The number of women in jail or prison has multiplied rapidly in Hawaii, jumping from fewer than 40 in 1978 to about 600 in 2016, according to a report by the Vera Institute of Justice. Their circumstances differ from those of men, and they are not best served by a one-size-fits-all criminal justice system.
Women enter the system in far fewer numbers, but those who do are likely to have experienced trauma and domestic abuse, to suffer from mental illness and/or to have a drug or alcohol problem that contributes to their criminal behavior. They are more often incarcerated for nonviolent crimes. And more than 75% of incarcerated women are mothers with children.
House Bill 2421, now on the governor’s desk, establishes a Women’s Court on Oahu in reaction to these findings. It’s an encouraging effort to divert women from the jail and prison pipeline, reduce repeated criminal behavior and give defendants and sentenced offenders options to incarceration. This promising option should be put into play.
A three-year pilot program, this court incorporates wrap-around services to meet women’s needs. These include: mental health treatment; help with parenting and relationship skills; education and vocational training, along with mentoring and life-skills training; drug and alcohol abuse treatment; and significantly, housing support.
HB 2421 appropriates $695,236 for social workers to assess the inmates’ needs and, as yearly reporting is required, for administrative posts to track clients’ progress. It also requires a final report recommending whether the program should continue or be expanded.
Honolulu Circuit Judge R. Mark Browning, who supports the measure, does so from first-hand experience with specialized court programs. He ran Hawaii’s juvenile drug court for eight years.
“It’s really quite an amazing experience,” Browning said. “The kind of things that you’re able to do to assist and help people to hold them accountable, but at the same time finding ways to make their lives better.”
The bill was one of several supported by the Women’s Prison Project, which advocates for systemwide change in how Hawaii deals with justice-involved women. Of those, also on the governor’s desk, and worthy of Gov. David Ige’s signature:
>> SB 2641, funding residential programs that keep minor children with their mothers.
>> SB 2637, mandating a community-based work furlough program for incarcerated women, and appropriating up to $1 million to fund it.
>> HB 2169, charging the Department of Public Safety with helping inmates get IDs necessary for employment and access to social services and housing.
>> HB 2309, appropriating $800,000 for peer specialists to assess and treat incarcerated people with behavioral, mental, and substance abuse issues, $200,000 for parolee community housing, and $100,000 to provide ID cards.
>> HB 2312, establishing a commission to develop evidence-based methods that divert nonviolent offenders from incarceration.
>> HB 1741, establishing a pilot visitation and family resource center at the Waiawa Correctional Facility in Waipahu.
While women’s needs are specific, the goals of the prison project arise from the findings of the HCR 85 Task Force on Prison Reform, authorized by the Legislature in 2016. In 2018, the task force reported that Hawaii’s correctional system is not cost-effective — or even effective — as more than half of all incarcerated people are rearrested and reincarcerated.
If the Women’s Court and this range of bills result in effective diversion from the incarceration cycle, communities will be safer — and the measures can help provide a blueprint for expansive justice system reform in Hawaii.
