Although the state now houses roughly 2,100 Hawai'i inmates in privately run prisons on the Mainland, it still has the responsibility to keep them safe.

As disturbing security lapses at facilities operated by Corrections Corporation of America in both Arizona and Mississippi have increased, it's up to the state to re-evaluate its $50 million contract with the firm and fully explore alternatives for our prison space crisis, including building another facility here at home.

As Advertiser writer Kevin Dayton reported, CCA acknowledged that on four separate occasions cell doors were inadvertently opened by prison employees at its Red Rock Correctional Center in Arizona, creating chaos and seriously injuring a Hawai'i inmate.

Unfortunately, this unconscionable pattern dates back to 2005, when inmate Ronnie Lonoaea was so severely beaten at a CCA prison in Mississippi that he suffered brain damage and is now confined to a wheelchair.

In the Red Rock case last month, inmate John Kupa was stabbed in the back with a homemade knife after the doors opened abruptly.

There are serious liability questions, which could ultimately fall to taxpayers. Just last week, Lonoaea's family sued the state's prison system and CCA.

For its part, CCA said in a written statement in response to reporter Dayton's inquiries that it will shift some Hawai'i inmates to other sites and that it has taken disciplinary action against the guards involved. They have also instituted a formal training program for those assigned to Hawai'i's inmates, and have also begun using more veteran corrections officers.

But the state will need much more than those assurances to ensure inmate safety.

Private prisons, as Dayton's story notes, have a staffing turnover rate of 52 percent, while public facilities have a turnover rate of just 16 percent. Staff error was cited in all of the incidents.

Encouragingly, Clayton Frank, acting director of the state Department of Public Safety, agrees that the state is charged with the responsibility to ensure the safety of inmates, regardless of where they are housed.

He is rightly reviewing the state's contract with CCA and considering touring the facilities in person.

"Whether they say it's operator error or the control panels, I want to make sure these incidents don't occur again," he said.

That's a start.

But the state must also plan to build additional prison space — which has proven politically untenable for elected officials thus far — and aggressively create new programs geared toward rehabilitation.

"We're also looking at other alternatives such as inmates who can be released into reintegration programs. We're looking at that on O'ahu, Maui and other jurisdictions," Frank says.

That's good news, considering the facts. Studies show that providing inmates with those "reintegration" skills and releasing them into communities where they have the support of friends and family decreases the chances of recidivism, which costs taxpayers far more in the long term.

Though these inmates may be out of sight, the state's responsibility is no less important. Let's hope the momentum and concern continues long after the media glare fades.