HUMANIZE NOT CRIMINALIZE

We call upon our elected and appointed officials, the department of public safety, and the judiciary to:

  1. Acknowledge the research and Hawai`i data proving incarceration to be the most expensive and the least effective sanction to address and reduce wrongdoing in our communities.
  2. Acknowledge and understand the research that makes clear that imprisoning a person, for even a few days, creates life-long detrimental impacts upon to that person, his or her family, and the community-at-large.
  3.  Acknowledge that the research on imprisoning misdemeanants has clearly illustrated that jailing low-level lawbreakers is the gateway to increased crime and increased mass incarceration.
  4.   Support policies that are based on sound research, evidence-based practices, and inclusive, deliberative debate.
  5. Support a diverse array of alternatives to incarceration for low-level lawbreakers.
  6.  Refrain from any building of new jail or prison facilities.
  7. Support the work of the of the HCR 85 Task Force to a create a roadmap for reforming our correctional system and we call for policymakers and the administration to make a plan to carefully review and implement the recommendations.
  8. Implement alternatives to money bail for those who without the financial resources to pay their bail.
  9. Provide increased drug rehabilitation services and other mental health service programs to those arrested, to those awaiting trial, and to those who are incarcerated to allow for each individual to receive the level of care recommended by mental health professionals in the community (not employed by the Department of Public Safety).
  10. Offer and provide literacy education which addresses learning disabilities, high school equivalency exam education, and college courses online, mainstreamed with other community members, for those who are arrested, awaiting trial or incarcerated.
  11. Offer and provide financial literacy and education programs to those who are low-income or otherwise have financial stress who are arrested, awaiting trial or incarcerated, to provide practical information, tools, skills, and support designed to insure their basic needs are met (food, shelter, communication, transportation, health-care), to enhance their income-management skills and their income potential.
  12.  Offer and provide re-entry support for those who are exiting jail or prison to provide practical information, tools, skills, and emotional support designed to insure their basic needs are met (food, shelter, communication, transportation, health-care), to help them become employed, to enhance their income-management skills and their income potential.
  13.  Offer and provide a system of citizen oversight designed to insure that the administration is carrying out the mandate of the policy makers, to help provide evaluation, and to draw in knowledge and resources from the community to enhance the quality of services that we as a community are responsible for providing as we strive to reduce recidivism and protect and increase the safety of our citizens.

Sources:

INCARCERATIONʻS FRONT DOOR: THE MISUSE OF JAILS IN AMERICA  (2015)
Key Takeaway: The misuse of jails in America is helping to drive mass incarceration and is part of a system that is neither economically sustainable nor beneficial to public safety, community well-being, and individual rehabilitation.

INCARCERATION TRENDS: REDUCING THE USE OF JAILS (2015)
Reducing the Use of Jails. Conversations about mass incarceration tend to focus on prison, but local jails admit 20 times more people annually.

WHO PAYS? THE TRUE COST OF INCARCERATION ON FAMILIES (2015)
A better approach is possible. For decades, individuals, families, and communities— especially low-income people and communities of color—have faced destabilizing and detrimental impacts as a result of our nation’s unfair criminal justice policies. The repercussions of these policies extend far beyond sentencing and incarceration, affecting the employment, education, housing, and health of individuals and their families for years to come.

DETAINING THE POOR:  HOW MONEY BAIL PERPETUATES AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF POVERTY AND JAIL TIME (2016)
People in local jails are significantly poorer than non-incarcerated people, and even poorer than people in prison, finds a new report by the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative.

HCR 85 Task Force on Correctional Reform:

Here is the interim report from the Task Force presented in February 2017