For the benefit of both our residents and visitors, and in cooperation with others we strive to faithfully restore, maintain and interpret the physical, historical, and cultural legacy of Lahaina, Maui, first capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. 
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Hale Pa'ahao: Lahaina Prison
On July 11, 1851, “an Act relating to prisons, their government, and discipline” was passed by the Hawaii Legislature and approved by the King. It authorized a new jail for Lahaina which was to be constructed to “keep entirely separate from each other the male and female prisoners, and to have a yard enclosed by fences of sufficient height and strength to prevent escapes and also to prevent all access to, or communication by persons outside with any persons confined therein.” This new prison was to replace the one inside the coral-block fort on Lahaina’s waterfront. The Fort had been built in the early 1830’s. It was used mostly as a prison until the 1850’s when it was torn down to supply stones for the new prison. During the 1930’s the County of Maui sponsored reconstruction of the cell buildings and stockade by the Works Progress Administration. In 1957 the cell buildings burned down, where upon the Hawaii Legislature appropriated funds to reconstruct the wooden prison buildings. 
The prison was reopened to the public in 1959 with no supervision other than a part-time yardman.
This situation remained until 1967 when the Lahaina Restoration Foundation presented to the Maui Historical Commission a plan for restoring the Hale Pa ahao Prison. The plan was all encompassing and detailed how to preserve the prison yard wall and the wooden buildings and how to accomplish historical and archaeological research in order to restore a collapsing ruin into an outdoor museum representative of Lahaina in the 1850’s.
The plan was accepted; the County provided the funds, and the Lahaina Restoration Foundation did the work, which resulted in a rare example of proper historical restoration. In 1985, a 20 year agreement was signed between the LRF and the County of Maui wherein LRF would continue, at its own expense, to maintain the prison free of all deterioration and all rents or fees would be held in trust restricted to the support of the site as a museum.
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