PRISON PROTESTERS HAVE A VALID POINT

About 100 protesters who picketed Monday in pouring rain near Hilo Airport
against construction of a new state prison did not get wet in vain.

Not to be confused with NIMBYs -- people who would be happy to see a prison
built as long as it's in somebody else's back yard -- many of the
demonstrators say they are really opposed to any new prisons anywhere in the
state.

They complain that too many inmates come out of prison worse than they went
in -- more hardened, less able to get jobs and still supposing that alcohol
and drug use will make their lives better.

And the protesters, most Hawaiian, are concerned about the
overrepresentation of Hawaiians in our prisons.

Like most of us, they are a bit more clear on what they don't want --
another traditional prison -- than what they want instead.

But their hopes are not lost on state House members, particularly Rep.
Nestor Garcia (D-Waipahu), who in this legislative session is pushing an
entirely different kind of facility, one that would stress treatment and
rehabilitation of prisoners.

Asked if he has a Mainland model for such a facility in mind, he said he was
aware of some, but that he'd prefer to see Hawaii develop its own model, one
that the Mainland would look up to and emulate.

Such a design has yet to be drawn up, but Garcia expressed hope that it
might incorporate such traditional Hawaiian healing concepts as
ho`oponopono.

It's too soon to say whether Garcia's hopes will come to fruition in this
session, but we think he and the protesters at Hilo Airport are largely on
the same page.

It's becoming increasingly clear that what Hawaii doesn't need is another
massive concrete and steel warehouse for miscreants, no matter where it's
built.

It's time to concentrate on what to build instead.