Editorials
Thursday, January 29, 1998GOVERNOR Cayetano's proposal to build a 2,300-bed prison on the Big Island has drawn fire from the very group that threatens to renew court action unless steps are taken to ease overcrowded conditions. The American Civil Liberties Union would prefer expansion of alternative programs that would reduce the need to imprison criminals. The solution to overcrowding will require both approaches. Non-prison options
won’t solve crowdingAlvin Bronstein, director emeritus of the ACLU's Prison Project, told legislators the state's prison system has enough bed space to accommodate all inmates. Overcrowding, he said, is caused by the incarceration of those who could be placed in programs involving electronic monitoring, boot camps, nonprison residential programs and drug rehabilitation.
The state undoubtedly could make greater use of such alternative programs. City Deputy Prosecutor Iwalani White urged legislators to expand residential drug rehabilitation programs and facilities for pregnant teen-age girls and dangerous mentally ill adolescents. Circuit Judge Bambi Weil says the state should implement alternative programs that already have received legislative approval, but she adds that convicts need to know there is an "immediate and well understood consequence" if they fail to take advantage of those programs.
Bronstein would have a compelling argument if he could show that Hawaii's reliance on incarceration rather than non-prison programs is out of kilter with other states. However, Hawaii's incarceration rate is far below the national average. The prison at Kau would bring the state's prison capacity to 5,212, only about 500 more than the present number of Hawaii inmates, including those who have been sent to Texas prisons.
Non-prison programs are far less expensive than the $76 a day that it costs to keep an inmate behind bars, and they should be utilized to the fullest degree possible. But full use of those programs cannot be expected to negate the need to expand prison space. The proposed facility on Kau will be needed to cope with a prison population that is certain to increase even with expansion of alternative programs.
SENATE Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch may have anticipated President Clinton's complaint that numerous judicial nominees have been allowed to hang in limbo unconfirmed. Only hours before Clinton gave his State of the Union address, the Utah Republican announced that the president can expect more of the same tactics. Judicial hijacking
Hawaii's Susan Oki Mollway is among the nominees for judgeships awaiting confirmation. Clinton appointed her to the bench in December 1995, but the full Senate has been denied a vote on her confirmation and numerous others. Chief Justice William Rehnquist complained recently that federal courts may be unable to cope with demands if vacancies remain unfilled in the wake of an expansion of federal jurisdiction.
Hatch indicated he will continue to block confirmation of nominees he considers to be too "activist." On the face of it, his explanation seems reasonable: "Conducting a fair confirmation process most assuredly does not mean granting the president carte blanche in filling the federal judiciary."
The Senate certainly has a responsibility to evaluate the nominees before deciding whether to vote on confirmation. However, gamesmanship has blocked the issue of whether to confirm from reaching the Senate floor. Clinton is not demanding that the Senate confirm all his judicial nominees, only that they receive fair consideration. "I simply ask the United States Senate to heed this plea and vote on the highly qualified nominees before you, up or down," he said in his Tuesday speech.
A small faction in the Senate -- in Mollway's case a single senator, John Ashcroft of Missouri -- should not be allowed to prevent these decisions from being put before the entire chamber. Hatch's endorsement of these roadblocks undermines the Senate's role of advice and consent.
THE resignation of Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka over a bribery scandal in his department is another serious blow to confidence in government oversight of Japan's banking system. Mitsuzuka announced his resignation after the Finance Ministry was searched by Tokyo prosecutors and two senior officials under his supervision were arrested. Bribery in Japan
The two allegedly tipped off banks when the ministry was planning to conduct supposedly surprise inspections, in exchange for lavish dinners. Prosecutors also searched the offices of four banks.
The bribery scandal is another setback for the Finance Ministry, which has been widely blamed for failing to contain a bad-loan crisis that has weighed heavily on the nation's financial system. Japanese banks are carrying hundreds of billions of dollars in bad loans, and lax supervision by the Finance Ministry was a major factor in letting the problem fester.
Japan has also been rocked by the disclosure that the biggest securities firms paid millions of dollars in blackmail to racketeers to keep them from disrupting stockholders meeting. The scandal led to a wave of resignations by top executives.
Collusion between business and government, long hailed as part of the secret of Japan's economic success, has an ugly side that is now being disclosed with dismaying frequency. Japan's powerhouse economy has been stalled for at least six years, and this corrupt system is partially responsible.
The question is whether Japan's leaders are capable of making the reforms needed to clean up the mess and restore the economy's health. Because Japan's is the world's second largest economy, affecting all the smaller economies of East Asia and even the United States -- particularly Hawaii -- this problem must be of concern far beyond Japan's shores.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
