LAHAINA — Francis Borden of The Wharf Cinema Center won April’s Malama Lahaina Employee Award for correctly answering questions about the Old Prison.

The award program seeks to educate Lahaina’s employees about the historical and cultural legacy of Lahaina, so that they can share this information with their customers and visitors.

Literally known as the “stuck-in-irons-house,” the Old Prison on the corner of Prison and Wainee streets was built in the 1850s.

On July 11, 1851, an act passed authorizing a new jail for Lahaina 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, Hale Pa‘ahao, replaced the one inside the fort on Lahaina’s waterfront built in the 1830s. Hale Pa‘ahao’s thick walls were constructed with coral stone blocks from the demolished waterfront fort.

In 1967, the county accepted a plan from Lahaina Restoration Foundation to preserve the prison yard and wooden buildings and maintain the prison as a museum site. The Old Prison is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; admission is free. 

For his resourcefulness, Borden received a $20 gift certificate from Penne Pasta. Questions for the monthly program, which is sponsored by Penne Pasta and Mala Ocean Tavern, will be faxed at the beginning of each month and can also be viewed on the foundation’s website at www.lahainarestoration.org.  

For more information, call LRF at 661-3262 or e-mail info@lahainarestoration.org.