HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	200
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

urging the department of public safety to include provisions in NEW contracts with private or out-of-state prison facilities that inmate COMPLAINTS are subject to investigation by the ombudsman and TO renegotiate existing contracts to allow the ombudsman to investigate inmate complaints.

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's prison population has dramatically increased, particularly since the passage of mandatory minimum sentences for crystal methamphetamine; and

     WHEREAS, the rise in the incarcerated population has caused Hawaii to contract with out-of-state private prisons to ease overcrowding; and

     WHEREAS, the Department of Public Safety's 2007 annual report states that, at the end of the fiscal year, Hawaii had over two thousand prisoners serving their sentences in prisons in Arizona and Kentucky operated by the Corrections Corporation of America; and

     WHEREAS, there is continued concern over the treatment of Hawaii inmates being held out-of-state at private correctional facilities, because the practice of contracting with private or out-of-state prison facilities has removed inmate programs and services from the direct oversight of the Office of the Ombudsman; and

     WHEREAS, while most of the private entities that provide inmate services are well run and sensitive to those they service, the recipients of those services tend to be vulnerable or marginalized in some way and often find it difficult, if not impossible, to proceed through the bureaucracy of existing grievance processes if they should have a complaint against the private entity providing the program or service; and

     WHEREAS, authorizing the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the acts of contracted private correctional facilities would provide inmates with an easily accessible and simple mechanism to address their grievances; and

     WHEREAS, the use of video conferencing could be used as a substitute for site visits during preliminary investigations, followed by actual site visits, if deemed necessary; and

     WHEREAS, collaboration with the Department of Public Safety, in order to use the department's video conferencing equipment and facilities to help address inmate complaints at out-of-state prison facilities according to department grievance protocol processes, would allow for proper informational exchange between inmates and the Office of the Ombudsman without requiring the expenditure of funds for additional visits to address the problems; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Public Safety is urged to include, in contracts with private or out-of-state prison facilities, provisions that inmate complaints are subject to investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Public Safety is also urged to renegotiate existing contracts to allow investigation of inmate complaints by the Office of the Ombudsman; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of the Ombudsman, in collaboration with the Department of Public Safety and private or out-of-state prison facilities, is encouraged to use video conferencing equipment to help address inmate complaints; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Public Safety, the Ombudsman, and the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of the Corrections Corporation of America.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Department of Public Safety; Ombudsman; Inmates; Investigations of Out-Of-State Prisons