HCR214

WHEREAS, in 1996 the State initiated a prison transfer program to alleviate overcrowding in State owned and operated correctional facilities by sending Hawaii inmates to private correctional facilities on the mainland; and

WHEREAS, since the inception of this program, the number of Hawaii inmates serving sentences abroad has increased from 300 individuals in 1996 to more than 2,000 individuals in 2008, a population which now constitutes more than one-third of Hawaii's entire incarcerated population; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii currently ranks third in the nation for the number of inmates incarcerated outside of its state borders; and

WHEREAS, in fiscal year 2007, the Department of Public Safety spent $50,291,460 to transfer inmates from Hawaii to private prisons in Arizona, and Kentucky; and

WHEREAS, these costs went to the for-profit company Corrections Corporation of America, the sole vendor charged with housing Hawaii's inmates; and

WHEREAS, although the population of Hawaii inmates in these private mainland prisons continues to grow, there has never been an audit of these facilities 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 prisons, and there are indications that various programs and services that are being paid for are not currently being provided; and

WHEREAS, there have been several instances of cell doors opening "by mistake" at several Corrections Corporation of America prisons in which Hawaii inmates have been incarcerated, and one of Hawaii's inmates was beaten within an inch of his life when this occurred in Tallahatchie, Mississippi; and

WHEREAS, there have been numerous complaints of abuses and unwarranted and prolonged lockdowns within the Special Housing Incentive Program in Saguaro Corrections Center in Arizona, which sells such lockdown services under the banner of a behavioral-modification program for people who are violent and cannot live in the general population; and

WHEREAS, in August of 2007, the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported on the resignation of the heads of the education and addiction-treatment programs at a private Arizona prison holding Hawaii inmates, and the two attributed their resignation to poor management, inadequate facilities, and lack of staffing; and

WHEREAS, in Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Kentucky, three of Hawaii's inmates were rushed to the hospital after repeatedly asking for medical care, one of which died on December 31, 2005, after being threatened with lockdown because she continued to ask for help; and

WHEREAS, Legislators have questioned the lack of programming in the Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, a so-called program-intensive correctional facility that Hawaii continues to pay as such; and

WHEREAS, an independent audit may be helpful in determining if out-of-state transfers are cost-effective and reduces recidivism rates in Hawaii; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the Auditor is requested to conduct performance audits of private prisons on the mainland that house Hawaii inmates, including but not limited to, the Red Rock Correctional Facility and Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona, and Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Kentucky; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the performance audit shall cover the following:

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

(a) Medical services;

(b) Mental health services;

(d) Education;

(e) Vocational training; and

(f) Food services; and

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

(a) Visitation;

(b) Videoconferencing; 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

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to report its findings and recommendations, including proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2009; and

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

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Performance Audit of Private Mainland Prisons

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	214
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII