Join Editorial and Opinion Editor Jeanne Mariani-Belding from noon to 1 p.m. today as she puts Clayton Frank, director of the State Department of Public Safety, on The Hot Seat for a live blog chat.

As state safety director, one of Frank's major responsibilities is handling the state prison system. That's a tall order. Overcrowded prisons prompted the state to ship inmates to Mainland facilities, away from their families and their support base. Packed prisons and the high number inmates there due to drug-related offenses has led to a push to find more programs that deal with rehabilitation and drug treatment programs .

Join in the conversation at noon at http://hotseat.honadvblogs.com/ to have him answer your questions on state prisons and other issues under his purview.

If you can't make the live during the noon hour,e-mail your questions to mbelding@honoluluadvertiser.com and she will post your questions in between the live posts, as time permits.