Report Title:

Auditor; Performance Audits; Private Prisons

Description:

Requires the auditor to conduct performance audits of private prisons on the mainland that house Hawaii prisoners.  Makes appropriation.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2148
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO THE AUDITOR.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that since the passage of mandatory minimum sentences for the use, possession, or distribution of crystal methamphetamine, Hawaii's prison population has dramatically increased.  This rise in inmate population has caused Hawaii to contract with out-of-state private prisons to ease overcrowding.

     The legislature also finds that, in 1996, Hawaii transferred three hundred prisoners out of the State, and the number of transfers has been rapidly rising ever since.  Ten years later in 2006, Hawaii had 1,844 prisoners housed in private prisons on the mainland.  Today, Hawaii has over two thousand prisoners serving their sentences in Corrections Corporation of America prisons in Arizona and Kentucky.

     The legislature further finds that there has never been an audit of the private mainland prisons that Hawaii has contracted with to house the State's inmates, despite the fact that deaths and serious injuries have occurred at several of the contract prisons on the mainland.

     The purpose of this Act is to require performance audits of private prisons on the mainland housing Hawaii prisoners with regard to the issues of delivery of services, visitation, and the department of public safety's monitoring of those contracts.

     SECTION 2.  The office of the auditor shall conduct a performance audit of each private prison on the mainland that houses Hawaii inmates, including the Red Rock Correctional Facility and Saguaro Correctional Facility in Eloy, Arizona, and Otter Creek Correctional Facility in Wheelwright, Kentucky.  The performance audits shall cover:

     (1)  Treatment and services provided to Hawaii inmates, including:

         (A)  Medical services;

         (B)  Mental health services;

         (C)  Substance abuse treatment;

         (D)  Education;

         (E)  Vocational training; and

         (F)  Food services;

     (2)  Facilitation of family and community connections, including:

         (A)  Visitation;

         (B)  Videoconferencing; and

         (C)  Telephone communication;

          and

     (3)  The department of public safety's execution of its statutory duties, including:

         (A)  Monitoring of private prisons;

         (B)  Enforcement of contract provisions; and

         (C)  Public access to contracts and monitoring reports.

     SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $          or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for the auditor to conduct the performance audits mandated under this Act.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the auditor for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 4.  The auditor shall report findings and recommendations to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2009.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

INTRODUCED BY:

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