Here comes the Big Islands Tent Prisons!

[Guest]

I expect to hear a big NIMBY scream in the next few days because of This

....The housing would be 7,064-square-foot "Sprung Instant Structures" made from a membrane stretched over an aluminum skeleton. Each structure could house up to 64 inmates....According to Lingle's letter, two of the structures would be built on Maui, two on Kaua'i, two at Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island, and one would be built at the Hawai'i Community Correctional Center in Hilo.

I just wonder how secure these tents will be.

And when does the state realize that we need a large capacity prison?

-----------------
Coming home soon!

[Greg]

We don't need more prisons. Overcrowding is the result of incarcerating so many non violent drug offenders.

What we need more of are treatment facilities.

I'm a clean, sober, productive citizen today thanks to intervention and treatment through the VA.

I'm certain that if I had the misfortune to be imprisoned first, I would be a better educated criminal in denial.

If a crime is violent, has a victim, or if treatment doesn't work, prison would be more appropriate.

Oh yes, A treatment facility would be welcomed in my "backyard".

[Nate SC]

Export violent offenders to mainland prisons with no plane tickets back. Private prisons on the mainland have all kinds of room for them.

[mgeary]

Maricopa County (AZ) Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a colorful character who has been publicized nationally for, among other things, housing inmates in tents since 1993.
http://www.mcso.org/include/modules/Our_...t_city.php

Some of the other things I can recall hearing this guy do is: get pink uniforms for inmates, provide them with sack lunches (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) instead of hot meals for lunch, no smoking in any jail facility, requiring inmates to work, refusal to allow illegal aliens as visitors to any jail facility, etc. Right or wrong, agree or disagree, he has taken a hard line with criminals in Maricopa County. The judges haven't stopped him, and he keeps getting re-elected, for decades.

He's got a well-laid out website, quite informative.

http://www.mcso.org/index.php?a=Home

I'm not passing judgment, just passing along information which might apply to possible tent jails on the BI. It is possible to do such a thing.

Aloha! ;-)

[Guest]

I've got to disagree with you Greg.

1. We ship so many prisoners out of state.

2. We are constantly releasing prisoners before there time is up because of overcrowding.

3. Hawaii already has a law (Act 161) that requires probation and treatment for first-time drug offenders.

Here is where things get sticky with ACT 161:

The defendants sentenced under Act 161 so far had indeed been charged with drug use or possession for the first time. But some were far from first-time law-breakers. They had long arrest records, even multiple misdemeanor and felony convictions for charges that didn't involve drugs.





-----------------
Coming home soon!

[Guest]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nate SC

Export violent offenders to mainland prisons with no plane tickets back. Private prisons on the mainland have all kinds of room for them.

---

And who pays the long term cost of holding them? I doubt any state would take our prisoners without significant funds as they are doing now.

-----------------
Coming home soon!

[Kelena]

This is one instance where I say OUTSOURCE AWAY! To the mainland with you!

[Nate SC]

The shipping of Prisoners is not free. Private prisons cost less to house inmates than public institutions in Hawaii. The state is still going to pay to house prisoners, it's just the prison is now in Texas or arizona or florida ? When the inmate is released it's not right back onto the streets of hawaii. Find your way back to hawaii from the mainland and if you can't ??, oh well !!!
Nate

[Beachboy]

Hey, prisons can be a good thing! I'm an 8 year veteran of several Gladiator Schools, state, federal and foreign(Thailand). With each year I spent inside, I grew in a positive manner. I have also beaten the federal statistic of returning within 2 or 3 years. I've been out over 12 years!!!!

Nothing like "three hots, and cot"[] Hey, that's joke!!!

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.”
Machiavelli

[Kelena]

Absolutely. Prisoners are people. The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Why is that? Part of it has to do with the so called "Drug War". There has to be a better way of dealing with drug issues. I think treatment and a fresh look how we deal with these issues is in order.

For violent offenders, off island with you!