ADVOCATES WORK TO KEEP DRUG OFFENDERS OUT OF ISLE PRISONS

A Delayed Bill Would Put Qualified Offenders In Treatment Programs

Advocates of a measure that would divert nonviolent drug offenders to
treatment programs instead of prison are running television ads urging
lawmakers to pass the bill.

"Adopting a policy of not sending nonviolent drug offenders to prison is a
real cost-saving proposition, saving money for the taxpayers," said retired
Circuit Judge Masato Doi at a gathering at the state Capitol on Friday.
"Adopting this kind of policy is not being soft on crime. I look on it as
actually preventing crime -- you catch it before a crime is committed."

A legislative conference committee deferred a decision on the bill to give
members more time to study the measure.

The bill, which was carried over from last year's session, calls for an
appropriation of $2.2 million that would cover about 200 people who have
been identified as eligible for a diversion program, said Rep. Nestor
Garcia, the conference committee's House co-chairman.

He noted that even if both sides reach an agreement, the program would still
need funding which might not be available given the state's projected
revenue shortfall in the current budget.

"I'm not one to try to put unfunded mandates into law if we don't have the
money to back it up," said Garcia, (D, Waipahu). "I'm realistic and so is
Sen. Kanno." Kanno (D, Ewa Beach) is the conference committee's Senate
co-chairman.

"The silver lining in that is, I know that the community is ready to take
them in," Garcia said. "There's infrastructure out there to take them in. We
just have to wait and see how the money talks go."

Groups who back the measure, which include the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii
and the Community Alliance on Prisons, also have started running television
ads featuring Ito and Dancetta Feary Kamai, the sister of well-known Hawaii
entertainer Mackey Feary, a repeat drug offender who died in prison three
years ago.

Kamai said her brother suffered from depression and turned to both legal and
illegal drugs.

"Mackey was sick," she said. "Was Mackey a bad person? No. Mean or
dangerous? No and no. ... He was sick and needed help."