Today, state senators are faced with a critical vote, one sure to affect our climb out of the state prison morass.

Iwalani White, nominated to the job of running the troubled Department of Public Safety, has filled that spot as interim director since August. And the heat was on almost instantly.

White, after a career as a deputy city prosecutor and a Family Court judge, now supervises prisons that federal investigators have found to be lacking — overcrowded generally, and inadequate in providing mental health services.

On Thursday, the Senate Public Safety Committee found White to be lacking, too, voting 3-1 against her confirmation.

That recommendation followed lengthy review of her record and an airing of both praise from her supporters and criticisms from those who found fault with some managerial actions.

Senators should evaluate White's actions on the job as factors in today's ultimate decision, but not as the sole basis of their vote.

They must look more broadly at her record and, most importantly, at her ability to chart a course toward a more stable corrections system.

The state is faced with a prison population so burdensome that inmates are sent to be housed in Mainland prisons. This is becoming the rule rather than the exception, and that is unaccceptable.

New policies are needed to change this course and, most crucially, to fix the prison conditions that have fallen so far below standard that the U.S. Department of Justice finds it necessary to hover.

Does White have the vision to correct state corrections?

If she is not confirmed, the state will have to delay any reforms long enough to find a replacement, who then will be serving on an interim basis.

What will that hiatus do to the campaign to reform the prisons?

Those are the questions state senators must answer before they can responsibly vote.