Last week’s hours-long disturbance at the Wailuku jail — inmates trashed two housing modules, breaking furniture and igniting a small fire that charred walls — appears to be the latest symptom of a long-standing state Department of Public Safety problem: overcrowding.

In the aftermath of the incident at Maui Community Correctional Center, 21 inmates tagged as having “aggressively participated” were transferred to the Halawa Correctional Facility on Oahu on Thursday; and DPS Director Nolan Espinda is blaming “extreme overcrowded conditions” at MCCC, which was designed to hold 209 inmates but was housing 410 when the trouble erupted on Monday.

Each of the state’s jails have long grappled with over-capacity. Among the worst off right now: Hawaii Community Correctional Center, which was built 44 years ago with only 22 beds. Over the years, about 200 more have been installed. But with a headcount of 425 inmates, the state’s latest figures list HCCC’s occupancy rate at 183 percent.

Occupancy rates at Maui and Kauai jails are 136 percent and 147 percent, respectively. At the state’s largest facility, Oahu Community Correctional Center, which has a capacity set at 954 inmates, last week’s headcount was 1,077, marking an occupancy rate of nearly 113 percent.

Plans are in the works to replace the outdated and outmoded OCCC and MCCC, but they are moving at a glacial pace.

Of more immediate promise is a push to address much-needed reforms in the pretrial system. Pretrial incarceration is one of the major drivers of overcrowding in Hawaii’s jails.

Currently, about half of men and women in Hawaii’s jails have not been convicted of the crime they’re accused of committing. Often, the accused are behind bars while awaiting trial because they cannot afford the amount of set bail. All of the inmates rounded up in the Maui disturbance were pretrial detainees.

In Hawaii and many other states, a “money bail” system unfairly penalizes the low-income defendant who poses no apparent flight risk or danger to the public. A report issued last year by the ACLU of Hawaii found that in cases where bail was set, fewer than half of criminal defendants were able to pay it.

The nonprofit’s in-depth study of the state’s bail-setting practices found that between January and June 2017, circuit courts heavily relied on the use of money bail to secure court appearances, setting it as a condition of release in 90 percent of cases.

However, unnecessary incarceration causes a myriad of social and economic problems. Studies show that within 72 hours behind bars, the lives of detainees begin to fall apart, often starting with the risk of losing a job. Without a steady paycheck, the accused can fall behind on bills and other responsibilities. What’s more, the current system costs taxpayers roughly $150 a day per detainee.

Along the pretrial path, there is accusation but no conviction. It follows that pretrial practices should stress protecting public safety, and not impose hardship that’s tantamount to punishment.

Two years ago, the Legislature directed a Judiciary-led task force to draft recommendations on how to improve Hawaii’s system. A key focus of the resulting Criminal Pretrial Task Force’s report, released in December, is the bail-versus-jail matter.

Sensibly, the report expressed support for police discretion in opting for a citation rather than arrest for low-level offenses, and expanding initiatives to prevent arrest of low-risk defendants contending with homelessness, substance abuse and mental health problems.

Addressing pretrial detention of the cash-strapped, low-risk defendant, it recommended broadening alternatives in two ways. Home detention and electronic monitoring; and expanding residential and treatment programs for those unable to manage their everyday life.

State lawmakers are now weighing Senate Bill 192, which would authorize a defendant in custody to petition a court for unsecured bail. The measure aims to increase the count of low-risk defendants released on their own recognizance in cases of significant financial hardship — particularly when incarceration jeopardizes employment, ability to remain in education or training programs, care for a dependent, access to medical or therapeutic treatment, or holding onto housing.

The ACLU and other supporters say that research shows that non-financial options such as unsecured bail are just as effective in ensuring court appearance as money bail. Instead of upfront payment, an unsecured bond requires signing a promissory note. The bail amount would be due if the defendant fails to show up to court or comply with conditions of release.

Inevitably, overcrowding in an overtaxed correctional system creates tense moments, and can touch off melee and property destruction as was the recent incident still being sorted out at the Maui jail.

Facilities statewide are in dire need of upgrades, but equally important is putting in place strategies that swap money-based for risk-based systems. In terms of avoiding undue infringement on personal liberty and waste of public resources, these are reasonable steps in the right direction.