THE SENATE                           S.R. NO.              14
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  RESOLUTION
  REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO PROVIDE GENDER
    SPECIFIC AND COMMUNITY BASED SERVICES FOR WOMEN OFFENDERS.



 1        WHEREAS, in recent years the number of incarcerated women
 2   has increased at an alarming rate; while the male prison
 3   population doubled between 1985 and 1995, the female population
 4   tripled, largely due to harsh sentencing that incarcerates
 5   female non-violent first time drug offenders; and
 6   
 7        WHEREAS, research establishes that women in prison have
 8   different needs than male inmates, resulting in part from
 9   female offenders' disproportionate victimization from sexual or
10   physical abuse and their responsibility for children; women
11   offenders are more likely to be addicted to drugs, have mental
12   illness, and to have been unemployed before incarceration than
13   men; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, because the number of women in the total prison
16   population is small, their needs are often overlooked in the
17   allocating of resources and providing of services; research
18   indicates that correctional strategies that are gender specific
19   and community based are required to give women offenders the
20   life skills they need to get out of the criminal justice system
21   and to make positive healthy choices for themselves and their
22   families; and
23   
24        WHEREAS, women offenders need gender specific services
25   that address substance abuse, family relationships, vocational
26   education and work, and prior victimization and domestic
27   violence; they also need transitional housing and aftercare
28   services to help them adjust to living in the community and
29   reuniting with their children; and
30   
31        WHEREAS, for children, the loss of contact with their
32   mother is the most devastating effect of her incarceration;
33   half of these children never visit their mothers in prison and
34   the other half visit infrequently, with geographical proximity
35   being the biggest barrier to visitation; and
36   
37        WHEREAS, because regular visits are the best indicator of
38   families' successful reunification after release, it is
39   critical that female inmates be incarcerated close to children
40   and family; and
41   

 
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 1        WHEREAS, nearly one-third of Hawaii's female inmates are
 2   incarcerated on the mainland, making visitation with family and
 3   children difficult; and
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, other problems associated with women offenders in
 6   Hawaii include a lack of female correctional officers;
 7   underservice by the therapeutic community; no drug court on
 8   neighbor islands; decreasing availability of rehabilitation
 9   programs, a lack of classification system, and little gender
10   specific programming; now, therefore,
11   
12        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
13   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2000, that this body
14   supports gender equity in correctional programs, and recognizes
15   that the needs of incarcerated women are different from those
16   of men and require approaches tailored to their specific
17   characteristics and situations; and
18   
19        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Public
20   Safety is requested to develop and implement gender specific
21   and community based programs for women offenders to achieve
22   gender equity in correctional programming.  To provide women
23   offenders the same range of opportunities as men and ensure
24   that women's needs are met to the same extent as male
25   offenders, this programming is requested to include:
26   
27        (1)  Program models designed to address women's needs;
28   
29        (2)  Individualized case management to help women
30             offenders set and achieve goals;
31   
32        (3)  Skills development workshops and exercise;
33   
34        (4)  Family focused programming;
35   
36        (5)  Peer support and the development of peer networks;
37   
38        (6)  Highly skilled staff experienced in working with
39             women and their concerns;
40   
41        (7)  Formal recognition of participant achievement;
42   
43        (8)  Ongoing attention to building community based
44             support; and
45   

 
 
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 1        (9)  Geographical proximity to children and family;
 2   
 3   and
 4   
 5        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Public Safety
 6   is requested to implement programs meeting the needs of women
 7   offenders as soon as possible, using existing resources; and
 8   
 9        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that to the extent full
10   implementation using existing resources is not possible, the
11   Director of Public Safety is requested to report detailing what
12   is needed for implementation of programs to achieve gender
13   equity to the Legislature twenty days before the convening of
14   the Regular Session of 2001; and
15   
16        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this
17   Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Public Safety. 
18 
19 
20                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________