HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

130

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

  

STATE OF HAWAII

  
   

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

Requesting the Director of Public Safety to report on the overcrowded conditions at hawaii's jails and prisons and the housing of hawaii's inmates at mainland facilities.

 

 

WHEREAS, jails and prisons in Hawaii are chronically overcrowded with no projections that there will be a decrease in the inmate population; and

WHEREAS, the State invests significant resources to house inmates at private mainland facilities in an attempt to ease overcrowding; and

WHEREAS, the Corrections Division of the Department of Public Safety currently houses 1,853 inmates in private mainland facilities and plans to send an additional 676 inmates to be housed at private mainland facilities; and

WHEREAS, during the 2005 Regular Session the Legislature appropriated $39,576,120 for fiscal year 2005-2006 and $40,724,428 for fiscal year 2006-2007 to the Department of Public Safety for mainland prison contracts; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Public Safety has requested an additional $12,133,586 for fiscal year 2006-2007, for costs related to the transportation and housing of Hawaii's inmates at private mainland facilities; and

WHEREAS, the Corrections Division of the Department of Public Safety views the leasing of bed space at private mainland facilities as a long-term solution to the problem of chronic overcrowding; and

WHEREAS, in light of recent events involving Hawaii's inmates at private mainland facilities, the Legislature is concerned about the welfare and treatment of Hawaii's inmates incarcerated in private mainland facilities; and

WHEREAS, in 2003, the Department of Public Safety updated the Corrections Master Plan and, to this day, has taken no action on the issue of overcrowding and the expansion of its current facilities; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature is concerned with the lack of action by the Department of Public Safety to meet the challenges of projected increases in the inmate population and the return of Hawaii's inmates to the State; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the Senate concurring, that the Director of Public Safety, is requested to submit a report on the Department's six-year plan to ease overcrowding in the State's prisons and jails; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature requests that the report include, but not limited to:

(1) Summaries of all contract monitoring trips, including concerns and issues raised during these monitoring trips;

(2) Action plans to address the concerns and issues raised during these monitoring trips;

(3) Projections for leasing bed spaces in private mainland facilities and associated costs;

(4) Plans for the future expansion of existing jails and prisons on all islands; and

(5) Plans for the future construction of new facilities, type of facilities (medium security, high security, detention, non-violent crimes, treatment), expected appropriation requests and amounts, and projected timelines; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Public Safety is requested to submit the Director's findings and recommendations to the Legislature, including any implementing legislation, not less than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and the Director of Public Safety.

 

 
 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Department of Public Safety; Corrections Division