STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2167

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2269

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2269 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Repeal the authorization of the Governor to negotiate with any person for the development or expansion of private in-state correctional facilities;

(2) Prohibit the establishment of private correctional facilities in the State; and

(3) Allow the Governor to enter into a contract with a private entity to construct a correctional facility on public or private land, only if the facility is operated by the Department of Public Safety.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Imua Alliance; United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO; and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Public Safety.

Your Committee finds that private prisons incentivize the cycle of crime by providing a financial motivation for the further criminalization of nonviolent offenses and imposition of longer sentences because private prisons are run as businesses and without inmates, private prisons cannot turn a profit. Additionally, private prisons are not subject to the same freedom of information and open records laws as government agencies. Without access to information, it is impossible to know what injuries are being suffered by detainees. Former security guards who have worked at private prisons say that prisoner abuse is rampant because disclosure of allegations is extremely rare. Your Committee believes that if the State decides to construct a new jail capable of housing approximately one thousand three hundred inmates, then the jail should be operated by the State. This measure will prevent the development of for-profit prisons in the State by repealing the authorization of the Governor to negotiate with any person for the development or expansion of private in-state correctional facilities, prohibiting the establishment of private correctional facilities in the State, and allowing the Governor to enter into a contract with a private entity to construct a correctional facility on public or private land, only upon the condition that the facility is operated by the Department of Public Safety.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2269 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

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CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair