PUBLIC SAFETY HEAD RIGHTLY FOCUSES ON DRUG TREATMENT

THE ISSUE - Hawaii's New Public Safety Director Has Said He Will Concentrate
On Providing Improved Treatment For Drug Offenders.

PRISON populations in Hawaii and across the country continue to grow,
although not at the alarming pace of several decades ago. While more prison
space may be needed, alternative methods of dealing with drug offenses are
the most logical remedy. Hawaii's new public safety director is
well-equipped to combat the problem.

Governor Lingle has named John F. Peyton Jr. as director of the state
Department of Public Safety. As an assistant U.S. attorney in Honolulu for
more than 20 years, Peyton was deeply involved in drug prosecution and
headed the law-enforcement wing of the highly successful Weed and Seed
program.

Peyton sees prison expansion as "one of the potential solutions" to prison
overcrowding in Hawaii. However, he can be expected to focus on fixing what
he calls "the superficial treatment" that has been provided to drug
offenders.

More than 2 million Americans are now behind bars. The rate of incarceration
in mid-2002 was 702 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, which means one in
every 142 residents was in prison or jail. That compares with less than 100
per 100,000 in most European countries and is 18 times the incarceration
rate in Japan.

Hawaii's rate of 309 inmates serving at least one-year terms in state
prisons was well below the national average of 425 per 100,000 population,
but the percentage increase of inmates from the previous year exceeded the
national rate. The number of Hawaii inmates grew from 5,412 to 5,541, a rise
of 2.4 percent compared with a national increase of less than 1 percent in
state prison populations, according to the Justice Department statistics.

Hawaii cannot house that many prisoners and sends more than 1,200 to private
prison facilities on the mainland. The transfers have saved the state money;
it costs the state about $50 a day per inmate, compared to $80 to $90 a day
to keep an inmate in Hawaii.

Much of the increase in prison population has resulted from mandatory
sentencing and, in some states, "three strikes and you're out" laws that
send people to prison for lengthy periods for minor crimes. However, more
than 20 percent of state prisoners nationwide were convicted of drug crimes.