STAND. COM. REP. NO. 345

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1357

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1357 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

(1)  Require the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Accounting and General Services to plan and design the construction and operation of a new minimum-security facility at the site of the existing Oahu Community Correctional Center, similar to the facilities of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center; and

 

(2)  Authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds in an unspecified amount and make an appropriation for capital improvements authorized by this measure.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one state department.

 

     Your Committee finds that the State began exporting some of its inmates to Mainland facilities about fifteen years ago because of overcrowded conditions and out of frustration from community opposition to construction of new prison facilities in Hawaii.  However, your Committee concurs with Governor Abercrombie's recent comments (Honolulu Star Advertiser article, December 20, 2010) that sending prisoners to the mainland "costs money.  It costs communities.  It destroys families.  It is dysfunctional all the way around — socially, economically, politically and morally."

 

     Your Committee further finds that Mainland inmates from Hawaii should be back in Hawaii preparing to successfully re-enter their communities.  More intervention and rehabilitation programs are necessary, as well as more prison space, to successfully bring back the State's inmates.  Governor Abercrombie further states (Honolulu Star Advertiser article, December 16, 2010), "I will be working with the Department of Public Safety and with the Judiciary and with the Legislature to forge a comprehensive and integrated program to deal with the question of incarceration."

 

     Your Committee is cognizant that the Department of Public Safety is presently making plans for the return of Hawaii inmates from Mainland correctional facilities.  Testimony of the Department indicated that it is willing to work with the Department of Accounting and General Services to plan and design a minimum security correctional facility, in addition to various plans and designs already in place.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting provisions to require the Department of Public Safety to:

 

     (1)  Develop a master plan to:

 

          (A)  Return Hawaii inmates housed in mainland correctional facilities;

 

          (B)  Increase the inmate capacity of state correctional facilities, primarily the Oahu Community Correctional Center, Kulani Correctional Facility, and Waiawa Correctional Facility; and

 

          (C)  Provide interventional, educational, and rehabilitative services to returned inmates;

 

     (2)  Consult with appropriate stakeholders in developing the master plan; and

 

     (3)  Submit the master plan to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2012.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1357, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1357, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair