Study offers hope to reform prisons

The more Gov. Neil Abercrombie struggled with the state’s economic plight, the less likely it seemed that he would realize his 2010 campaign promise to bring inmates back to Hawaii from privately run institutions in Arizona. Now, an independent study has recommended profound changes in the state’s prison system that would save a net of $108 million over six years, retain public safety and reduce the number of inmates at mainland facilities. Officials and policymakers should embrace the breadth of the assessment and follow through with the recommended systemic changes.

Authors of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative’s eight-month study have gained the ear of Abercrombie, state legislators and the judiciary with changes that would reduce the number of prison inmates by paroling prisoners who qualify as low risks for recidivism. It also would limit prison time for violating conditions of parole to six months and give judges discretion in sentencing second-time felony drug possession offenders to either prison or probation.

Some of the Justice Center findings are startling. For example, more inmates are awaiting trial than those who are serving prison time after convictions, mainly because of delays in pre-trial processes. Some of the worsening of that problem is a cutback in judiciary staff, resulting in longer periods for developing an assessment of a charged person awaiting trial, that amounts to being penny wise and pound foolish. But a big part of the backlog is also due to a faulty bail-report and supervision assessment process; a relatively simple switch in procedural steps is recommended to fix this.

As for the Arizona inmates, the Justice Center predicts that reduction in bed demand in Hawaii’s prisons would create more space. It would allow reduction of the number of inmates on the mainland to 600 inmates, from the present 1,750, within four years.

One sound recommendation is to require supervision for all felons after they leave prison, on the research-backed theory that such support or monitoring upon reentry into society is needed. The report points to statistics showing that 41 percent of Hawaii inmates who complete their entire sentences behind bars, without subsequent supervision, are at a high risk for committing other crimes. They are twice as likely to be arrested after their release than those who are released on parole, looked after during that period by parole officers.

City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro is skeptical about the proposals focusing on achieving efficiency in the prison system. "The focus should not be on how we release guys from prison," he told the Star-Advertiser’s Gordon Y.K. Pang. "The focus should be on how are we going to ensure public safety."

But the Justice Center’s recommendations would actually increase public safety at lower cost. As a matter of routine, Hawaii should not hold convicts behind bars until their prison terms have been completed. With no follow-up on parole under supervision, the former inmate is more likely to assume the lifestyle from the period leading up to his entry in prison.

The Justice Center measured the Hawaii prison system on the basis of what has worked elsewhere, and post-prison supervision is paramount in guiding the person to a lifestyle without crime.

Hawaii’s lawmakers and law enforcers alike should recognize that there is a prime opportunity here to fundamentally set the state’s prisons system on a modern course — one that deals more efficiently with punishment, recognizes the needs of victims and actually safeguards better the community at large.