Released inmates should be given help

I enjoyed your Feb. 15 editorial regarding the fast release for inmates. I also give three cheers to the ACLU in its lawsuit, which brought about the change.

However, from my own experience as an attorney, inmates without a home to go to or insufficient funds in their inmate account find themselves in a very precarious situation.

When inmates are brought from prison to the court, they are usually in slippers, a pair of pants and a shirt, and all their pockets are empty. When the judge orders them to be released, the state refuses to drive them back to the prison so they can retrieve their belongings and any funds they may have in their inmate account. So the inmate finds himself at the courthouse with no money and no way to get back to the prison except walk, which is a long way.

Once they get back to the prison, they are not allowed to go inside to retrieve their belongings. Their cellmates are asked to put their belongings into a bag, which is brought outside the prison to them. If anything is missing, it's just too bad. If there is insufficient money in the inmate's account to rent a room, that's also just too bad.

In the spirit of the settlement with the state, if the freed inmate has no family or home to go to, the state should drive him back to the prison and let him get his belongings from his cell and any money from his prison account. If there are not enough funds in his prison account to rent a room, perhaps the state could direct him to a homeless shelter or maybe give a temporary loan?

State should help with new race park

To our Legislature and motorists of Hawai'i: There is a problem with the liquidation of Campbell Estate lands under Hawaii Raceway Park. If the state does nothing to buy the land or build a new race facility, guess where the racers will go? That's right, back to our streets, which so far (knock on wood) have not seen the carnage and bloodshed of the many racing crashes of 2004.

I feel it is the state's responsibility to have plans to build a facility to replace the old race park or give the tax credits that the private sector can use to build a world-class facility. Please support this. Write and call your representatives and make your feelings known.

Charter schools will thrive with support

Robert Rees is correct in his assessment that things are so bad in public schools that people are seeking alternative education choices for their children (Feb. 13 commentary).

In Hawai'i, those choices are limited to home schooling and charter schools for those who cannot afford private school. Charter schools are not a "cure" to what ails the public school system; instead, they are an opportunity for an individual child's success.

Unfortunately, Rees quotes Board of Education member Cec Heftel out of context when he asked, "Is this the way we run our schools?" That question was asked in response to the NAACP report during a press conference for which Radford's principal made parents wait six hours before he would come out of his office to talk to them about a racially motivated violent incident. I attended both the charter school committee meeting and the press conference on Radford and did not see Rees in attendance at either event.

Charter schools are the Cinderella story of Hawai'i. While the Legislature and DOE have left them to "wither on the vine" by withholding special education funds and access to other federal funds, denied facilities funding as provided in the state Constitution and appropriated only half of the per-pupil costs provided to other public schools, charter schools are still outperforming other schools.

With the proper support from the Legislature, BOE and DOE, charter schools will continue to thrive.

Case should have known about program

I was shocked to read that Congressman Ed Case didn't even know about an important federal program called Humanitarian Parole.

This program has the potential of saving the lives of people like Francisco Guerrero. Mr. Guerrero has been waiting six years for a kidney transplant, but has been unable to convince the federal government to give his son a visa so that he can come to Hawai'i and serve as the donor.

Under this program, the Department of Homeland Security will give a special temporary visa for humanitarian reasons in cases like Mr. Guerrero. It's outrageous Congressman Case didn't know about this.

Way to go, Hawai'i

I just heard on CNN that Hawai'i is the last state to implement the Amber Alert system on a statewide basis. Congratulations go out to our legislators for being ahead of the curve once again.