There's a big difference between a "quick fix" and a "solution," and it's clear which term fits the situation with the newly constructed prison in Arizona built for Hawai'i's prisoners.

The problem of managing corrections is complex, and this project doesn't move us an inch closer to solving it.

Viewed by itself, of course, there's nothing wrong with opening a privately run prison in Eloy, near Casa Grande, that will house only felons from Hawai'i and will cater to some of the Islands' cultural aspects. This state continues to ship out an alarming number of its own inmates to the Mainland, so an attempt to ease the transition for prisoners who are bound to be released back home at some point is understandable. Some politicians might view the $50 million Hawai'i will pay each year to house prisoners in the facility as cheaper than the fiscal and political price of building one locally.

The medium-security prison operation, with 1,896 inmate beds, will observe state holidays and make provisions for Hawaiian religious and dietary preferences. Let's hope, for starters, that the state helps the Nashville-based operators of the Saguaro Correctional Center grasp Hawai'i's multicultural nuances in carrying out this program.

What is needed most is a comprehensive attack of the problem on multiple fronts. This is, instead, a very superficial approach to a problem that runs very deep. It's something like an attempt to shrink an iceberg by chipping away at the upper tip. And even that would be tolerable if it was only part of a concerted effort to reduce the prison population.

On that score, too little is being done.

The state instead is trending toward increased incarceration through the "three strikes" law and increased minimum sentences. More attention should be paid to treatment-based sentences for drug-related crimes. An expansion of the program for offenders on probation, one that deters many of them from lapsing more deeply into crime, should be pursued aggressively.

Some additional construction of prison space within the state is needed, and by failing to provide it, the state is simply postponing the inevitable.

That inevitability: Prisoners who are for all practical purposes cut off from family and community will readjust poorly to life "on the outside." Then they'll be back behind bars, at taxpayer expense. What kind of solution is that?