HAROLD FALK /
FORMER STATE PRISONS ADMINISTRATOR

Former corrections chief
valued for his candor

As prisons director he is widely credited
with accomplishing important reforms

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

Harold Falk, 78, who served as the administrator in charge of the state's prisons and as a deputy chief in the Honolulu Police Department, died Friday at his home in Lanikai.

Daughter Carol-Louise Carper said yesterday that Falk's death of a heart attack "was a shock," and that her father had not had heart problems before.

"He was a quiet man, a good father and the best friend anybody could have," said Carper, the oldest of Falk's three children.

"He was a very straightforward and honest person," said former Gov. John Waihee, who appointed Falk as deputy director for law enforcement when the Department of Public Safety was formed in 1990.

Falk went to work for the state prison system as a consultant in 1985, then served as director when it was part of the Department of Social Services and Housing.

He was director of the newly formed Department of Corrections from 1987 to 1990 when it was made part of the new public safety department, which also included sheriffs, the security force, harbor patrol and narcotics officers.

Having served 37 years in the police department and overseen state prisons, Falk "had experience in both corrections and law enforcement. I appreciated his integrity and his judgment," Waihee said. Though Falk retired within a year of the Department of Public Safety's creation, "he was able to get the place better organized and running."

"We're going to miss him and we appreciate his service," Waihee said.

Then-American Civil Liberties Union attorney Daniel Foley said in a Star-Bulletin article in 1991 that Falk was "at the forefront of (prison) reform."

"It was really under Harold in 1987 when we first started seeing progress under the consent decree" under which Hawaii prisons were operating at the time.

But Carper said she'll always see her father as a policeman.

"HPD was his life," she said, recalling going to the Honolulu Police Pistol Club with him as a child.

Since retiring in 1990, Falk played golf and was a season ticket holder for University of Hawaii sports, while also remaining a fan of his former hometown team, the Green Bay Packers, Carper said. He also served 12 years on the Kailua Neighborhood Board, where he focused on public safety issues.

"He was a pillar of the board, he was an anchor," said fellow board member Knud Lindgard. "He was a quiet person, but whenever he spoke people listened. His thoughts were usually very clear and very straight. A lot of people followed him and I'm one of them.

"He was straightforward, no smoke and mirrors. If there's an issue we'll look at it fairly and squarely and that would be it," Lindgard said. "He will be sorely missed. I will miss him personally."

Falk is survived by his wife of 57 years, Priscilla; Carper; son Harold III and daughter Michelle Wilson. Arrangements were incomplete yesterday.