Improve prison work furloughs

The number of inmates walking away from a work-furlough program affiliated with the Oahu Community Correctional Center continues to increase, and that’s worrisome. The Department of Public Safety attributes the increase to the fact that the size of the program doubled in recent years. That’s a factor, certainly, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

This issue demands greater attention from DPS to ensure community safety; the escapes undermine support for a program that generally succeeds in preparing prisoners to re-enter society.

To qualify for the Laumaka Work Furlough Center, which is a block away from OCCC, an inmate must be classified as a minimum security risk who has sustained good behavior behind bars, completed required programs, such as drug treatment, and be within 24 months of parole. Participants are allowed to leave for approved jobs during the day and must return to Laumaka every evening.

The program faced intense scrutiny late last year, when a brutal serial rapist allegedly committed violent crimes while a member of the furlough program. DPS officials vowed then to improve supervision and restore public confidence.

Yet, more inmates than ever are walking away. The state must do more to not only catch prisoners who fail to return to Laumaka on schedule, but to prevent them from leaving in the first place.

In January 2013, OCCC doubled the size of its work-furlough program, to 216 from 96 beds. The number of walkaways predictably spiked, from 16 in 2012 to 26 in 2013. So far in 2014, 30 inmates have walked away — and that’s only seven months into 2014. All but two were back in custody as of Thursday. Still, this is not a positive trend and DPS must redouble efforts to reverse it.

Over the course of a year, about 500 to 600 inmates from OCCC cycle through work-furlough programs, with about 80 percent successfully completing the program and taking responsible steps toward freedom.

Participants who walk away from the programs represent a small minority, but they pose a real threat to community safety and to the reputation of the furlough program — which in turn can diminish public confidence in and support for the prison system overall.

Starting this month, certain inmates on work-furlough will be fitted with ankle bracelets that will track their locations via GPS. This action is clearly warranted, and overdue. Besides boosting public safety, such oversight may protect some prisoners from their own bad decision-making — they are more likely to return on time when they know they are being closely monitored.

Ted Sakai, director of the Department of Public Safety, is correct in his intent to beef up counseling, training and mentoring programs that boost inmates’ general cognitive skills and impulse control, helping them gain the skills they need not only to last in the furlough program but to eventually succeed in the real world, such as how to get along with others on the job, be on time for work and return "home" promptly at day’s end. Again, though, these laudable efforts are overdue, limited though they are by a lack of resources.

The errant inmates risk adding a maximum five years to their sentences for failing to return to the furlough program, which counts as a prison escape.

"They’re so close to freedom," Sakai said. "It’s a shame to see them toss it all aside, because of an impulsive act."

Indeed. Those impulsive acts risk punishing more than the individual prisoner. DPS must get this problem under control.