[ OUR OPINION ]
MANY of the nation's governors looked on with curiosity -- and perhaps took notes -- last week as the first of 567 inmates to be released from the Kentucky state prison system were set free. Gov. Paul E. Patton ordered the release as a method of reducing a budget deficit, a plight facing numerous states. Governor Lingle has expressed interest in reducing Hawaii's prison population, but in ways not so precipitant. Republicans best able
to cut inmate numbers
THE ISSUE Governors are considering reducing prison populations to achieve balanced budgets.
Hawaii prison officials said six months ago that about 300 low-risk inmates would be released to relieve prison overcrowding, and then-Gov. Ben Cayetano suggested that the figure be raised to 400 or 500. City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle denounced the plan as "poor public policy." As it turned out, only 45 inmates -- all first-time drug offenders -- qualified for the release, which was authorized by the last Legislature.
Democrats often are timid about releasing criminals, fearful of accusations that they are soft on crime. Elected officials from the law-and-order Republican Party are in an easier position to give judges more sentencing discretion and trim prison populations.
"This seems like one of those Nixon-goes-to-China things," notes Nicholas Turner of the Vera Institute of Justice, a research organization in New York. "After years of being tough on crime, only Republicans have the credentials to change prison policy."
Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a conservative Republican who added 1,000 inmates a year to the state's prison system, has asked his state's parole board to find 1,000 to release because of the budget deficient. Outgoing Republican Gov. John Engler of Michigan is expected sign a repeal of the state's strict drug-offense sentences.
Hawaii's prison population has doubled during the past decade, with 3,800 inmates crowded into eight prisons with a capacity of less than 3,500, while more than 1,300 Hawaii inmates are kept in three privately run mainland prisons. The inmate population boom is reflective of a national trend that has resulted in a 500 percent rise in state prisoners since the early 1970s.
Lingle and Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona can act aggressively in this area without wavering from their political agendas. In the fall, Lingle proposed building two, privately funded substance-abuse treatment facilities as part of the prison system and providing judges with "sentencing options" other than prison.
Aiona, former judge of the state's Drug Court, promised to "rehabilitate rather than incarcerate," which he said would save the state up to $30,000 a year per prisoner. As Republicans, Lingle and Aiona are in a good position to pursue those goals, allowing Democratic legislators to join the effort without being labeled as soft on crime.
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HAWAII consumers will be able to find relief next year from many telephone solicitations from the mainland under rules proposed by the Federal Trade Commission. The plans call for a nationwide registry of people who want to quit being targets of interstate telemarketing. Congress should authorize financing of the registry with fees paid by telemarketers to stop the phones from ringing incessantly. FTC rules offer shield
from irritating calls
THE ISSUE A proposal would allow people to be free from interstate telemarketing solicitations.
Stephen Levins, acting director of the state Office of Consumer Protection, joined attorneys general from 48 other states in endorsing the plan earlier this year. The rules will not preempt state rules regulating telemarketers but they will provide people with needed protection from interstate calls. Companies using telemarketing within the state will not be affected by the federal plan, which is to be implemented in about seven months.
The rules "will help protect consumers from deceptive and abusive telemarketing practices," said FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle, a two-time Republican congressional candidate in Hawaii. "In particular, these amendments will give consumers the ability to avoid the sheer volume of unwanted telemarketing calls that many consider to be a nuisance."
Sixteen states maintain similar "do not call" registries. Hawaii's law allows a person to stop solicitation from a particular company by simply telling the caller to not call again. Companies are required by state law to abide by such farewells. Lewis said his office has received only 15 telemarketing complaints this year.
Telemarketers say the FTC proposal would violate free-speech rights and drive up costs for companies and consumers. However, courts traditionally have respected people's right to bar peddlers from their property, and allowing people to shield their phones from solicitors is no different.
Also, as the attorneys general point out, "Members of the industry have suggested that removing names from their call lists 'up front' can result in greater efficiencies, as calls to presumptively non-interested consumers could be avoided altogether."
Companies with which the person being called has had business in the 18 months prior to the call are exempt from the rules. Also allowed to continue calling are charities, political campaigns, banks, airlines, credit unions and political fundraisers because they don't fall under the FTC's jurisdiction, although Swindle said "the right to be let alone is invaded just as much by unwanted calls from exempt entities" as by those covered by the rules.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, Editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
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Lucy Young-Oda, Assistant Editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comMary Poole, Editorial Page Editor, 529-4748; mpoole@starbulletin.com
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