"The burden of prisons becoming too costly"

From an editorial in today's Advertiser:

Hawai'i has seen the same growth trend. The inmate population rose from 926 in 1980 to 6,045 in 2007.

Our prisons are so overcrowded that we've turned to shipping more than 2,000 of our inmates to Mainland facilities. At roughly $50 million a year, that solution is cheaper, and apparently more politically palatable, than building space for them at home.

To help solve this problem, policies need to be re-examined to divert more non-violent offenders away from prison. This should include more and better treatment options for drug offenders, providing more effective ways to integrate them back into the community.

The Community Safety Act of 2007 is a good start. It directs the Department of Public Safety to develop a system to help inmates prepare for a successful return to society.