Bill Text: HI HR32 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Resolution 32 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Requesting The Department Of Public Safety To Allow Faith Pods Based On Kapu Aloha To Be Established Within Each Correctional Center.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-24 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on JHA with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0). [HR32 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2021-HR32-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	32
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

Requesting the department of public safety to allow faith pods based on kapu aloha to be established within each correctional center.

WHEREAS, native Hawaiians are severely overrepresented in the State's prison population and have a much higher recidivism rate than non-Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, Pu�uhonua is defined as "a place of refuge, sanctuary, asylum, place of peace and safety" and is based on Hawaiian cultural practices that can help the native Hawaiian community and the community at-large; and

WHEREAS, Pu�uhonua is a decentralized wellness center that can act as an alternative to building more prisons in the State and is based on healing inhabitants and eventually returning them back to the community; and

WHEREAS, there is a resurgence of Hawaiian cultural practices and an increased focus on the importance of maintaining Hawaiian cultural practices; and

WHEREAS, non-violence has always been key to Hawaiians, as represented in the Hawaiian cultural practice of kapu aloha; and

WHEREAS, incarcerated individuals, or pa�ahao, have initiated Hawaiian cultural programs within different correctional systems known as "faith pods" throughout the nation to help promote safe spaces to heal and regain their identity as Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, Act 117, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, 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, there have been many attempts to improve the correctional system in the State but none has provided Hawaiians with the opportunity to practice native Hawaiian cultural practices; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, that the Department of Public Safety is requested to allow "faith pods" based upon kapu aloha to be established within each correctional center in the State to allow incarcerated individuals a choice to reestablish recognized native Hawaiian cultural practices to restore the overall well-being of the Hawaiian community; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Public Safety and Chairperson of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs board of trustees.