Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Friday, January 31, 1997

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Killing a good idea
to double prison beds

THAT'S it: Hawaii has gone crazy. On Tuesday, Saldy Marzan was arrested in Kalihi for the fatal shooting of his estranged wife, after he was twice convicted of assaulting her.

In spite of the convictions, he never served a single day in jail; he always got probation and was just told to stay away from her. And, oh yeah, Mr. Marzan was also told he could never, ever be in the possession of a firearm.

Too bad for Mrs. Marzan that he didn't abide by that "punishment."

Too bad for the community, too. Every time somebody who beats, cheats or steals is put back on the streets - because we are saving our precious prison space for the really serious, violent criminals (murderers, for example) - the potential for mayhem grows.

That is why we need to do something, right now, about the shortage of prison space in Hawaii.

Since there's no time or money to build giant new institutions, a reader named Gilbert called to say he had the perfect solution. We can double the number of inmate beds immediately: Have the jailbirds sleep in two shifts.

Hey, this sounded good to me! Unfortunately, I asked a few folks in the know what they thought of Gilbert's recommendation. Now I'm sorry that I did:

Defense attorney Keith Shigetomi: "It's not practical, because the inmates are not out of their rooms for 12 hours at a time. They are pretty much in their cells for a good deal of the day. They get maybe one hour of rec time. However, if there are programs for the inmates, that would be terrific - such as in education, counseling or therapy. Also, you know that if you double the inmates, you have to double the staff."

Ted Sakai, administrative assistant to the state director of public safety: "Other states have tried this. I talked to a warden once in Alabama and he said it was the worst thing he ever did. It increased the number of fights and dissension in the prison. In every facility, there is a sense of possessiveness about space. They called the demonstration project off after a short while."

Executive director Vanessa Chong, American Civil Liberties Union: "Rep. (Annelle) Amaral proposed this in the past. It's not a matter of the inmates sleeping in shifts, it's the impact that the doubling of population would have on the prison system. There are no easy solutions when dealing with the problem of prison overcrowding.

"The ACLU realizes that the state needs more beds. What we don't want to see is massive resources going into massive prison construction, without first giving alternatives to incarceration a fair chance. We need to look at the root causes of criminality."

THERE you have it, Gilbert. Your seemingly bright idea - one which would cost the state no time or money for new prison construction and which would more efficiently utilize present facilities - will NOT fly.

It would mean that we'd have to hire lots more corrections officers and come up with new programs and activities to occupy the inmates' time. Moreover, it's not feasible because it would be far too detrimental to prisoner well-being and morale.

Tell me, what is wrong with this picture?

Human nature, you've gotta love it. If folks spent as much energy coming up with ways for a proposal to work rather than to dismiss it as undoable, what a better world this would be.

Rest in peace, Mrs. Marzan. Some people might say you're in a saner place.