By virtually any measure, the state’s inmate work furlough program is a success. Launched 34 years ago, it was expanded in 2013 as part of the state’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative — a prison reform effort — and now has about 400 participants around Hawaii.

The idea is simple: Most inmates will be released one day, and helping them build the skills and master the behavior necessary to stay out of jail helps reduce recidivism rates. Inmates who don’t reoffend aren’t a burden to taxpayers or their own families.

As Civil Beat’s Rui Kenaya reported Tuesday, only 5 percent of work furlough inmates fail to return, and less than 1 percent are charged with committing new crimes. This in a state prison system with a parolee recidivism rate of nearly 46 percent.

The Oahu Community Correctional Center, where select inmates participate in a work furlough program.

Chad Blair/Civil Beat

But the program is suffering from something of an image problem — one of its own making — that underscores the importance of both transparency and context in public communications.

Last year, the Hawaii Department of Public Safety began notifying the media and general public every time a furlough program participant didn’t return to custody at the appointed time. That move toward greater transparency was laudable, but it was also a significant change from past practice, when such notices were only issued if furlough program participant was suspected of committing a new crime.

It’s important to understand who is eligible to participate in the furlough program. Inmates first must reside in minimum or community-custody settings — the two lowest security levels in Hawaii prisons.

A leading community advocate for prison reform said the unintended consequence of the new communications protocol has been to build a sense of “hysteria” around the program.

We’re not sure “hysteria” is the right word, but if you’re on the Public Safety notification list and not one who reads every word of every e-mail, it’s easy to get the impression that furlough program walkaways are roaming our island communities in ever-growing numbers. That’s despite the fact that Public Safety also regularly sends notifications marked “UPDATE” when a furlough walkaway has been found.

It’s important to understand who is eligible to participate in the furlough program. Inmates must reside in minimum or community-custody settings — the two lowest security levels in Hawaii prisons. If they are incarcerated with drug problems, they must complete a treatment program. And in addition to having consistently good behavior, each must be within one year of parole eligibility.

Though they can see light at the end of the tunnel — and in some cases, perhaps because they can see light at the end of the tunnel and are scared what getting out of prison might mean for them — some inmates choose to walk away from their furlough program responsibilities. But when they’re caught and returned to prison, even without committing an additional infraction beyond their escape, they potentially face new charges that can add another five years to their sentence.

Public Safety Director Nolan Espinda is rightfully concerned with strengthening oversight of the program and bolstering its success, including incorporating electronic monitoring of furlough program inmates.

After all, these are still inmates, and Hawaii should consider every reasonable means to ensure it knows where they are.

State Sen. Will Espero introduced a bill in the last legislative session that would have set aside $300,000 annually for electronic monitoring of parolees, inmates on probation and furlough program participants. Despite passing the Public Safety and Judiciary and Labor committees, it didn’t make it past Ways and Means.

Espinda will begin testing electronic monitoring through a pilot program this fall at the Oahu Community Correctional Center, and Espero plans to reintroduce his bill in the coming legislative session.

We’d suggest that as he does, he ought to take into account concerns expressed in Monday’s article by Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro, who believes the program’s current approach of allowing inmates to participate before they have secured jobs is irresponsible.

“You cannot set all these guys out on the street looking for jobs. They’ll just roam all around the neighborhood and end up committing crimes,” said Kaneshiro, pointing to an incident in April when two furlough participants supposedly looking for work entered a property in Maikiki and tried to rob the four people there of drugs and weapons.

Electronic monitoring and pre-arranged jobs could make a successful program work even better.