Katherine Kealoha to leave prison after serving fraction of 13-year sentence

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Katherine Kealoha, the former high-ranking deputy city prosecutor convicted of fraud, conspiracy and obstruction, will be moved this month from a federal prison to a halfway house years before her 13-year sentence is up.

Transfer timeline

Kealoha will be moved from the Victorville medium-security prison outside of Los Angeles to a federal halfway house in the Bay Area. The transfer is expected to happen next week.

“The purpose of a halfway house is to provide that transitional period so when you are released back in the community, you’re not just left on the street,” said Alexander Silvert, a retired federal public defender, who played in key role in exposing the Kealoha scandal.

Silvert said Hawaii no longer has a halfway house for federal prisoners returning to the state.

Conviction and sentence

Kealoha, her husband Louis Kealoha, the former Honolulu police chief, and two police officers were found guilty of conspiracy and obstruction in June 2019.

She stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from her grandmother, the late Florence Puana, and from two kids under her guardianship.

Louis and the other officers were convicted for covering up the crimes.

Katherine Kealoha was additionally convicted of bank fraud and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

How credits affect her term

Victor Bakke, a defense attorney and former deputy city prosecutor, said federal prisoners have a lot of incentives to shorten their time in custody.

“In the federal system, they do not have parole anymore,” Bakke said. “So all of these credits that she’s getting are standard credits that are issued by the prison.”

Katherine Kealoha’s 13 years equates to 156 months. She was detained right after the verdict in July 2019 and spent nearly a year and a half in custody before her sentencing in November 2020.

That gave her 17 months of credit.

Federal prisoners also get two months off for every year for good behavior. That reduced Kealoha’s sentence by another 26 months.

Under the First Step Act, inmates can earn additional time off by taking classes and helping others in the prison. Kealoha received 30 months of credit for that.

What comes next

A one-year halfway house term starts this month. Kealoha then will be under home confinement until July 24, 2029, which is her release date.

After that, she will be on supervised release for three years.

Silvert said restrictions ease over time.

“As you demonstrate and prove yourself to the probation officer, those restrictions get lighter and lighter as you transition into your full freedom of supervised release, where you just simply have to follow general rules and guidelines,” Silvert said.

Bakke said the credits and transition steps serve a purpose for the system and the defendant.

“When you take somebody out of the community for six, seven, 10 years, you can’t just throw them out on the streets,” Bakke said. “So all of these things serve purposes for the system and for the defendant as well to be successful.”