SR 18: requesting the department of corrections and rehabilitation to collaborate with the department of transportation to use inmate work furlough programs for state roadway and highway maintenance.

SENATE RESOLUTION

requesting the department of corrections and rehabilitation to collaborate with the department of transportation to use inmate work furlough programs for state roadway and highway maintenance.

     WHEREAS, an enormous factor in an inmate's rehabilitation is the inmate's ability to access work preparation and career development programs; and

     WHEREAS, inmates often encounter difficulties when reentering society upon release due to the lack of adequate support programs, including but not limited to inmate work furlough and reentry programs; and

     WHEREAS, these difficulties often lead to high rates of recidivism, or the tendency of individuals to reoffend or recommit crimes even after release from incarceration; and

     WHEREAS, according to a study that was conducted by a task force on prison reform established pursuant to H.C.R. No. 85, H.D. 2, S.D. 1 (2016), Hawaii faces a recidivism rate of over fifty percent; and

     WHEREAS, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has implemented work furlough programs across the State with the intention of enhancing the systemic reorientation process for inmates who pose minimal risk to local communities but not necessarily for the risk to recidivate; and

     WHEREAS, the inmate work furlough programs provide eligible inmates with an opportunity to actively job seek, establish financial stability, develop social connections, and find appropriate housing prior to release from incarceration; and

     WHEREAS, it is critical for highway maintenance, whether pothole management or vegetation control, to have a robust workforce in order to sustain safer roadways; and

     WHEREAS, providing the Department of Transportation with additional workforce through the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's inmate workforce furlough programs is a reliable avenue to improve the State's roadways and highways while providing inmates access to beneficial work that would assist their reentry into society upon release from incarceration; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2025, that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is requested to collaborate with the Department of Transportation to use inmate work furlough programs for state roadway and highway maintenance; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Director of Transportation.

Report Title: 

DCR; DOT; Work Furlough Program; Prisons; Highway Maintenance

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1464

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.R. No. 18

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.R. No. 18 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION TO COLLABORATE WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO USE INMATE WORK FURLOUGH PROGRAMS FOR STATE ROADWAY AND HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to collaborate with the Department of Transportation to use inmate work furlough programs for state roadway and highway maintenance.  

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of Transportation, Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission, and one individual.

     Your Committees find that inmate work furlough programs provide meaningful opportunities for incarcerated individuals to learn trade skills and gain experience that will assist them in their transition back into society by facilitating their ability to find employment upon release.  Currently, the Department of Transportation is the largest employer of inmate labor relating to state roadway and highway maintenance.  This resolution requests the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to collaborate with the Department of Transportation to provide additional inmate workforce opportunities for the purpose of enhancing and maintaining state roadways and highways.  Your Committees further find that this request supports both the incarcerated population and the general public by continuing the use of inmate work furlough programs to build up incarcerated individuals' job prospects for post-prison life and by supplying necessary labor to maintain the public thoroughfares that erode from daily use. 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Transportation and Culture and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 18 and recommend its adoption.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Transportation and Culture and the Arts,