Report Title:

Inmate Rehabilitation; Reentry System; Performance Indicators

 

 

Description:

Requires the department of public safety to establish performance indicators; requires monthly reports to the legislature, using key performance indicators.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

414

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

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.  Act 8, First Special Session Laws of Hawaii 2007 (Act 8), also known as the Community Safety Act of 2007 and codified as chapter 353H, Hawaii Revised Statutes, established a comprehensive offender reentry system under the purview of the department of public safety.  Act 8 also requires the department of public safety to submit annual reports through 2010 relating to the implementation, progress, and effectiveness of the program components specified in Act 8.

     While the department's annual report lists program activities and statistics, it does not include information on program outcomes.  The legislature finds that performance indicators are an effective way to track the progress of the comprehensive reentry system and to reflect the philosophical change to the department's approach to rehabilitation and reentry mandated by Act 8.

     The purpose of this Act is to direct the department of public safety to establish key performance indicators or measures to be incorporated in reports that evaluate the outcomes of program components as required in Act 8.

     SECTION 2.  The department of public safety shall develop performance measures that accurately reflect progress toward specific goals, including but not limited to:

     (1)  Improving recidivism rates;

     (2)  Decreasing prisoner assaults on correctional staff;

     (3)  Reducing correctional staff turnover; and

     (4)  Improving departmental efficiencies in staffing, budgeting, and data management and analysis.

     SECTION 3.  Beginning July 31, 2009, and on the last working day of each subsequent month, the department of public safety shall submit a monthly report to the legislature.  Each report shall reference key performance indicators that track rehabilitation and reentry efforts for individuals being prepared to exit the correctional system.

     The key performance indicators shall include, but not be limited to:

     (1)  The number of individuals achieving educational goals established during the intake process, i.e., completion of general education diploma requirements and basic and higher education classes;

     (2)  The number of individuals for whom a reentry plan is filed and the number of individuals who exit jail or prison with a reentry plan;

     (3)  Drug test failure rates of inmates while incarcerated and while on parole;

     (4)  Rates at which victim restitution and other financial obligations are being collected;

     (5)  Employment rates of ex-offenders within one hundred eighty days of release from incarceration for whom reentry plans have been filed and employment rates of ex-offenders within one hundred eighty days of release from incarceration for whom no reentry plans have been filed;

     (6)  Recidivism rates, with separate data for arrests for new crimes and violations of the conditions of parole; and

     (7)  Any other performance indicators that measure outcomes of the components specified in chapter 353H, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     The department shall post the monthly reports electronically on the department's internet website in a timely manner.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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