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Recent events point to need for larger prison facility

The Maui News, July 10: Man, with an extensive criminal record, while on probation, kills a 90-year-old woman in her home as she sleeps is arrested. Co-defendant does poorly on probation, is abusing meth daily, with multiple convictions for contempt of court. Second co-defendant was indicted on a different incident that occurred on June 20. All multiple offenders.

The Maui News, July 11: Fourth-grader was attacked, choked and had his iPad stolen. The upstanding citizen who perpetrated this crime has 28 convictions! What happened to 3 strikes and your out? As a society, how many chances are we willing to give someone before we incarcerate them for 30-40 years? Eighty percent of crimes are committed by repeat criminals. The other 20 percent are first-timers, or at least, first time caught!

Do we release these criminals back in society because of lack of prison space? The recent prison riot on Maui was partially caused by overcrowding. I saw where they want to build an add-on, but that proposal will still leave the prison short of bed space. Let’s think about building a large facility in the unused cane fields near Maui Veterans Highway. Perhaps bid out the project to a private company as it is sometimes done on the Mainland. They build it, they run it and it would create jobs and tax revenue.

We obviously need to do something rather then release the perpetrators with multiple convictions free to prey on the citizens of Maui.

Richard Odiorne

Waikapu

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