STAND. COM. REP. NO.281

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 877

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 877 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CORRECTIONS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require that female offenders are provided with substantially the same range and quality of programs offered to similarly situated male offenders.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, the Hawaii Youth Services Network, Hale `Opio Kaua`i, Inc., the Community Alliance on Prisons, Government Efficiency Teams, Inc., two employees from T.J. Mahoney & Associates, three University of Hawaii graduate students, five T.J. Mahoney residents, and a concerned citizen. The Office of Youth Services supported the intent of the bill. Testimony opposing the measure was received from the Department of Public Safety.

Your Committee finds that since 1972, Hawaii's female offender population has risen almost six hundred percent. The majority are nonviolent offenders incarcerated on drug and property offenses. Sixty percent are mothers and many of these are the heads of their families.

Your Committee further finds that women inmates have different needs than male inmates stemming in part from being sexually or physically abused. Women also are often responsible for children. Research has proven that gender-responsive programming is an effective tool in addressing issues specific to women. Female offenders currently experience program disparities while incarcerated as compared to their male counterparts.

Your Committee amended section three of the bill to make the list of program models non-inclusive by inserting the words "but not be limited to."

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 877, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 877, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and Human Services,

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SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

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COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair