Report Title:

Prisons; Jails; Correctional Facilities; Construction

 

Description:

Directs the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Planning to plan and design the construction and operation of a new minimum-security facility at a site with appropriate access to courts, public transportation, and other support services, and plan for additional community-custody beds at Oahu Community Correctional Center.  (HB2685 HD1)

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2685

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008

H.D. 1

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.  The legislature finds that Hawaii's correctional system is bursting at the seams with a swelling inmate population.  Since 1995, the department of public safety has been transporting prisoners to facilities in Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Minnesota, Arizona, and Tennessee.  As of January 7, 2008, there were 2,059 Hawaii inmates housed at out-of-state contracted correctional facilities.  That number is more than half of Hawaii's prison population.  Although sending Hawaii inmates away to other states is a temporary solution, the State cannot afford to transport inmates to mainland facilities indefinitely.

     According to the department of public safety's 2006 annual report, 48 per cent of male inmates and 61 per cent of female inmates are classified as minimum-security risk or are considered community-custody.  These inmates qualify to be housed at a minimum-security prison or be supervised in the community.  However, due to budget constraints, the State has only two minimum-security prisons, Waiawa correctional facility on Oahu and Kulani correctional facility on the island of Hawaii.  Both Waiawa and Kulani often exceed their operational capacity.

     The legislature further finds that in 2001, the federal Bureau of Prisons opened a 325,000-square-foot, $63,000,000 detention center at 351 Elliot Street on the island of Oahu.  Constructed by Dick Pacific Construction and located on the west side of the Honolulu international airport, the Federal Detention Center has a capacity of 670 beds on five levels of a seven-floor facility.  In addition, most of the beds can be converted to double bunks to increase capacity.

     The Honolulu Federal Detention Center has integrated state-of-the-art surveillance and management technologies, allowing a single worker to monitor a wing of 64 beds, and staff to "quick freeze" individually packed meals up to 48 hours in advance for refrigeration and later reheating and serving.

     Furthermore, because of its location within urban Honolulu, high visibility from the H-1 freeway, local roads nearby, and air traffic landing and taking off within its vicinity, the Honolulu Federal Detention Center was designed to meet all federal correctional facility standards without looking like a prison.  It was also designed to accommodate a wide variety of uses, including inmate cells, office areas, medical facilities, recreational areas, storage rooms, food preparation areas, laundry, mechanical rooms, security, and communications.

     The entire center consists of two buildings: a twelve-story main tower with a two-story administration base and a single-story warehouse and receiving building.  The center also includes a 182-stall parking area fronting the main tower.

     The structures sit atop a coral ledge with controlled low-strength material used to fill weak spots to ensure adequate support, a technique which shortened the building foundation schedule.  A total of 25,000 cubic yards of cast-in-place and precast concrete was used on the project.

     Upon its opening in 2001, the Honolulu Federal Detention Center had set aside approximately 200 beds for state pretrial inmates as a means of easing overcrowding at the Oahu community correctional facility.  The State currently has 265 Hawaii pretrial detainees at the Federal Detention Center.

     According to the department of public safety, Hawaii's prison population has grown significantly.  The table below reflects the growth of Hawaii's inmate population from 1980 to 2005.


          Year           Inmate Population

          1980                 926

          1985               2,045

          1990               2,625

          1995               3,583

          2000               5,127

          2005               6,092

     The purpose of this Act is to direct the department of public safety and the office of planning to plan and design the construction and operation of a new minimum-security facility at a site with appropriate access to courts, public transportation, and other support services, similar to the facilities of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center, to manage the continued growth of Hawaii's inmate population.

     SECTION 2.  The department of public safety and the office of planning shall plan and design the construction and operation of a new minimum-security facility at a site with appropriate access to courts, public transportation, and other support services, similar to the facilities of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.  The department of public safety shall consider sites that:

(1)  Allow vertical construction, including sites at the Honolulu international airport, existing correctional facilities, and state lands in downtown Honolulu; and

(2)  Allow for additional community-custody beds at Oahu community correctional center.

     SECTION 3.  The department of public safety shall submit a status report to the legislature not later than twenty days before the convening of the regular session of 2009, setting forth the results and recommendations of the plan, including but not limited to:

(1)  Estimated costs for permitting, detailing each federal, state, and county permit, including any environmental assessment and environmental impact statement;

(2)  Estimated costs associated with acquisition of a site or sites;

(3)  Estimated costs for site preparation and, more specifically, infrastructure;

(4)  Estimated bed count and parking count on site; and

(5)  Estimated costs of upgrading, renovating, or replacing the Oahu community correctional center to obtain community-based bed space.

     SECTION 4.  The director of finance is authorized to issue general obligation bonds in the sum of $        or so much thereof as may be necessary and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary is appropriated for fiscal year 2008-2009 to:

(1)  Plan and design a minimum-security correctional facility at a site with appropriate access to courts, public transportation, and other support services; and

(2)  Plan for additional community-custody beds at Oahu community correctional center.

     SECTION 5.  The appropriation made for the capital improvement project authorized by this Act shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal biennium for which the appropriation is made; provided that all moneys from the appropriation unencumbered as of June 30, 2010, shall lapse as of that date.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of public safety for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2008.