Gov. Linda Lingle plans to cancel a new jail on Maui, citing a lack of financial support by the state Senate.

The new $235 million jail on 38.8 acres in Pu'unene would have held a capacity of 843 inmates and was meant to replace the overcrowded Maui Community Correctional Center in Wailuku.

Lingle, in a letter Friday to state Sen. Shan Tsutsui, D-4th (Kahului), said the state was beginning an environmental assessment and moving into final pre-design work on the new jail.

Lingle cited Tsutsui's critical comments of the project in a recent Maui News article as an example of the Senate's lack of support. Tsutsui is the vice chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Lingle wrote that "as it now appears that support of this facility is no longer available, we are reluctantly ending our efforts."