Report Title:

Public Safety; Freedom of Information; Out-of-State Prisons

 

Description:

Requires privately owned prisons or out-of-state detention facilities holding prisoners under a contract with the State to follow state freedom of information laws pursuant to chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

232

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

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 all prisons and correctional systems paid for with public moneys need accountability and transparency.  In this time of fiscal crisis, Hawaii cannot afford correctional facilities that do not work.

     The legislature also finds that since 1995, Hawaii has transferred prisoners to private prisons in the continental United States to ease overcrowding in Hawaii state prisons.  Currently, Hawaii contracts with one vendor, Corrections Corporation of America, to house and provide services for all prisoners transferred out of the State, except for approximately twelve individuals transferred to other prisons under the Interstate Compact Act.

     Several Hawaii inmates have died at prisons operated or managed by Corrections Corporation of America -- a Hawaii woman died at Otter Creek Correctional Center in December 2005, and the most recent deaths were at Saguaro Correctional Facility, where there have been two more deaths since August of 2008.  The legislature finds that despite the more than $50,000,000 in public funds expended annually for the contracts with these facilities, information concerning the enforcement of these contracts has not been accessible to the public.

     The legislature notes that in July 2008, Tennessee judge chancellor Claudia Bonnyman ruled that Corrections Corporation of America was a "functional equivalent" to a governmental entity because its operation of jails and prisons is an essential governmental function and most of its revenues are taxpayer-funded.  She ruled that Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America must follow the state's public records laws regarding state prisons, open relevant Corrections Corporation of America's files for public viewing, and make all relevant Corrections Corporation of America's records available for inspection during business hours.  She also ruled that Corrections Corporation of America is not exempt from public records laws because of court orders or seals.

     The purpose of this Act is to provide accountability and transparency to the public regarding the services provided by any vendor or state to house Hawaii prisoners.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 353, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§353‑    Contracts with out-of-state detention facilities; freedom of information requirement.  (a)  Contracts made directly between the State and a nongovernmental entity or through interstate compacts that provide for the incarceration or detention of state prisoners or detainees in a privately owned prison or other out-of-state detention facility shall:

     (1)  Require the state and contractor to provide access to the same information as is required of the department of public safety in chapter 92F; and

     (2)  Include the same remedies for the failure of contractors to comply with this chapter as are provided in chapter 92F for the failure of government agencies to comply with this chapter; provided that these remedies shall not be available for information that is entitled to protection pursuant to section 92F-13 or for information that is a trade secret as provided in section 482B-2.

     (b)  For purposes of this section, "privately owned prison" and "other out-of-state detention facility" mean any privately owned prison or other out-of-state detention facility that incarcerates or detains prisoners or detainees pursuant to a contract with the State."

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2009.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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