State program is bridge to world outside prison

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Substance-abuse lead counselor Benjamin Kaneaiakala, left, demands "sincerity, openness, honesty" from inmates taking part in Project Bridge. At right is fellow counselor Darryle Alfapada. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

But for convicts who have done hard time, especially those who have had major drug problems, life outside the walls can be a major challenge full of new choices and responsibilities.

And when they turn to crime, public safety is threatened and taxpayers once again bear the cost of locking them up. Hawai'i's jails and prisons are filled with inmates who have had second chances and blown them.

But for the past few years, the state has been trying a new way to help released prisoners go straight. It's called Project Bridge, a program for inmates who have successfully completed serious drug-abuse treatment programs in prison but need more counseling and supervision before they're released.

Those who qualify for Bridge and are likely to soon be paroled can earn new privileges as they complete a series of intensive requirements. They must find jobs outside prison, but they must return to custody to sleep. Their movements are closely monitored, and most of their earnings must be saved to help with housing once they're released.

The goal is to change unacceptable behavior, but also any criminal thinking behind it.

"It's helping them recognize the kind of errors in thinking that they're having," said Benjamin Kaneaiakala, lead substance-abuse counselor for male inmates in Bridge. "They put that down on paper, feelings that they had about a situation, and we sit down with them and go through that thinking report and dissect it and try and find ways of trying to handle the situation better."

Many men fresh out of prison are preoccupied with finding a female partner immediately, but interacting responsibly after years of incarceration can be difficult. They're warned against paying for intimacy, because it's illegal and presents a high risk of interacting with drug abusers.

"A lot of people doing that kind of business are doing it to support a (drug) habit," Kaneaiakala said. "Those are things that are talked about and discussed, because they're real life."

Perhaps most of all, inmates must shed the strong and stoic front demanded in prison, where nerves and resolve are constantly tested, and being uninformed or seeking help can be viewed as weaknesses to be ruthlessly exploited.

"They don't go around talking and sharing their feelings in general population," Kaneaiakala said. "You just can't do that."

But in Bridge, they have to. And their thoughts must be recorded in their journals. Holding back and being antisocial isn't acceptable.

"Sincerity, openness, honesty: That's what we're looking for," he said. "If a guy doesn't have those characteristics, to me that's all warning signs, flags are popping up and we're checking it out. "

In Project Bridge, inmates must record their thoughts in journals. Challenging insincere entries is one way to get inmates to open up, says counselor Darryle Alfapada, left, with fellow counselor Benjamin Kaneaiakala. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"We want to make sure we're holding them accountable some way but also making sure they're responsible for themselves," Kaneaiakala said.

Sharply challenging superficial and insincere journal entries can be a good way to make inmates open up, if handled correctly, said Bridge counselor Darryle Alfapada.

"By the time I get the journal back the following week, they're responding, and writing deeper things," he said.

Most inmates in Bridge identify ice as the drug they most frequently abused. To cope with their addiction, they must attend frequent meetings with groups such as Narcotics Anonymous, and use the skills they learned in treatment. Violations can mean parole will be denied and the inmate will be returned to 24-hour custody.

But the aim is for success. Inmates must set specific goals and prepare an acceptable written plan for success after release.

There's a separate Bridge program designed for women that's equally intensive.

"I think there's a lot of belief that people can't be rehabilitated, but sometimes the rehabilitated ones are actually going to be better employees than the 'normal' person because of the level of expectation and integrity that they have to live up to," said Bette Gerstacker, a counselor with the women's program. "A lot of the employers in the community really like having our women work because they're held to a higher level of accountability and integrity than people who hadn't had any problems in their lives."

Jacey Peterson has nearly completed the program after being in prison for more than two years on charges of shoplifting and possessing crystal meth and paraphernalia.

Project Bridge, which provides counseling for inmates before they're released from prison, is run out of the work furlough center in Kalihi.

"I find that my responsibilities today are greater than they ever were, yet I know that once I'm released I'll have even more, because I'll have rent to pay, I'll have a child to take care of, I'll have activities to take him to, I'll have to go to work and be there on time."

Space in the program is limited: 32 men and 15 women. Dozens more are on waiting lists for the federally supported program, which costs about $440,000 a year.

Most inmates strongly benefit, but some don't make a clean transition. Twenty of the 63 Bridge parolees tracked between 1998 and 2000 relapsed into active drug use, 16 were arrested, and six were sent back to prison for parole violations, according to a report by the state attorney general's office.

Still, the program clearly reduces recidivism and is a cost-effective way to limit the prison population's rapid growth, officials say. Inmates who have been hooked on ice and don't go through such a transition are among the most likely to fail.

"As addicts, they go back to their old stomping grounds because that's where they can make money," said Sanford Ito, who has worked in the men's and women's programs. "I've seen so many guys come out of the gate with no money, and no one comes to pick them up. They don't have anything. A lot of them can't even read, let alone know were to go to get help."

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.