THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	271
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to public safety.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that, in 2001, the federal Bureau of Prisons opened the Honolulu Federal Detention Center. Located on the west side of the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, 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.

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. The 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.

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. 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.

Since June 2001, the State has leased bed space at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center to relieve jail overcrowding. In September 2019, it 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.

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.

The legislature further finds that there has long been interest in obtaining the Honolulu Federal Detention Center. In 2016, House Concurrent 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.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds for the purchase of the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2023-2024 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024-2025 to purchase the Honolulu Federal Detention Center for the purpose of housing state detainees and inmates, relieving overcrowding at state jails and prisons, and eliminating the financial costs of leasing bed space for state inmates at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of public safety or its successor agency, the department of corrections and rehabilitation, as the case may be, for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2023.

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Public Safety; Corrections; Honolulu Federal Detention Center; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates funds to purchase the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.