STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2082

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2532

 

 

 

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. 2532 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRISONS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a working group to reduce recidivism by providing inmates with business and entrepreneurial skills and financial literacy education to establish a foundation for the inmates to succeed after their release from incarceration.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, and two individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

 

     Your Committee finds that providing education, training, and mentoring for employment once inmates are released from incarceration is proven to reduce recidivism and help inmates get back on their feet.  Forty-nine percent of convicted felons return to prison within one year of release.  However, inmates who seek and attain education while in prison are forty-three percent less likely to recidivate than those who do not.  Your Committee believes that providing inmates the opportunity to receive an education centered around obtaining employment after being released is an effective way to reduce the recidivism rate.  This measure will assist the State in providing the necessary support for released inmates by establishing a working group to provide inmates with business and entrepreneurial skills and financial literacy education.

 

     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. 2532 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair