Hawaii leads U.S. in growth of prison rolls

The state's incarceration rate is still well below average, however

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii recorded the largest rate of prison population growth - 21.6 percent - last year and is increasing at nearly five times the national rate, according to a report by the U.S. Justice Department.

Despite the increase, however, Hawaii's incarceration rate - 258 inmates per 100,000 people - remains well below the national rate of 436 inmates per 100,000 people, the report found.

Both state Public Safety Director Keith Kaneshiro and city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said the figures don't surprise them because they are reflected in the reduction of crime in the state.

Kaneshiro, a former city prosecutor, said "overall there was a 14 percent reduction in crime last year" with a dramatic dip in auto thefts.

Carlisle described the Justice Department's figures as "good news," saying "people are safer in the state in general."

Kaneshiro and Attorney General Margery Bronster also noted, however, that Hawaii's correctional system hasn't kept up with inmate projection, leading to overcrowding.

From June 30, 1996, to a year later, Hawaii's prison population grew from 3,092 to 4,491 and is expected to top 5,000 by 1998. As of Jan. 4, there were 4,087 inmates held in Hawaii's eight correctional facilities, with an extra 600 held in three Texas institutions run by the Bobby Ross Group.

This is for a system that was designed to hold 1,991 inmates and has been modified to hold 2,912 inmates.

Hawaii corrections officials have said that work needs to begin soon on a 2,000-bed medium-security prison to keep pace with inmate population.

The Halawa Correctional Facility, which was built to house 1,046 inmates, last week had a population of 1,467.

Inmates there are sleeping on the floor and are housed in medical and infirmary areas as well as disciplinary quarters.

Besides the 600 inmates in privately operated county prisons in Texas, Hawaii corrections officials plan to send another 600 inmates later this year to other mainland institutions.

New construction projects this year will mean there will be 3,500 beds in the prison system, but without a new prison, it will not be enough accommodate the state's growing inmate population.

Bronster said there is "a combination of lot of factors" which has led to more people being imprisoned in Hawaii.

"I think the change in the laws has been minimal," Bronster said. "I think there has been an increased awareness of the crime problem and increased awareness that simply hoping people will improve is unrealistic.

"We really need some teeth to our laws."

That has led Bronster and other state law enforcement officials this year to seek truth in sentencing and other measures targeting repeat offenders.

Bronster also pointed out that the figures don't indicate that Hawaii was locking up more people than anywhere else.

What some states add to their inmate population annually amounts to our entire prison system, Bronster added.

The Justice Department report shows that 54 percent of the growth in prison population was in California, which added 11,475 inmates to its prisoner population of 153,010. It was followed by Texas with 6,682 new inmates, Missouri with 3,146 and Illinois with 2,052.

Criminologist Meda Chesney-Lind, professor of women's studies at the University of Hawaii, said the numbers reflect a policy change "since our crime rate remains relatively stable."