LEGISLATORS HEAR PLEA FOR INMATE DRUG HELP

A sister of the late entertainer Bryant "Mackey" Feary Jr. said yesterday
the prison system is broken, and one important fix would be to provide
long-term drug treatment programs for inmates.

Alison Lopez, Feary's younger sister, urged legislators to consider "the
human factor" as they debate a proposal to create a minimum-security
treatment facility to help convicts kick their habits.

Feary, one of the founders of the musical group Kalapana, hanged himself in
a Halawa Correctional Facility cell Feb. 20, 1999. Feary had been addicted
to crystal methamphetamine, and his death renewed the public debate about
the way the community handles addicts.

Lopez said Feary's family learned more about his struggle with drugs after
Feary died. He repeatedly committed himself to facilities offering drug
treatment programs, she said.

"My brother needed drug treatment," Lopez said. "He tried really hard, and
sometimes we look at it as once, twice, three, times and we say, OK, I've
had enough already. We give up on people. But we don't realize the fight
that they're actually going through.

"Statistically, it is a fact that people will relapse in any kind of
addiction, not only drugs, although drugs do have a higher proportion of
relapse."

If the Legislature follows through with plans for expanded drug treatment in
prison, "It can only serve to make us a better state," she told legislators.

Another Feary sister, Dancetta Feary Kamai, submitted written testimony to
the House Finance and Labor and Public Employment committees yesterday,
urging lawmakers to offer long-term drug treatment to inmates.

Kamai said she made it her mission to find out why her brother died.
"Through Mackey's death, I've learned that people like him are in pain and
are crying our for help," Kamai wrote. "We have lost the war on drugs, and
the casualties are our own neighbors, friends and families."

Kamai said there was much talk about comprehensive drug treatment after
Feary died, "yet nothing was accomplished."

The House committees deferred action on House Bill 2741, which would
authorize a privately run minimum-security "intensive treatment facility."