anxiety, and was back in custody, and appeared in a white paper jumpsuit.
Keawe stood up and said, “Sand Island really works. … You just gotta be willing to open up those scars.”
“Reaching out for help is a very uncomfortable feeling. I was uncomfortable asking for help. I didn’t expect that I was the cause. … That’s why we’re here. Give it a shot. You deserve a better life. Your fight is also our fight.”
As a child, Keawe said she thought her family’s home was the restroom at Maili Beach Park. As a middle-schooler, she said she went door to door offering haircuts to support her family when her mother lost welfare benefits.
As Keawe grew older, she used drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of trauma from sexual assaults and various kinds of abuse, which led to burglary, running from the cops and living on the streets—a life that became “normal ” to her.
After an arrest for burglary, auto theft and a drug charge, Keawe joined the program and gained the tools to turn her life around.
She is a successful barber at a Waikiki shop, has ambitions of pursuing a new career and plans to fly for the first time in her life with her fiancee to Romania to visit her fiancee’s mother.
In her graduation speech, Keawe said, “It takes very special people to see the value in you.”
She said a treatment center teacher always stressed : “We make the mistakes. We are not the mistakes.”
Brown said of the graduates : “They worked very hard to get where they are today. They had barriers such as not having enough financial for housing, limited treatment centers for women, limited child care, limited transportation. But we were able to work with their case managers in order to assist them so that they could get what they needed to support them through this journey.”
The program helps not just the participants, but the entire community, their families, including children and partners, she said.
“They’ve always been a member of society, but today they are going to be a contributing member of society, so we’re very excited for them, ” Brown said. “Some of these women have never worked a day in their life. Some have lost their children at childbirth and today they’re able to have their children back.”
Manuma, a domestic violence survivor herself, said being a probation officer and working with these women “has been a labor of love and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Retired Judge Mark Browning, who planted the seed for the program after seeing a similar one involving girls, said : “It’s just an amazing testament to the human spirit—people in the community coming together, changing lives and changing other lives.
“It demonstrates that our court process can be a process of healing and accountability.”