Bill Text: HI SR43 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Resolution 43 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Department of Public Safety; Structured Community Placement Programs

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-06 - The committee on WAM has deleted the measure from decision making scheduled on 04-08-15 9:00AM in conference room 211. [SR43 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2015-SR43-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	43
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

Encouraging the department of public safety to continue and expand its structured community placement programs to assist in transitioning formerly incarcerated female inmates back into society.

WHEREAS, structured community placement programs that effectively assist formerly incarcerated persons in their transition back into society are needed to reduce incarceration costs and address the problems associated with reentry and the high rate of recidivism; and

WHEREAS, recent data from the Justice Reinvestment Initiative indicates that incarceration is not an effective method for rehabilitating substance abuse addictions, and community-based substance treatment programs are more effective than in-prison treatments; and

WHEREAS, a majority of female offenders in the State commit non-violent crimes and do not pose a threat to the community; and

WHEREAS, females offenders who become repeat offenders due to substance abuse addiction greatly cost the public and the State; and

WHEREAS, structured community placement programs help non-violent female offenders break the cycle of substance abuse, crime, and incarceration because many female offenders return to incarceration if their drug or alcohol dependencies are not treated and their recovery is not supported during their transition; and

WHEREAS, the majority of incarcerated female offenders are mothers of minor children, and fragmented families often lead to intergeneration problems, as evidenced by mothers and daughters being incarcerated together at the Women's Community Correctional Center; and

WHEREAS, structured community placement programs create an integrated and seamless re-socialization and reentry process to help formerly incarcerated females adjust to greater independence as they transition and reunite with their children and families; and

WHEREAS, an Oahu-based program has experience in successfully transitioning formerly incarcerated female offenders through structured community placement; and

WHEREAS, as of November 3, 2014, there were six hundred sixty-five women under the care and custody of the Department of Public Safety; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Public Safety reported that the cost of incarceration per inmate is $134 per day compared to $50 per day in a structured community placement program; and

WHEREAS, each female transferred from incarceration to a structured community placement program would provide great cost savings to the Department of Public Safety; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, that this body encourages the Department of Public Safety to continue and expand its structured community placement programs to assist in transitioning formerly incarcerated female inmates back into society; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Public Safety and the Auditor.