THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	210
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

urging the department of public safety and its successor agency, the department of corrections and rehabilitation, to acquire the Honolulu federal detention center and requesting Hawaii's congressional delegation to assist in negotiating with the federal government for the acquisition of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

WHEREAS, in 2001, the federal Bureau of Prisons opened the Honolulu Federal Detention Center, located west of Daniel K. Inouye International Airport; and

WHEREAS, the Honolulu Federal Detention Center houses male and female federal pre-trial detainees, sentenced felons who have nearly completed their prison terms, and Hawaii inmates who are awaiting trial in state court, at an occupancy rate far below the facility's potential capacity of one thousand two hundred beds; and

WHEREAS, the Honolulu Federal Detention Center currently houses approximately four hundred inmates, approximately one hundred seventy of whom are state detainees, in an efficient vertical design structure that requires fewer workers to manage detainees than antiquated state facilities; and

WHEREAS, the Honolulu Federal Detention Center also includes integrated state-of-the-art surveillance and management technologies, and includes cells, office areas, medical facilities, recreational areas, storage rooms, food preparation areas, laundry areas, mechanical rooms, security systems, and communications systems; and

WHEREAS, the State has struggled for years to find additional bed capacity for its overcrowded jails and prisons, which were designed to hold a combined total of 2,491 inmates but currently hold approximately 5,161 inmates; and

WHEREAS, replacing or refurbishing state prisons and jails to meet the current demand for adequate space and services would cost an estimated $1,500,000,000 to $2,000,000,000; and

WHEREAS, since June 2001, the State has leased bed space at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center to relieve jail overcrowding; and

WHEREAS, in September 2019, Honolulu Federal Detention Center housed one hundred eighty-six male and female inmates under the Department of Public Safety's jurisdiction at a daily cost of $129.48 per inmate; and

WHEREAS, State acquisition of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center will expand the bed capacity of the Department of Public Safety, help alleviate overcrowding at the Oahu Community Correctional Center and the State's other jails and prisons, and eliminate the immediate burden of building a new state jail; and

WHEREAS, in 2016, House Resolution No. 31 requested Hawaii's congressional delegation to assist the State in negotiating with the federal government for the acquisition of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the Department of Public Safety and its successor agency, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, is urged to acquire the Honolulu Federal Detention Center; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii's congressional delegation is requested to assist the State in negotiating with the federal government for the acquisition of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that parties to the negotiations are requested to consider continued housing of federal pre-trial detainees and federal inmates serving brief sentences at the facility, under terms favorable to the federal Bureau of Prisons, as a condition of the State's acquisition of the facility; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, Director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, and Director of Public Safety.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Honolulu Federal Detention Center; Department of Public Safety; Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation