•Bring our Hawai‘i prisoners home •Building better communities begins with good neighbors Bring our Hawai‘i prisoners home It is bad enough that a family member goes to jail. It is worse when you cannot visit them when they are 3,000
•Bring our Hawai‘i prisoners home
•Building better communities begins with good neighbors
Bring our Hawai‘i prisoners home
It is bad enough that a family member goes to jail. It is worse when you cannot visit them when they are 3,000 miles away.
Yes, they did a crime and they are paying the time. Are they still American citizens? Do they still have rights? Who would know? Who cares? Well, I do.
Hawai‘i citizens need to know the truth and that is why I am going public with this. Our hard-earned tax dollars are paying for our prisoners to be sent out of state. Let me tell you one story that is close to my heart.
My grandson finally got to see his grandfather for the first time in his life. His young mother and father saved their hard earned money and flew to Arizona so he could meet his grandfather in person. Ten years passed before my son-in-law could see his father.
Who is being punished? Not only the prisoner, but his family as well. So try explaining to a 5-year old why he cannot visit Papa every Sunday because our governor thought it would be cost effective to the state to have our prisoners housed in another state.
If overcrowding is a problem, then build more prisons. Not as easy as it sounds, I know. Our prisoners are human beings and are not disposable. So we have a contract with Arizona.
When public officials do their annual inspections the food menu miraculously changes from very bad to edible. After they leave the old menu comes into play. Where has our taxpayer money gone? Obviously it has not reached the prison kitchen. Has anybody heard of the 8th amendment?
Visitation rights. My children took all the necessary steps and contacted KCCC and the Arizona prison to make sure their visit would go smoothly. Identification, birth certificates, social security numbers, etc. We were promised three eight-hour visits. That got cut short into three- and four-hour visits and only one eight-hour visit.
Why? Do not know, no logical explanation was given. We did not want to create any problems because we were afraid of any repercussions that would compromise our visit. When they did respond they said the inmate only told them the day before he was having visitors. Simply not true. The paperwork was sent with all our vital information so we could have a security clearance.
How can they say they were only informed the day before? Very simple, they don’t care. How many families have been compromised? It took 10 years and a long plane flight and a long drive to get to Saguro Prison in Arizona. Talking to inmates in person was so much more special than talking on the phone. The expression on his face to see his grandson was priceless.
Medical needs. Our inmate was supposed to be administered daily medication for a very serious problem. In Hawai‘i’s prison he was given medication on a daily basis. When he transferred to Oklahoma he was given his medication. When he got rerouted to Arizona he was not given his daily medication for over a year and a half which resulted in an emergency surgery. His artery was 90 percent blocked. This was definitely a life-threatening situation.
American citizens incarcerated or not have rights. Arizona is not abiding by its contract with Hawai‘i. When our complaints were brought to the attention of our local authorities they responded to one of three by writing, “He stopped picking up his medication for self-administration.” In a correction facility I did not think you could self-administer anything let alone your own medication.
Hawai‘i has failed its incarcerated citizens and their families. It is unjust and a shame. The prisoner is the only one who should pay for their crimes. Taking them away from their ‘ohana is a detriment to our society. It is just breeding a lot of resentment. Please join me in my battle to bring our prisoners home.
Lisa Louis, Lawai
Building better communities begins with good neighbors
I’m writing in response to the April 29 The Garden Island article “New seed operation set for Westside” on the expansion of Dow AgroSciences plan to lease Gay & Robinson land on Kaua‘i.
Born and raised on Moloka‘i in the Ho‘olehua Hawaiian Homestead area, I feel the seed corn companies have been an integral part of our island community, including Mycogen seeds, which started their corn research parent seed operation on Moloka‘i in 2000. Mycogen Seeds has contributed positively to the island economy by hiring local residents as well as sharing and leveraging resources to help the local farming.
Dow AgroSciences has built a strong and lasting relationship with the Moloka‘i community as they continue to contribute and participate in school fundraisers, community service projects and sponsor nonprofit activities that help to make our island a better place to live, work and play.
In the past, expansions of companies like Dow AgroSciences would receive negative attention because of the perception of the industry as a whole. Today, an expansion is big news — especially to us — because of the importance of this industry to our economy and the importance of this company to our community.
Thanks to Dow Agrsciences and its seed affiliate Mycogen Seeds for its community collaboration and partnership practices; our neighborhoods and communities continue to be supported and come together moreso than they did a decade ago. But it’s the “team effort” of our neighbors, our businesses and ourselves that build and sustain the well-being of our communities.
It’s the involvement and active participation of our neighbors, supporters and community members that will determine our sustainability and our future.
Andrew Arce, Moloka‘i
