Prison Reform

Governor Abercrombie's promise to eventually return home all of our state's prison inmates sent to mainland facilities has once again put the spotlight on Hawaii's prison system. This week INSIGHTS on PBS HAWAII will focus on efforts to reform Hawaii's penal system. What are the conditions of our prisons and are there alternatives to incarceration? What efforts are in place to promote more cost-effective methods of addressing crime to reduce the reliance on incarceration? Does politics rather than crime-control govern our prison system?

Joining moderator Dan Boylan will be Jodie Maesaka-Hirata, Director of the State Department of Public Safety, Senator Will Espero, Chairman of the State Senate's Committee on Public Safety, Daniel Gluck, Senior Staff Attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Robert Perkinson, Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Manoa and author of the book, "Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire."

This conversation was recorded on Mar. 10, 2011 in the PBS Hawaii studio. Insights on PBS Hawaii is presented on Thursdays at 7:30.