Senate committee to hear about plan to return Hawaii inmates

The state plans to return Hawaii inmates incarcerated on the mainland to the islands. A Senate committee will hear more details of the plan from the Abercrombie administration on Tuesday.

The idea is to learn what the administration has planned so lawmakers can work on legislation that will help prepare inmates for successful reentry.

Hawaii does not have enough prison space for all its inmates, so roughly 1,800 — or one-third — are housed in mainland prisons.

The Tuesday briefing was announced soon after a lawsuit against the state was filed over the death of a Hawaii inmate who was killed at an Arizona prison in 2010.

The suit alleges that the state agreed to and tolerated insufficient staffing at the prison where Bronson Nunuha of Waianae was brutally slain.

via Senate committee to hear about plan to return Hawaii inmates – Hawaii News – Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Fraud conviction reported (again)

The Star-Advertiser reported today on Big Island resident Eric Lighter’s conviction on federal wire fraud and related charges. It’s a “premium” story, meaning you can’t read it without a subscription. You would think that means the story has some special value.

Problem #1: He was convicted on December 20, almost two weeks ago, making it rather old news.

Problem #2: The Star-Advertiser already reported an AP version of the same story it the “breaking news” section on December 22.

Problem #3: The Star-Advertiser’s December 22 and January 2 stories both appear to be based on the same government press release without additional reporting.

Problem #4: You wouldn’t know, from the S-A story, that the Star-Bulletin archives contain some detailed reporting on earlier cases of fraud involving Lighter.

Admittedly, I’ve got a personal interest here because I recognized long ago that Lighter was a world-class con artist and his schemes worth reporting on.

So even though it’s a legal holiday, and the end of a long holiday weekend, I still hope to get more than rewritten press releases from our daily newspaper.

But it is what it is.

via Fraud conviction reported (again).