I went looking for testimony this morning on SB2533, which I had read earlier in the week. I couldn’t remember the bill number, so instead did a text search for relevant terms. Nothing turned up. Finally I took word that would have to be found: “hawaii”
Here’s the system’s response:
![[text]](http://ilind.net/images_2010/search.jpg)
Conclusion: The text search function isn’t functioning, at least not this morning.
As I kept looking, it turns out more parts of the legislative system seem to be out of order. From the status page of SB2533, links to testimony and committee reports aren’t working, although I can find the committee report by going directly to the detailed document directories. Same thing with testimony.
It’s a good thing that there’s some redundancy built into the system.
In any case, I tracked down the available testimony on SB2533 in the document directories and found what I was looking for–disturbing section allegations buried in a section of the ACLU’s testimony.
The bill calls for an audit of the state’s contracts with the Corrections Corporation of America and the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.
ACLU provided testimony regarding conditions of CCA facilities, then went on to related issues. This section caught my attention.
We have also received several reports suggesting that CCA may be keeping inmates longer than necessary; because Hawaii pays CCA per inmate per day of incarceration, the longer inmates are held, he more money CCA receives. For example, we have received several complaints of inmates being granted parole by the Hawaii Paroling Authority, then being held for four months or more by CCA (based on vague and unsubstantiated reasons for ignoring the Paroling Authority’s orders). We have also received numerous reports that CCA-Saguaro inmates have been written up for spurious rule infractions shortly before their parole eligibility dates–thus making them ineligible for parole pursuant to Hawaii Paroling Authority’s rules–even though these inmates have never before received a write-up. One month of additional incarceration at CCA can easily cost the State and the taxpayers nearly $2,000–Money that is sorely needed for other programs like drug rehabilitation, mental health care, and education–and the Legislature need not (and should not) allow these reports to be ignored.
It definitely deserves follow-up.
And if you’re looking for information on human needs in this budget climate, check out the grant-in-aid applications considered at a joint Finance/Ways and Means hearing yesterday.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Check out SB 2534 which addresses delayed release on bail for those persons held at places like OCCC and MCCC due to our courts being closed and no agency willing to accept bail. These cumulative days of detention for those persons already determined bailable and who want to bail out cost money too. SB 2534 attempts to fix this but take note of the Corrections Division testimony against SB 2534 and against any relief or speeding up of bail release. Read about how persons at OCCC cannot even pay their own bail without the third party going to the court house and back. And if you go to Honolulu district court the fiscal cashier hands the person paying the bail a paper with phone numbers on it requiring them to phone OCCC to obtain the needed police report numbers as a condition of paying the fiscal officer the bail money. Anyone ever tried phoning an ACO at OCCC for information lately while standing in the courthouse hallway? I have. Why the court would require a person paying bail to do more than pay the money is perplexing and SB 2534 address this issue. After all the correction division holds persons in custody by order of the court and not vice-versa. Yet, Honolulu district court wants persons paying cash bail to tell them why they are paying bail instead of the court telling the person paying bail how much money they need to pay for a bail release at OCCC. In other words, zero coordination between Honolulu district court and OCCC. Any person wanting to bail a person out of OCCC on a minor traffic ticket from Eva Court, Kaneohe Court or Honolulu District Court will like SB 2534 because it tells OCCC to provide a means for inmates that have the money to pay their own bail. Hopefully OCCC will tell the pretrial defendant how much money they need to pay to bail out and won’t make them call the court….
We’re repeatedly told that we are saving a ton of money by sending these prisoners to the mainland. What is CCA charging, per prisoner, per day — comparative to what it costs to house that inmate here? Meanwhile, theres this ‘gaming the system’ going so that, at the end of the day, does it cost just as much as if we had kept them here?
CCA cannot be acting alone in this. Who is the person in charge of monitoring the CCA contract? Let that person come to the table and answer these hard questions. Is there a reason they are doing this? If so, tell us.
Then someone should get all the inmates and their extended lengths of stay with CCA to calculate how much more the State of Hawaii has been charged and get a refund from CCA. Can we bet its at least $2m, just enough to reopen Kulani?
Ian, when was the last time anyone checked CCA’s political contributions around town?