STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3558

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 31

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 31 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE WOMEN'S CORRECTIONS IMPLEMENTATION COMMISSION TO DEVELOP A STRATEGY AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF WOMEN INCARCERATED AT THE WOMEN'S COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL CENTER BY TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Women's Corrections Implementation Commission to develop a strategy and make recommendations to reduce the number of women incarcerated at the Women's Community Center by twenty-five percent over the next five years.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Criminal Justice Research Institute, Women's Prison Project, Hawaiʻi Friends of Restorative Justice, and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that there has been little progress diverting nonviolent women offenders from prison as the recidivism rate remains at fifty percent and the population at the Women's Community Correctional Center remains at approximately two hundred, a nine hundred fifty percent increase since 1978. Your Committee further finds that the lack of progress diverting women from the criminal justice system can be traced to two failings: the lack of a definite, measurable goal by which to reduce the number of incarcerated women and a lack of resources allocated to proven community-based rehabilitative programs. Your Committee concludes that in order to reduce the recidivism rate for women, a comprehensive strategy needs to be developed by the Women's Corrections Implementation Commission.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 31, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 31, S.D. 1.

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

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GLENN WAKAI, Chair