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THE SENATE                           S.R. NO.              
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  RESOLUTION
  REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU TO DETERMINE THE
    LIKELY SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF SITING A PRISON
    FACILITY ON THE ISLAND OF HAWAII.



 1        WHEREAS, correctional facilities planning in Hawaii has
 2   been repeatedly and effectively stymied by community resistance
 3   and legislative inaction.  This resistance and inaction are
 4   understandable because the siting of prisons next to existing
 5   neighborhoods is associated with only negative social and
 6   economic impacts--never positive benefits; and
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, efforts to relocate the Oahu Community
 9   Correctional Center or OCCC, formerly Hawaii State Prison and
10   before that Oahu Prison, to a more appropriate site were
11   repeatedly rejected by the Legislature during the 1960's.  As a
12   result, OCCC sits in roughly the same location that it did more
13   than one hundred years ago--right in the middle of Iwilei; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, the difficulties of siting and building new
16   correctional facilities are clear--no one wants a prison with
17   violent criminals built in their backyard.  Consequently, the
18   renovation and expansion of existing facilities was the primary
19   means of adding new bed spaces to the Hawaii prison system for
20   many years; and
21   
22        WHEREAS, there is a finite physical limit to the expansion
23   of existing facilities.  In recent years, only one large
24   correctional facility was built completely offsite of an
25   existing facility:  Waiawa correctional facility, which is
26   prevented from housing sex offenders by agreement with the
27   surrounding communities; and
28   
29        WHEREAS, only a community that is informed and that
30   understands the likely social and economic impacts of building
31   a prison in its backyard can enter into good faith negotiations
32   with the State to effectively mitigate any negative impacts
33   and, when necessary, to fairly compensate the community for any
34   negative impacts that cannot be adequately mitigated; and
35   
36        WHEREAS, communities make more willing partners when they
37   are treated as equals and when projects such as a correctional
38   facility are planned from the beginning with them rather than

 
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                                  S.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   imposed at the end upon them.  Part of being treated as an
 2   equal involves being informed about the likely social and
 3   economic impacts of building a prison in the neighborhood; and
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, if a facility is to be built in Hawaii County,
 6   the trust and cooperation of the Big Island community is needed
 7   to produce a win-win situation for a state which desperately
 8   needs to alleviate prison overcrowding; now, therefore,
 9   
10        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
11   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2000, that the
12   Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to conduct a study to
13   determine the likely social and economic impacts of siting a
14   prison facility on the island of Hawaii, using specific
15   locations identified by the Department of Public Safety; and
16   
17        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Bureau is also requested
18   to summarize any reliable literature documenting the social and
19   economic impacts of siting prison facilities near existing
20   communities throughout the continental United States; and
21   
22        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Bureau is requested to
23   submit its findings to the Legislature not less than twenty
24   days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2001; and
25   
26        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
27   Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Legislative
28   Reference Bureau, the Director of the Department of Public
29   Safety, the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, and the Chairperson
30   of the Hawaii County Council.
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34                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________