STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1201

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     H.B. No. 451

        H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 451, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Amend Act 125, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, to extend the time to expend appropriations for the establishment of a pilot visitation and family resource center at Waiawa Correctional Facility on Oahu;

 

     (2)  Make conforming amendments related to the establishment of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; and

 

     (3)  Appropriate additional funds to implement the pilot visitation and family resource center at Waiawa Correctional Facility on Oahu.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Department of Human Services, Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission, Papa Ola Lokahi, Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!, Hawaii Youth Services Network, Hawaii Ohana Support Network, Community Alliance on Prisons, Blueprint for Change, and nine individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that families play a crucial role in the rehabilitation of inmates.  It is difficult for families to have a meaningful reconnection unless the families are allowed to have face-to-face contact in a suitable setting.  Your Committee believes that the Waiawa Correctional Facility is an appropriate facility for a pilot visitation and family resource center because most of its inmates are transferred from the Halawa Correctional Facility or the Saguaro Correctional Facility in Arizona, where there is precious little opportunity for face-to-face interaction between inmate fathers and their children.  Moreover, the challenges facing children of the incarcerated are well-documented.  This measure provides necessary resources to help children deal with the trauma caused by parental incarceration and assist in the rehabilitation of inmate parents.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 451, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

 

 

 

________________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair