00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 27                                                                     
01 Relating to support for a federal appropriation for expansion of the Anchorage Jail.                                    
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS the Alaska Department of Corrections and the United States Marshals                                     
04 Service have identified the need for additional prison bed space in the state, including pretrial                       
05 prison bed space for federal defendants in the Anchorage area; and                                                      
06       WHEREAS the United States Marshals Service currently incarcerates approximately                                 
07 100 federal prisoners in the state and expects these numbers to grow in the coming years; and                           
08       WHEREAS the state currently contracts with the United States Marshals Service to                                
09 provide 50 federal prisoner beds; the current contract with the United States Marshals Service                          
10 is met or exceeded at all times; the Alaska Department of Corrections does not have enough                              
11 prison bed capacity to expand the contract for federal prisoners, forcing Alaska pretrial                               
12 federal defendants to be transported out of state; and                                                                  
13       WHEREAS the United States Marshals Service transports Alaska federal prisoners to                               
14 and from the SeaTac Federal Detention Center approximately six times a month, thereby                                   
15 increasing the costs to the federal government and increasing the risk to the public and                                
16 officers during these transports; and                                                                                   

01       WHEREAS the United States Marshals Service has expressed an interest in                                         
02 contracting for additional prison bed space with the Alaska Department of Corrections; and                              
03       WHEREAS the nature of federal prisoners often requires them to be housed                                        
04 separately from their codefendants, requiring more housing options within the Alaska prison                             
05 system and additional bed capacity statewide; and                                                                       
06       WHEREAS the Federal Bureau of Prisons conducted a study on the feasibility of                                   
07 building a federal prison in Alaska and determined not to proceed further due to an                                     
08 insufficient number of Alaska prisoners within the Federal Bureau of Prisons system; and                                
09       WHEREAS it is in the best interest of all parties to expand the available prison bed                            
10 space in the Anchorage area, thereby lowering the costs to the federal government, reducing                             
11 the overcrowding on the current system both in Alaska and at the SeaTac Federal Detention                               
12 Center, and improving public and officer safety through fewer transports;                                               
13       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the proposed                                          
14 expansion of law enforcement activities throughout Alaska planned by the United States                                  
15 Marshals Service, the United States Attorney's office, and other federal criminal justice                               
16 agencies operating in Alaska; and be it                                                                                 
17       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature encourages the United                                        
18 States Congress to appropriate the $30,000,000 necessary to fund the expansion of the                                   
19 Anchorage Jail to house up to 200 Alaska federal prisoners.                                                             
20       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
21 of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States                              
22 and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bill Frist, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate;                         
23 the Honorable Thomas Daschle, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable J. Dennis                               
24 Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority                             
25 Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the                                   
26 Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                              
27 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.