Editorials
Friday, May 30, 1997TRANSFERRING Hawaii prison inmates to privately operated prisons in Texas is considered a short-term measure in dealing with the state's overcrowded prisons because of its inherent problems. A major problem is the separation of inmates from family and friends. Officials should try to minimize that occurrence, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Sending state women
inmates to TexasThe most recent shipment of 300 inmates from Hawaii to prisons operated by the Bobby Ross Group includes 64 women. Civil liberties attorney Dan Foley has expressed concern about female inmates being separated from their children. While isolation from family could produce anti-social behavior and reduce the prospects for rehabilitation of any inmate, Foley says the parent-child relationship is much stronger for women inmates.
Governor Cayetano and state Public Safety Director Keith Kaneshiro said a female inmate's maternal status was not a factor in determining whether to send her to Texas because the presence of children was not used as a factor in determining which men were transferred to Texas. In fact, the most high-profile woman inmate sent to Texas, Janice Cockett, convicted of murder for the death of estranged husband Frank Cockett, has two children.
Kaneshiro says the inmate, not the state, caused the separation from offspring by commiting the crime in the first place. However, incarceration usually associated with state crimes doesn't entail what effectively is a denial of visitation privileges because of the sheer distances involved.
Family ties in the community are important to judges in determining a defendant's bail status, and they should be considered by prison officials in determining an inmate's place of incarceration, especially for a woman inmate with children.
The problem underlines the importance of increasing the capacity of the state prison system to eliminate the need to send inmates out of the state.
NOW that the Philippines is embroiled in a dispute with China over tiny islands in the South China Sea, some Filipino politicians are looking to the United States for help under their mutual defense treaty. Washington, however, is trying to play down the issue and urges a peaceful settlement. Philippine defense
IRRADIATION of food has long been recognized as a safe and effective method despite the disinformation efforts of anti-nuclear activists. The Hawaii County Council recently authorized $2 million to establish a facility to irradiate papayas and exotic fruits and a mainland firm announced plans to build a plant on the Big Island. The purpose would be to kill fruit fly larvae and thereby make the fruit acceptable for export to the U.S. mainland and foreign countries. Food irradiation
Irradiation could help Hawaii growers develop export markets and thereby offset the decline of the sugar industry. The fear-mongers must not be allowed to stop it.
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
