Bill Text: HI HCR43 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Public Safety To Allow Prisoners To Establish Faith Pods In All Correctional Facilities In The State.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - This measure has been deleted from the meeting scheduled on Wednesday 03-18-20 10:30AM in conference room 430. [HCR43 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-HCR43-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	43
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the department of public safety to allow prisoners to establish faith pods in all correctional facilities in the state.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, as evidenced by the demonstrations on Mauna Kea and elsewhere, a resurgence of the Hawaiian renaissance is currently taking place; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaiian renaissance movement uses a non-violent code of conduct known as kapu aloha; and

 

     WHEREAS, many attempts have been made over the years to improve the State's correctional system; and

 

     WHEREAS, puuhonua are traditional Hawaiian "safe places" where native Hawaiians could be healed before returning to their respective communities; and

 

     WHEREAS, throughout the nation, prisoners, or paahao, have established programs to create puuhonua for themselves to heal and regain their identity as kanaka maoli; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1998, a native Hawaiian group led by Euel Ray Kaleihau Kamauu formed Puuhonua O Halawa, a clean and sober living environment at Halawa Correctional Facility; and

 

     WHEREAS, also in 1998, a native Hawaiian group led by Kaleihau Kamauu formed a group called Ko Kakou Puuhonua at Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2001, a group named Ko Kakou Puuhonua was formed at Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2003, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation helped the Native Hawaiian Spirituality and Culture Group file a lawsuit that led to a legal settlement that acknowledged the right of native Hawaiians to celebrate makahiki and hold weekly meetings at Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Oklahoma; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2005, a makahiki celebration was held for the first time at the Oahu Community Correctional Center; and

 

     WHEREAS, on June 15, 2012, Governor Neil Abercrombie signed Act 117, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, which sought to "[r]educe recidivism, prevent crime, and ensure long-term positive change by developing a plan to create a wellness center that reestablishes highly recognized native Hawaiian cultural practices to restore the overall well-being of persons, families, and the native Hawaiian community"; and

 

     WHEREAS, instituting a system of faith pods, a type of puuhonua based on kapu aloha, in Hawaii's correctional facilities will achieve Act 117's goals of reducing recidivism and preventing crime; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Public Safety is urged to allow prisoners, or paahao, to establish faith pods within each correctional facility in the State and use these faith pods to reestablish recognized native Hawaiian cultural practices and restore the overall well-being of persons, families, and the native Hawaiian community; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and Director of Public Safety.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Department of Public Safety; Correctional Facilities; Faith Pods