Bill Text: HI HCR43 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Public Safety To Allow Prisoners To Establish Faith Pods In All Correctional Facilities In The State.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - This measure has been deleted from the meeting scheduled on Wednesday 03-18-20 10:30AM in conference room 430. [HCR43 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2020-HCR43-Introduced.html
THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
43 |
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
urging the department of public safety to allow prisoners to establish faith pods in all correctional facilities in the state.
WHEREAS, as evidenced by the demonstrations on Mauna Kea and elsewhere, a resurgence of the Hawaiian renaissance is currently taking place; and
WHEREAS, the Hawaiian renaissance movement uses a non-violent code of conduct known as kapu aloha; and
WHEREAS, many attempts have been made over the years to improve the State's correctional system; and
WHEREAS, puuhonua are traditional Hawaiian "safe places" where native Hawaiians could be healed before returning to their respective communities; and
WHEREAS, throughout the nation, prisoners, or paahao, have established programs to create puuhonua for themselves to heal and regain their identity as kanaka maoli; and
WHEREAS, in 1998, a native Hawaiian group led by Euel Ray Kaleihau Kamauu formed Puuhonua O Halawa, a clean and sober living environment at Halawa Correctional Facility; and
WHEREAS, also in 1998, a native Hawaiian group led by Kaleihau Kamauu formed a group called Ko Kakou Puuhonua at Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota; and
WHEREAS, in 2001, a group named Ko Kakou Puuhonua was formed at Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex; and
WHEREAS, in 2003, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation helped the Native Hawaiian Spirituality and Culture Group file a lawsuit that led to a legal settlement that acknowledged the right of native Hawaiians to celebrate makahiki and hold weekly meetings at Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Oklahoma; and
WHEREAS, in 2005, a makahiki celebration was held for the first time at the Oahu Community Correctional Center; and
WHEREAS, on June 15, 2012, Governor Neil Abercrombie signed Act 117, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, which sought to "[r]educe recidivism, prevent crime, and ensure long-term positive change by developing a plan to create a wellness center that reestablishes highly recognized native Hawaiian cultural practices to restore the overall well-being of persons, families, and the native Hawaiian community"; and
WHEREAS, instituting a system of faith pods, a type of puuhonua based on kapu aloha, in Hawaii's correctional facilities will achieve Act 117's goals of reducing recidivism and preventing crime; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Public Safety is urged to allow prisoners, or paahao, to establish faith pods within each correctional facility in the State and use these faith pods to reestablish recognized native Hawaiian cultural practices and restore the overall well-being of persons, families, and the native Hawaiian community; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and Director of Public Safety.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Department of Public Safety; Correctional Facilities; Faith Pods