Debate over compassionate release bill exposes split between victims' advocates and reformers

Lawmakers in the House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs heard hours of testimony on March 25 about SB 2688, a bill that would create a timebound statutory process for compassionate release for terminally ill or seriously debilitated incarcerated people.

Supporters — including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and public defender representatives — argued the measure would provide needed clarity and relieve a correctional system that lacks hospital-level care. "Continued confinement should not become a substitute for appropriate medical care when incarceration no longer serves a meaningful public safety purpose," McKenna Woodward of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs said in support. Haley Chang of the Office of the Public Defender said the measure was meant for "the most debilitated, terminal or impaired" people and stressed that release conditions would include supervision and the possibility of reincarceration for violations.

Victim advocates and the Crime Victim Compensation Commission urged changes. Pam Ferguson Gray, executive director of the Crime Victim Compensation Commission, said the House draft did not provide victims timely notice and left them unable to prepare safety plans: "The bill only provides notice after the offender has been released," she said, adding the working group drafting administrative rules lacks victim representation.

Officials including the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation emphasized public-safety and statutory conflicts. The department's director said the agency opposes eligibility for people serving life without parole and those serving unexpired mandatory minimums, and raised concerns about potential fraud if incarcerated people assist one another in applications.

Several nonprofit and advocacy groups — including Community Alliance on Prisons, the Hawaii Correctional System Oversight Commission and long-time advocates for compassionate release — urged the committee to restore broader medical and sentence eligibility language from House Bill 1628, HD2, arguing narrower eligibility will limit the bill's ability to reduce medical costs and relieve staff burden. Molly Crane, who has worked on compassionate release nationally, said restoring categories the department already recognizes "matches the Department of Corrections' existing policies and procedures."

Committee discussion focused on reconciling victim-notification safeguards with medical assessments and on whether to allow people serving mandatory minimums or life without parole to be considered. The committee later moved to insert language from HB 1628, HD2 into SB 2688 and advance the measure for further consideration. The bill's supporters argued statutory clarity will improve timeliness and fairness; critics said more precise victim-notice language and working-group representation remain necessary.

The committee did not adopt a final, universally supported compromise and the bill will proceed with the House draft language the committee chose to insert; further amendments are expected in later stages of the process.