HB1177

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1177
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to public safety.

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that in 2001, the federal Bureau of Prisons opened the Honolulu Federal Detention Center at an approximate cost of $170,000,000.

Located on the west side of the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, the Honolulu Federal Detention Center houses male and female federal pre-trial detainees, sentenced felons who have almost completed their prison terms, and Hawaii inmates who are awaiting trial in state court, at an occupancy rate far below the facility's total capacity of one thousand two hundred beds.

The Honolulu Federal Detention Center currently houses four hundred eight inmates in an efficient vertical design that requires fewer workers to manage detainees, includes integrated state-of-the-art surveillance and management technologies, and accommodates a wide variety of uses including cells, office areas, medical facilities, recreational areas, storage rooms, food preparation areas, laundry, mechanical rooms, security, and communications.

The State has struggled for years to find additional capacity for its overcrowded jails and prisons, which were designed to hold a combined total of 2,491 inmates, but the State currently has 5,375 inmates. Replacing or refurbishing state prisons and jails to meet the current demand for adequate space and services would cost an estimated $1,500,000,000 to $2,000,000,000.

Since June 2001, the State has leased bed space at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center to relieve jail overcrowding. In mid-January 2019, it housed one hundred sixty male and female inmates under the department of public safety's jurisdiction at a daily rate of $123.19 per inmate.

Furthermore, the number of Honolulu Federal Detention Center inmates should likely decrease further after President Donald Trump signed in December 2018 a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill called the First Step Act of 2018, which, in part, is aimed to reduce recidivism and decrease the number of inmates currently housed in federal correctional facilities.

State acquisition of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center would enable it to serve as the new Oahu community correctional center and eliminate the immediate financial burden of building a new state correctional facility. This will also enable the current Oahu community correctional center site to be vacated by the department of public safety and turned over to the Kalihi community for its use.

The legislature further finds that there has long been interest in obtaining the Honolulu Federal Detention Center. In 2016, House Concurrent Resolution No. 31 requested Hawaii's congressional delegation to assist the State in negotiating with the federal government for the acquisition of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds for the purchase of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

SECTION 2. 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 2019-2020 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2020-2021 to purchase the Honolulu Federal Detention Center for the purpose of housing state detainees and inmates, relieving overcrowding at state jails and prisons, and eliminating the financial costs of leasing bed space for state inmates at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

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

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2019.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________