Thursday, November 21, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, September 13, 2019
ACLU Hawaii Announces Plan to Let Lots and Lots of Criminals out of Jail
By News Release @ 8:12 PM :: 4205 Views :: Judiciary, Law Enforcement

Blueprint for Smart Justice Hawai‘i

News Release from Hawai’i ACLU, September 12, 2019

Hawai`i has 5,630 people in prison.

We can reduce that number.

Like most states, Hawaii’s prison population has exploded in recent decades.

Between 1980 and its peak in 2005, the number of people incarcerated in Hawaii’s unified corrections system rose by 524 percent. While a slight decline followed, there were still 5,630 people incarcerated under the jurisdiction of the Hawai`i Department of Public Safety (PSD) in 2017. Many of Hawaii’s correctional facilities struggle with overcrowding, so much so that1,459 people under the PSD’s jurisdiction were serving their sentences in a private prison in Arizona as of November 2018.

Unsurprisingly, Hawaii’s incarceration crisis has had a particularly severe impact on people of color, especially Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. In 2018, this group made up 23 percent of adults in the state, but a reported 47 percent of people incarcerated under Hawai`i’s jurisdiction that year. Black communities in Hawai`i are also disproportionately impacted by incarceration. Though just 3 percent of adults in Hawai`i were Black in 2018, PSD reported that 5 percent of people incarcerated under the state’s jurisdiction that year were Black. Further, incarceration is on the rise among Hawaiian women. Between 1990 and 2017, the number of women incarcerated in the state grew by 265 percent.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Hawai`i can dramatically reduce its incarcerated population by implementing just a few sensible reforms:

  • Further investing in alternatives to incarceration, such as the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program.
  • Reducing parole and probation revocations.
  • Ending the expansion of the criminal code and supporting decriminalization.
  • Prioritizing pretrial justice reform and ending Hawaii’s overreliance on cash bail.
  • Eliminating mandatory minimum sentences.

For more information, along with a detailed breakdown of Hawaii’s incarcerated population and the reforms needed to reduce it, click here.

CB: ACLU: Hawaii Needs Fewer People In Prison, More Treatment Programs 

KITV: ACLU report: Hawaii needs more programs to help reduce number of people behind bars 

CB: New Ideas For Transforming Hawaii’s Prisons

Meanwhile in Today’s News: Soft on Crime: Convicted Killer Barricades himself, Shoots it out with Police Every Time he is Released from Prison

And just last Month: Ebbtide Waikiki: Fullard-Leo Family Fights Pimps for Control of Hotel (literally)

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii