SB932 SD1

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that in 2005, there were 16,825 persons on probation statewide under the jurisdiction of the State's four judicial districts. Additionally in 2005, the Hawaii paroling authority was responsible for supervising 2,119 parolees. As of December 25, 2006, the department of public safety had 5,982 persons in its correctional system. These numbers are significant in the context of a comprehensive effort to reintegrate ex-offenders back to our communities as productive, law-abiding citizens.

In recent years, state and local government agencies throughout the country have begun to establish improved systems for reintegrating ex-offenders as a way to prevent large numbers of offenders from returning to prison. A United States Department of Justice study found that sixty-seven per cent of those released from state prisons in 1994 were re-arrested for a new crime within the first three years of their release. Forty-six per cent of the arrestees were reconvicted for a new crime and fifty-one per cent were returned to prison. Efforts to reduce recidivism would greatly benefit the State of Hawaii, given that the State's prison and jail capacities are sorely inadequate and have been severely overcrowded for the past two decades.

The financial, social, and economic costs of incarceration without rehabilitation are staggering. According to the 2004 annual report of the department of public safety, the corrections division budget for fiscal year 2003-2004 was $190,000,000. This figure excludes the nearly $50,000,000 in contract costs with the Corrections Corporation of America to house Hawaii offenders in four private correctional institutions in the continental United States. Further, this figure does not include the cost of arrest and prosecution, nor does it take into account the cost to victims. There are also financial costs associated with the health care of incarcerated populations, who have a high prevalence of infectious disease, substance abuse, and mental health disorders.

One of the most significant social costs of offender reentry is its impact on children. A report commissioned by Child and Family Services in 2003 estimated that there were approximately six thousand children of incarcerated parents in Hawaii. According to the federal Bureau of Prisons, there is evidence to suggest that offenders who retain kinship ties with their children and families are more likely to avoid negative behavior while incarcerated and are more likely to obtain reduced sentences.

In terms of economic costs, studies have shown that fifteen to twenty-seven per cent of prisoners expect to go to a homeless shelter upon release from prison. Additionally, as many as sixty per cent of ex-offenders fail to find stable employment in the legal labor market one year after release. A felony record precludes many from gainful employment and may result in persistent discrimination in the labor market. In addition to housing and employment, there are the enormous economic costs of crimes committed in order to obtain money for drugs.

The legislature further finds that sixty to eighty per cent of the nation's correctional population has used illegal drugs at some point in their lives. Furthermore, a United States Department of Justice analysis indicates that only fifty per cent of federal offenders and forty per cent of state offenders have taken part in substance abuse treatment and programs since being admitted to prison. Substance abuse education, treatment, intervention, and follow-up services are clearly needed in a comprehensive offender reentry system.

An offender reentry system must also consider the correlation between education and recidivism. According to the National Institute for Literacy, seventy per cent of all offenders function at the two lowest literacy levels. A Bureau of Justice Statistics analysis has found that less educated offenders are more likely to recidivate. Moreover, a recent United States Department of Education study found that participation in a state correctional education program lowers the likelihood of reincarceration by twenty-nine per cent. A federal Bureau of Prisons study found a thirty-three per cent drop in recidivism among federal prisoners who participated in vocational and apprenticeship training.

The legislature finds that increased recidivism results in profound collateral consequences, including public health risks, homelessness, unemployment, and disenfranchisement. Accordingly, systems and programs that provide assistance with offenders' transition from institutional to community life are critical to the families, neighborhoods, and communities to which the offender returns.

The legislature further finds that, in order for an offender to successfully reenter the community, the offender must have access to a full continuum of services during incarceration and immediately upon release. Correctional institutions, corporate and not-for-profit agencies, as well as faith-based institutions must be involved in a comprehensive effort to meet the needs of offenders returning to our communities. Support services needed upon release include education, continuing education, vocational training, follow-up treatment services, support with finding housing and employment, and help with family issues and other elements of life after incarceration.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a comprehensive offender reentry system that assists adult offenders with their reintegration back to our communities and offers a full continuum of services that are accessible during and immediately after their incarceration.

SECTION 2. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding a new chapter to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"Chapter

COMPREHENSIVE OFFENDER REENTRY SYSTEM

PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

§ -1 Title. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Community Safety Act.

§ -2 Definitions. When used in this chapter:

"Community-based long-term support programs" include programs administered and operated by community agencies, faith-based organizations, and other entities offering support to offenders for at least one year or longer.

"Community-based programs" are programs that are administered and operated outside of a correctional institution.

"Institution-based programs" are services offered within a correctional institution.

"Reentry programs" include programs that are located within a correctional institution.

"Reintegration programs" include programs that are located within a correctional institution.

"Transition programs" include programs that are located within a correctional institution.

§ -3 Offender reentry system plan; creation. (a) The department of public safety shall develop a comprehensive and effective offender reentry system plan for adult offenders exiting the prison system.

(b) The department of public safety shall develop comprehensive reentry plans and curricula for individuals exiting correctional facilities in order to reduce recidivism and increase a person's successful reentry into the community. The reentry plans shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) Adopting an operational philosophy that considers that offender reentry begins on the day an offender enters the correctional system. Each offender entering the system shall be assessed to determine the offender's needs in order to assist the individual offender with developing the skills necessary to be successful in the community;

(2) Providing appropriate programs, including, but not limited to, education, substance abuse treatment, cognitive skills development, vocational and employment training, and other programs that help to meet the assessed needs of each individual;

(3) Developing a comprehensive network of transitional programs to address the needs of individuals exiting the correctional system;

(4) Ensuring that all reentry programs are gender responsive;

(5) Issuing requests for proposals from community-based nonprofit programs with experience with offenders in the area of reentry; and

(6) Instituting model reentry programs for adult offenders.

§ -4 Model programs; department of public safety. Subject to funding by the legislature, the department of public safety shall enhance the State's comprehensive offender reentry system by developing model programs designed to reduce recidivism and address successful reentry into the community. Components of the model programs shall include, but not be limited to the following:

(1) Highly skilled staff who are experienced in working with offender reentry programs;

(2) Individualized case management and a full continuum of care to ensure successful reentry;

(3) Life skills development workshops, including budgeting, money management, nutrition, and exercise; development of self-determination through education; employment training; special education for the learning disabled; social, cognitive, communication, and life skills training; and appropriate treatment programs, including substance abuse and mental health treatment;

(4) Parenting and relationship building classes. The department shall institute policies that support family cohesion and family participation in offenders' transition to the community; and, where possible, provide geographical proximity of offenders to their children and families; and

(5) Ongoing attention to building support for offenders from communities, community agencies, and organizations.

§ -5 Children of incarcerated parents; families. (a) The director of human services shall:

(1) Establish by policy or rule, services that the director deems necessary for the preservation of families who have been impacted by the incarceration of a family member;

(2) Establish practices that focus on children whose parents are incarcerated and work to strengthen attachment and bonding between parent and child; and

(3) Review and make available to other states a report on any recommendations regarding the role of the department of human services' child protective services at the time of the arrest of a person.

(b) The director of public safety shall:

(1) Establish policies or rules that parent inmates be placed in correctional facilities based primarily on public safety, inmate security, and the best interests of the family, rather than on economic or administrative factors;

(2) Consider as a factor an offender's capacity to maintain parent-child contact when making prison placements of offenders;

(3) Conduct research that examines the impact of a parent's incarceration on the well-being of the offender's child, that shall include both direct contact with an offender's child, as well as reports of caregivers; and

(4) Conduct research that focuses on the relationship of incarcerated fathers with their children and the long term impact of incarceration on fathers and their children.

§ -6 Employment of ex-offenders. (a) The director of labor and industrial relations shall take the necessary steps to ensure offenders and ex-offenders are included and involved in utilizing state and private resources for employment and training opportunities as well as life skills and educational opportunities.

(b) The department of public safety, with the assistance of the department of taxation and the department of labor and industrial relations, shall develop and propose for legislative enactment tax incentives for employers who hire individuals who were formerly incarcerated.

§ -7 Return of out-of-state inmates. The director of public safety shall return out-of-state inmates to Hawaii at least one year prior to the inmate's parole date or release date in order for these inmates to participate in the State's offender reentry system.

§ -8 Reentry specialist position; establishment. The director of public safety may establish one full-time reentry specialist position within the department of public safety to ensure that offenders have access to reentry programming within all state facilities, monitor all state contracted reentry programs, and facilitate parent-child relationships in the context of correctional facility governance.

PART II. OFFENDER REENTRY PROGRAMS AND SERVICES STAKEHOLDERS COMMITTEE

§ -9 Offender reentry programs and services stakeholders committee; establishment; members. There is established the offender reentry programs and services stakeholders committee within the department of public safety. The purpose of the stakeholders committee shall be to monitor and review reentry programs and make recommendations to the department of public safety and the legislature. The director of public safety, or the director's designee, shall chair the stakeholders committee that shall be composed of members from the department of the attorney general, the Hawaii paroling authority, the department of human services, the department of health, the department of labor and industrial relations, the department of education, service providers, and stakeholders deemed relevant to the work of the stakeholders committee. The state agency members of the stakeholders committee shall be designated by their respective department or agency heads. The non-state agency members shall be appointed by the director of public safety. The stakeholders committee shall meet at a minimum on a quarterly basis. The stakeholders committee may work in concert with the corrections population management commission established in chapter 353F.

§ -10 Duties and responsibilities. The duties and responsibilities of the stakeholders committee shall include but not be limited to the following:

(1) Identifying:

(A) The network of reentry programs, services, and activities that may exist throughout the State;

(B) Methods to improve collaboration and coordination of existing programs and services; and

(C) Areas of responsibility in which improved collaboration and coordination would result in increased effectiveness or efficiency of service delivery;

(2) Developing innovative interagency or intergovernmental programs, activities, or procedures that would improve outcomes for offenders reentering communities and for their children;

(3) Identifying areas of research that can be coordinated across agencies with an emphasis on applying evidence-based practices to support services, and treatment and intervention programs for reentering offenders;

(4) Identifying funding areas that should be coordinated across agencies and any gaps in funding; and

(5) Identifying successful programs throughout the country and presenting best practices information on offender reentry programming to relevant agencies and organizations to determine the extent to which those programs and practices can be replicated, and make information on those programs and practices available throughout the State to community-based organizations and others.

§ -11 Reporting requirements. Twenty days prior to the opening of the regular session of the 2008 legislature, and by January 5 of each subsequent year, the stakeholders committee established in section -9 shall submit a report to the legislature on the status of Hawaii's reentry and reintegration programs. The report shall include:

(1) The reentry and reintegration programs on each island and in each prison and jail;

(2) The number of offenders involved in the programs;

(3) The recidivism rate of those involved in each program;

(4) Barriers and problems associated with the reentry and reintegration programs;

(5) A ranking of programs funded by the State in order of most to least successful;

(6) Possible programs not being implemented but which are successful in other jurisdictions, including best practices; and

(7) Suggestions and ideas to improve the reentry and reintegration programs to benefit the majority of offenders.

§ -12 Research and studies. Research shall be conducted by the stakeholders committee on offender reentry programs, as provided for in this section. The research shall include:

(1) Identifying the number and characteristics of Hawaii children who have had a parent incarcerated and the likelihood of these minors becoming involved in the criminal justice systems at some time in their lifetime;

(2) Identifying a mechanism to compare Hawaii's rates of recidivism, including rates of re-arrest, violations of parole and probation, and reincarceration, with offenders in various states;

(3) A study on the population of individuals released from custody who have not recidivated and the demographics of that population, including but not limited to data on their housing, employment, treatment services received, and family connections established or maintained;

(4) Analysis of the reentry program needs of special offender populations, including prisoners with mental illness or substance abuse disorders, female offenders, juvenile offenders, offenders sixty years and older, who present unique reentry challenges;

(5) Studies to determine the categories of offenders that are reincarcerated and which of those prisoners represent the greatest risk to community safety;

(6) Annual reports on the profile of the population exiting prisons, jails, and juvenile correctional facilities in Hawaii;

(7) A state recidivism study every three years; and

(8) A study of parole violations and revocations in the context of offender reentry programs.

PART III. ADULT OFFENDER

REENTRY DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS

§ -13 Adult offender reentry demonstration projects. (a) The director of public safety may provide grants in accordance with chapter 42F for adult offender reentry demonstration projects that establish or improve the offender reentry system for which each adult offender in state correctional custody is provided an individualized reentry plan.

(b) Subject to funding by the legislature, the department of public safety shall award adult offender reentry demonstration project grants for activities that:

(1) Coordinate the supervision and services provided to adult offenders in state custody with the supervision and services provided to offenders who have reentered the community;

(2) Coordinate efforts of various public and private entities to provide supervision and services to ex-offenders after reentry into the community with the offenders' family members;

(3) Provide offenders awaiting reentry into the community with documents such as identification papers, referrals to services, medical prescriptions, job training certificates, apprenticeship papers, information on obtaining public assistance, and other documents useful in achieving a successful transition from prison;

(4) Involve county agencies whose programs and initiatives strengthen offender reentry services for individuals who have been returned to the county of their jurisdiction;

(5) Allow ex-offenders who have reentered the community to continue to contact mentors who remain incarcerated through the use of technology such as videoconferencing, and that encourage mentors in prison support the ex-offenders reentry process;

(6) Provide structured programs, post-release housing, and transitional housing, including group homes for recovering substance abusers, through which offenders are provided supervision and services immediately following reentry into the community;

(7) Assist offenders in securing permanent housing upon release or following a stay in transitional housing;

(8) Continue to link offenders with health resources for health services that were provided to them when they were in state custody, including mental health, substance abuse treatment, aftercare, and treatment services for contagious diseases;

(9) Provide education, job training, English as a second language programs, work experience programs, self-respect and life skills training, and other skills needed to achieve self-sufficiency for a successful transition from prison;

(10) Facilitate collaboration among corrections administrators, technical schools, community colleges, and the workforce development and employment service sectors so that there are efforts to:

(A) Promote, where appropriate, the employment of people released from prison and jail, through efforts such as educating employers about existing financial incentives and facilitate the creation of job opportunities, including transitional jobs, for this population that will benefit communities;

(B) Connect offenders to employment, including supportive employment and employment services, before their release to the community; and

(11) Assess the literacy and educational needs of offenders in custody and provide appropriate services to meet those needs, including follow-up assessments and long-term services;

(12) Address systems under which family members of offenders are involved with facilitating the successful reentry of those offenders into the community, including removing obstacles to the maintenance of family relationships while the offender is in custody, strengthening the family's capacity to establish and maintain a stable living situation during the reentry process where appropriate, and involving family members in the planning and implementation of the reentry process;

(13) Include victims, on a voluntary basis, in the offender's reentry process;

(14) Facilitate visitation and maintenance of family relationships with respect to offenders in custody by addressing obstacles such as travel, telephone costs, mail restrictions, and restrictive visitation policies;

(15) Identify and address barriers to collaborating with child welfare agencies in the provision of services jointly to offenders in custody and to the children of those offenders;

(16) Collect information, to the best of its ability, regarding dependent children of incarcerated persons as part of intake procedures, including the number of children, age, and location or jurisdiction, and connect identified children of incarcerated parents with appropriate services;

(17) Address barriers to the visitation of children with an incarcerated parent, and maintenance of the parent-child relationship, such as the location of facilities in remote areas, telephone costs, mail restrictions, and visitation policies;

(18) Create, develop, or enhance prisoner and family assessments curricula, policies, procedures, or programs, including mentoring programs, to help prisoners with a history or identified risk of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking reconnect with their families and communities, as appropriate, and become mutually respectful;

(19) Develop programs and activities that support parent-child relationships, such as:

(A) Using telephone conferencing to permit incarcerated parents to participate in parent-teacher conferences;

(B) Using videoconferencing to allow virtual visitation when incarcerated persons are more than one hundred miles from their families;

(C) Developing books on tape programs, through which incarcerated parents read a book into a tape to be sent to their children;

(D) The establishment of family days, which provide for longer visitation hours or family activities; or

(E) The creation of children's areas in visitation rooms with parent-child activities;

(20) Expand family-based treatment centers that offer family-based comprehensive treatment services for parents and their children as a complete family unit;

(21) Conduct studies to determine who is returning to prison or jail and which of those returning prisoners represent the greatest risk to community safety;

(22) Develop or adopt procedures to ensure that dangerous felons are not released from prison prematurely;

(23) Develop and implement procedures to assist relevant authorities in determining when release is appropriate and in the use of data to inform the release decision;

(24) Utilize validated assessment tools to assess the risk factors of returning offenders to the community and prioritizing services based on risk;

(25) Facilitate and encourage timely and complete payment of restitution and fines by ex-offenders to victims and the community;

(26) Consider establishing the use of reentry courts to:

(A) Monitor offenders returning to the community;

(B) Provide returning offenders with:

(i) Drug and alcohol testing and treatment; and

(ii) Mental and medical health assessment services;

(C) Facilitate restorative justice practices and convene family or community impact panels, family impact educational classes, victim impact panels, or victim impact educational classes;

(D) Provide and coordinate the delivery of other community services to offenders, including:

(i) Housing assistance;

(ii) Education;

(iii) Employment training;

(iv) Children and family support;

(v) Conflict resolution skills training;

(vi) Family violence intervention programs;

(vii) Other appropriate social services; and

(E) Establish and implement graduated sanctions and incentives; and

(27) Provide technology and other tools necessary to advance post release supervision."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $4,000,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for the planning, development, implementation, and expansion of an effective reentry system that offers a full continuum of services that are accessible during an adult offender's incarceration and immediately after the adult offender's reentry into the community.

The sums appropriated in this section shall be expended by the department of public safety for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	932
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII