Each week Editorial and Opinion Editor Jeanne Mariani-Belding hosts The Hot Seat, our opinion-page blog that brings in elected leaders and people in the news and lets you ask the questions during a live online chat.

On The Hot Seat last week was Clayton Frank, director of the state's Department of Public Safety.

Here is an excerpt from that Hot Seat session. To see the full conversation, go to The Hot Seat blog at www.honoluluadvertiser.com/opinion and click on "The Hot Seat." (Names of questioners are screen names given during our online chat.)

Shawn: Since the recent closing of Molokai Ranch, wouldn't now be a good time to get input from the Moloka'i community about building a prison on that island? It would provide much-needed government jobs and help alleviate the overcrowding problem.

Clayton Frank: Before the Department of Public Safety can consider a location for a correctional facility, we would want to first inform key stakeholders and the possible affected community. We want to make sure area residents understand that a new prison might be built in their area. Community support can be one of the most challenging issues whenever a new facility is proposed, whether it's a jail, prison or a halfway house.

There are many logistical and challenging issues to consider when thinking about building a new correctional facility. It would be very costly and time consuming to install the necessary infrastructure on Moloka'i. A new correctional facility will require inmates to be supervised 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Plus, a facility should be located in close proximity to a hospital, courts and law enforcement. We also need to provide inmates access to facility and program services such as healthcare, substance abuse treatment and education. Therefore, we will have to first find the appropriate staff like nurses, counselors, and teachers to ensure these important needs can be met.

In the meantime, the state is currently planning to replace the existing Maui Community Correctional Center (MCCC) with a new facility at Pu'unene on the island of Maui. Although MCCC has already experienced difficulty finding and retaining staff, I am hopeful that the new facility will not only provide more community-based beds and programs, but also more jobs for qualified people who want to serve in the area of public safety.

Overcrowding: From a criminal justice view, do you favor short and swift drug-court style bursts of punishment?

Frank: While drug courts are effective with some offenders, they are not effective with all criminal cases. There must be consequences for inappropriate behavior that jeopardizes public safety.

Tyler: I read the newspaper article that said the women (inmates) in Kentucky did not want to come back. Is this for real?

Frank: I received a copy of the letter, which was signed by 94 of the 148 Hawai'i inmates in Kentucky. To their credit, most of the females in Kentucky realize that in order to help and reconnect with their families and relationships, they must first heal themselves. I think it is admirable of them to recognize this, and I applaud their efforts at completing the programs available to them. Their letter might be a strong indication that programs such as cognitive restructuring, parenting, anger management, and substance abuse treatment are working and addressing their needs.

Tyler: Knowing that the women in Kentucky don't want to come home, are you still going to bring them home? If so, when? What about the men in Arizona — is PSD going to be bringing them home?

Frank: Currently, we do not have enough bed space in Hawai'i facilities and available programs in our communities to return our inmates home. However, we are continuing our efforts to partner with various community-based organizations to create both additional bed space and programs in the community as we simultaneously work with the Legislature to obtain additional funding to increase our institutional and community-based bed space and program needs.

Building: Are there plans for a new prison? If so, where?

Frank: At this time, we are looking at building a program intensive correctional facility that will be designed to meet the educational, programs and rehabilitative needs of our offenders. This facility is being considered for the island of Maui.

Lehua Kanae: My question is with the rise of crime we have seen in the recent couple of weeks and over the past couple of years with repeat offenders ... when is the state going to make a commitment to create a system here in Hawai'i to incarcerate and rehabilitate our own?

There are nonprofit groups who are more than willing to help rehabilitate and build a prison system to accommodate our own here in the state of Hawai'i. I know you must have met with them or surely you have been approached by them.

How many millions of dollars each year is spent to house both women and men on the Mainland?

Frank: The state of Hawai'i spends approximately $54 million a year to house about 2,000 inmates on the Mainland. It's certainly a considerable amount, but the cost to house the same number of inmates in Hawai'i would be more than double that amount. This is due in large part to the cost of labor in Hawai'i as well as for goods and services here, which are all necessary to house, feed, educate, and help transition inmates back into the community. Unfortunately, at present, even if the Legislature provided the additional required funding to bring our inmates home, the department does not have adequate bed space in our facilities to safely house all of the inmates currently on the Mainland.

We continue to develop and look for alternative programs for offenders within our community and in our care and custody.

Lehua Kanae: What plans are there for (dealing with) recidivism?

Frank: We believe our efforts to provide targeted reintegration and rehabilitative programs both in our facilities and in the community helps reduce recidivism. However, we need more programs in the community to assist in this effort.

We are currently participating with the Interagency Council Intermediate Sanctions (ICIS), which is a multi-agency effort that includes the Department of Public Safety, the Hawai'i Paroling Authority, the Judiciary, the County Police Departments, and other key state and county agencies to reduce the adult recidivism rate. Public Safety Deputy Director for Corrections Tommy Johnson and District Court Judge Steven Alm are co-chairs of the ICIS Policy Committee, and both have been working hard with others to address this matter. More information regarding the efforts of the ICIS can be found on the Judiciary's Web site: www.courts.state.hi.us/in dex.jsp.

S. Hamilton: Mr. Frank, how is your department addressing the large numbers of warrants?

Frank: We serve mainly grand jury, parole and traffic warrants. Our sheriff division has 17 deputies assigned to our warrant squad. These deputies are assigned to primarily focus on felony warrants. We also have two deputies assigned to the federal task force warrant squad in tandem with the U.S. Marshals Service. Deputies assigned to the Honolulu International Airport also contribute to arrests through traffic stops and making arrests based on outstanding warrants when running names through the computer.

However, the number of deputies we have is not enough to adequately address the overall backlog of warrants.

We prioritize the most dangerous to society as our main focus of arrest, and we also conduct periodic traffic warrant sweeps.

Kyle K.: Isn't this crowding thing all about how we sentence people? Where do you stand on three strikes and other conservative approaches to throwing people in jail and tossing out the key?

Frank: The vast majority who are incarcerated are there for committing multiple offenses, and in some cases while already on probation for previous criminal offenses. Therefore, the current number of persons incarcerated is due mainly to repeat offenders and not sentencing laws.

With respect to the three strikes law, it should be noted that this law only applies to repeat offenders and those with extensive criminal histories.

Jon: What type of rehabilitative programs are being considered? Are they dependent on a new facility because classroom/counseling facilities are needed?

Frank: Re-integration and education programs are ongoing at all correctional facilities. If a new facility is built, appropriate programs will be factored in during the planning and design process.

We conduct a variety of assessment instruments on all inmates sentenced to prison. Upon entering a facility, these assessment tools help us assess offenders and determine the type and level of services they need and the level of risk they may pose to the public. As a result, while they are incarcerated, we provide inmates with a wide range of programs such as cognitive restructuring, parenting, anger management, substance abuse treatment, educational and vocational programs.