Report Title:

Department of Public Safety; Hawaii Paroling Authority

Description:

Transfers continuing supervisory and counseling functions of paroled individuals from Hawaii Paroling Authority to Department of Public Safety.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2749

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to corrections.

 

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that presently there are three major components that make up the department of public safety: administration, law enforcement, and corrections. The responsibility of corrections is to provide a safe and humane environment for those offenders that the courts commit to the department and to ensure the safety of the community by preventing escapes and preparing the inmates that some day may return to society.

Therefore, within corrections, there are programs such as supervised release, managed by the intake service centers, and work furlough, operated by the community correctional centers, to fulfill those objectives. Staff assigned to these programs conduct assessments to identify those inmates appropriate for these programs and provide supervision and monitoring upon their conditional release into the community.

The legislature further finds that the field service branch of the Hawaii paroling authority provides similar adult supervisory and counseling services to parolees and monitors their compliance with their terms and conditions of release. The services supplied by the field service branch are similar to those provided by the intake service centers and the community correctional centers, although they are provided at different stages in the criminal justice process.

In order to be cost-efficient, consistent in the delivery of services, and maintain a continuum of care, the supervisory and counseling functions of the field service branch should be transferred to the department of public safety. This transfer will not affect the Hawaii paroling authority and its functions that include:

(1) Selecting individuals for parole;

(2) Determining the time when parole shall be granted;

(3) Determining conditions of parole for any individual granted parole;

(4) Revoking and suspending parole; and

(5) Discharging an individual from parole when supervision is no longer needed.

The purpose of this Act is to transfer the supervisory and counseling functions, positions, and employees of the field service branch to the department of public safety.

SECTION 2. Section 353-62, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) In addition to any other responsibility or duty prescribed by law for the Hawaii paroling authority, the paroling authority shall:

(1) Serve as the central paroling authority for the State;

(2) In selecting individuals for parole, consider for parole all committed persons, except in cases where the penalty of life imprisonment not subject to parole has been imposed, regardless of the nature of the offense committed;

(3) Determine the time at which parole shall be granted to any eligible individual as that time at which maximum benefits of the correctional institutions to the individual have been reached and the element of risk to the community is minimal;

(4) Establish rules of operation to determine conditions of parole applicable to any individual granted parole;

[(5) Provide continuing custody, control, and supervision of paroled individuals;

(6)] (5) Revoke or suspend parole and provide for the authorization of return to a correctional institution for any individual who violates parole or any condition of parole when, [in the opinion of] following consultation with the department, the Hawaii paroling authority[,] finds the violation presents a risk to community safety or a significant deviation from any condition of parole;

[(7)] (6) Discharge an individual from parole when supervision is no longer needed;

[(8)] (7) Interpret the parole program to the public in order to develop a broad base of public understanding and support; and

[(9)] (8) Recommend to the legislature sound parole legislation and recommend to the governor sound parole administration."

SECTION 3. Section 353-63.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) The [Hawaii paroling authority] department, in consultation with the authority, shall implement alternative programs that place, control, supervise, and treat selected parolees in lieu of incarceration."

SECTION 4. Section 353-65, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§353-65 Paroles; rules. The Hawaii paroling authority may establish rules, with the approval of the governor and the director of public safety not inconsistent with this [part,] chapter, under which any prisoner may be paroled but shall remain, while on parole, in the legal custody and under the control of the paroling authority, and be subject, at any time until the expiration of the term for which the prisoner was sentenced, in consultation with the department, to be taken back within the enclosure of the prison. The rules shall have the force and effect of law. Full power, subject to this part, to enforce the rules, to grant, and to revoke paroles is conferred upon the paroling authority. The power to retake and reimprison a paroled prisoner is conferred upon the administrative secretary or the administrative secretary's designee, who may issue a warrant authorizing all of the officers named therein to arrest and return to actual custody any paroled prisoner. The superintendent of Hawaii state prison, the chief of police of each county and all police officers of the State or of any county, and all prison officers shall execute any such order in [like] the same manner as ordinary criminal process.

If any prisoner so paroled leaves the State without permission from the paroling authority, the prisoner shall be deemed to be an escaped prisoner[,] and may be arrested as such."

SECTION 5. Section 353-66, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (f) to read as follows:

"(f) The Hawaii paroling authority may require a paroled prisoner to undergo and complete a substance abuse treatment program administered by the department when the paroled prisoner has committed a violation of the terms and conditions of parole involving possession or use, not including to distribute or manufacture as defined in section 712-1240, of any dangerous drug, detrimental drug, harmful drug, intoxicating compound, marijuana, or marijuana concentrate, as defined in section 712-1240, unlawful methamphetamine trafficking as provided in section 712-1240.6, or involving possession or use of drug paraphernalia under section 329-43.5. If the paroled prisoner fails to complete the substance abuse treatment program or the Hawaii paroling authority, in consultation with the department, determines that the paroled prisoner cannot benefit from any substance abuse treatment program, the paroled prisoner shall be subject to revocation of parole and return to incarceration. As a condition of parole, the Hawaii paroling authority may require the paroled prisoner to:

(1) Be assessed by a certified substance abuse counselor for substance abuse dependency or abuse under the applicable Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and Addiction Severity Index;

(2) Present a proposal to receive substance abuse treatment in accordance with the treatment plan prepared by a certified substance abuse counselor through a substance abuse treatment program that includes an identified source of payment for the treatment program;

(3) Contribute to the cost of the substance abuse treatment program; and

(4) Comply with any other terms and conditions for parole.

As used in this subsection, "substance abuse treatment program" means drug or substance abuse treatment services provided outside a correctional facility by a public, private, or nonprofit entity that specializes in treating persons who are diagnosed with having substance abuse or dependency and preferably employs licensed professionals or certified substance abuse counselors.

Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to give rise to a cause of action against the State, a state employee, or a treatment provider."

SECTION 6. All rights, powers, functions, and duties of the Hawaii paroling authority relating to the continuing supervision and counseling of paroled individuals are transferred to the department of public safety.

All officers and employees whose functions are transferred by this Act shall be transferred with their functions and shall continue to perform their regular duties upon their transfer, subject to the state personnel laws and this Act.

No officer or employee of the State having tenure shall suffer any loss of salary, seniority, prior service credit, vacation, sick leave, or other employee benefit or privilege as a consequence of this Act, and such officer or employee may be transferred or appointed to a civil service position without the necessity of examination; provided that the officer or employee possesses the minimum qualifications for the position to which transferred or appointed; and provided that subsequent changes in status may be made pursuant to applicable civil service and compensation laws.

An officer or employee of the State who does not have tenure and who may be transferred or appointed to a civil service position as a consequence of this Act shall become a civil service employee without the loss of salary, seniority, prior service credit, vacation, sick leave, or other employee benefits or privileges and without the necessity of examination; provided that such officer or employee possesses the minimum qualifications for the position to which transferred or appointed.

If an office or position held by an officer or employee having tenure is abolished, the officer or employee shall not thereby be separated from public employment, but shall remain in the employment of the State with the same pay and classification and shall be transferred to some other office or position for which the officer or employee is eligible under the personnel laws of the State as determined by the head of the department or the governor.

SECTION 7. All appropriations, records, equipment, machines, files, supplies, contracts, books, papers, documents, maps, and other personal property heretofore made, used, acquired, or held by the Hawaii paroling authority relating to the functions transferred by this Act to the department of public safety shall be transferred with the functions to which they relate.

SECTION 8. All rules, policies, procedures, guidelines, and other material adopted or developed by the Hawaii paroling authority to implement provisions of the Hawaii Revised Statutes which are reenacted or made applicable to the department of public safety by this Act, shall remain in full force and effect until amended or repealed by the department of public safety pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes. In the interim, every reference to the Hawaii paroling authority or the chair of the Hawaii paroling authority in those rules, policies, procedures, guidelines, and other material is amended to refer to the department of public safety or the director of public safety as appropriate.

SECTION 9. It is the intent of this Act not to jeopardize the receipt of any federal aid nor to impair the obligation of the State or any agency thereof to the holders of any bond issued by the State or by any such agency, and to the extent, and only to the extent, necessary to effectuate this intent, the governor may modify the strict provisions of this Act, but shall promptly report any such modification with reasons therefor to the legislature at its next session thereafter for review by the legislature.

SECTION 10. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 11. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:

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