Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jan 2004
Source: Honolulu Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2004 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/195
Author: Johnny Brannon, Advertiser Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Note: To read about the "ice epidemic" in Hawaii, go to
http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Hawaii

DRUG ADDICTION KEEPS WOMEN'S PRISON FILLED

Hawai'i women are being locked up at a rate that's outpacing men, and their
charges stem mostly from drug problems.

Some inmates take a bridge to freedom while others stumble back to prison
and Hawai'i searches for answers.

Only a few women were incarcerated in Hawai'i 30 years ago. Now there are
roughly 600 in jail and prison, including more than 60 shipped to a private
facility in Oklahoma, and their numbers have increased at a faster pace
than male prisoners.

Most of the women are locked up on drug charges or for crimes stemming from
substance abuse, and crystal methamphetamine is the top drug of choice,
according to inmates, counselors and prison officials.

The state has created and expanded drug-abuse treatment programs for women
to address the problem, but not enough to meet the demand.

"We didn't have a women's prison in the '70s. And now we not only have a
women's prison, we have an overcrowded women's prison," said Meda
Chesney-Lind, a University of Hawai'i criminologist and professor of
women's studies.

"We don't have enough space for the women who are currently in prison, so
they're doing time in expensive Mainland private prisons where they're
separated from their families in tragic ways and can't communicate with
their children and can't receive visitation," she said. "There's just
heartbreaking stories around women's imprisonment."

Many incarcerated women are locked up for failing to comply with probation
and parole requirements, rather than for committing new crimes.

"They're in on drug relapses, essentially," Chesney-Lind said. "The real
issue here is we don't have adequate treatment programs now in the
community to deal with people once we release them from prison for minor
offenses."

One problem is that serious treatment is available mainly when it is
required as a condition for release, some women say. That leaves out others
who want or need help.

"There are situations where women are not mandated to get treatment, so
their treatment needs go unaddressed," said Lorraine Robinson, director of
a work furlough program for female inmates run by T.J. Mahoney and
Associates. "The system is so overburdened with treatment needs, and not
enough treatment slots."

Few female inmates are incarcerated for violent crimes. Most are locked up
for drug possession, shoplifting, check fraud, prostitution or other
nonviolent offenses.

"For women, the pathway to crime is usually trauma, and then addiction to
deal with the trauma as a way of self-medicating," Robinson said. "Then
they get into criminal lifestyles to support their addictions."

Women often face very different challenges than men after they get out of
prison, and the stress can lead them right back.

"If they get just a minimum-wage job and they have to take responsibility
for their children, it's almost impossible to live in Hawai'i on a
minimum-wage job even to support yourself, let alone a family," said Bette
Gerstacker, a substance-abuse counselor at the Women's Community
Correctional Center in Kailua. "So they're more apt to end up resorting
back to drug use or prostitution or some illegal way of making money."

One way the state is trying to address such problems is through Project
Bridge, a program for incarcerated women who have completed drug treatment
and are nearing the end of their sentences.

The women are allowed to leave the prison during the day to work in jobs
the program helps them find, but their movement and activities are closely
monitored. They must save most of the money they earn, to provide a cushion
for rent and other needs once they're released. They must also establish a
support system of contacts to help them stay clean and sober.

"When someone just goes right out the gate, the recidivism is a lot higher
than if they have these steps that help them gradually go back," Gerstacker
said. "It's kind of overwhelming to take on all the responsibilities of
work and family and everything all at one time, without working into it."

But while there are more than 300 inmates at the women's prison, there's
only enough space in the Bridge program for 15 at a time, and there's no
physical space to expand it. More than 30 qualified women are usually on a
waiting list to get in, officials say.
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