Honolulu, Hawaii
H.D. 1
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-First State Legislature
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans, to which was referred H.B. No. 1738 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONFINEMENT,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Establish policies and procedures for long-term confinement, disciplinary confinement, and administrative confinement of inmates in the State's correctional facilities; and
(2) Require any agreement negotiated with an out-of-state jurisdiction for development of out-of-state correctional facilities to adhere to the same standards of care and health and safety policies adopted by the Department of Public Safety, including policies and procedures for appeal for confinement.
Your Committee finds that this measure is
intended to provide greater transparency in confinement processes, ensure opportunities
for time outside the cell and other rights while subject to confinement, and a hearings
procedure for inmates faced with confinement.
This measure will also require that out-of-state correctional facilities
be held to the same standards of care and health and safety policies adopted by
the Department of Public Safety.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Making
the provisions relating to what confinement is effective January 1, 2023,
and the provisions for redress effective January 1, 2024;
(2) Delaying
the effective date for compliance by out-of-state correctional facilities until
August 1, 2024, because of ongoing contracts;
(3) Clarifying
that disciplinary confinement applies when the specified acts occur within the
immediately preceding year while incarcerated;
(4) Clarifying
that the hearing prior to long-term confinement shall occur within ten days of
written notice unless the Director of Public Safety certifies that there is an
imminent threat to the safety and security of the correctional facility;
(5) Improving
internal consistency in hearing procedures for long-term confinement;
(6) Resolving
an inconsistency in the maximum duration for long-term confinement;
(7) Providing
for the Director of Public Safety's certification in writing of an imminent
threat to the safety and security of the facility in all three types of
confinement which are the subject of this measure;
(8) Providing that effective July 1, 2022, the Department of Public Safety and Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission shall conduct their ongoing reviews of the policies, standards, and treatment of inmates subject to confinement and annually report on long-term confinement practices;
(9) Changing
the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and
(10) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments
for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1738, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1738, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Corrections, Military, & Veterans,
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TAKASHI OHNO, Chair |
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