Enrolled HJR 27: Relating to support for a federal appropriation for expansion of the Anchorage Jail.
00Enrolled HJR 27 01 Relating to support for a federal appropriation for expansion of the Anchorage Jail. 02 _______________ 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the Alaska Department of Corrections and the United States Marshals 05 Service have identified the need for additional prison bed space in the state, including pretrial 06 prison bed space for federal defendants in the Anchorage area; and 07 WHEREAS the United States Marshals Service currently incarcerates approximately 08 federal prisoners in the state and expects these numbers to grow in the coming years; and 09 WHEREAS the state currently contracts with the United States Marshals Service to 10 provide 50 federal prisoner beds; the current contract with the United States Marshals Service 11 is met or exceeded at all times; the Alaska Department of Corrections does not have enough 12 prison bed capacity to expand the contract for federal prisoners, forcing Alaska pretrial 13 federal defendants to be transported out of state; and 14 WHEREAS the United States Marshals Service transports Alaska federal prisoners to 15 and from the SeaTac Federal Detention Center approximately six times a month, thereby 16 increasing the costs to the federal government and increasing the risk to the public and
01 officers during these transports; and 02 WHEREAS the United States Marshals Service has expressed an interest in 03 contracting for additional prison bed space with the Alaska Department of Corrections; and 04 WHEREAS the nature of federal prisoners often requires them to be housed 05 separately from their codefendants, requiring more housing options within the Alaska prison 06 system and additional bed capacity statewide; and 07 WHEREAS the Federal Bureau of Prisons conducted a study on the feasibility of 08 building a federal prison in Alaska and determined not to proceed further due to an 09 insufficient number of Alaska prisoners within the Federal Bureau of Prisons system; and 10 WHEREAS it is in the best interest of all parties to expand the available prison bed 11 space in the Anchorage area, thereby lowering the costs to the federal government, reducing 12 the overcrowding on the current system both in Alaska and at the SeaTac Federal Detention 13 Center, and improving public and officer safety through fewer transports; and 14 WHEREAS AS 33.30.025 requires the Alaska commissioner of corrections to notify 15 each community council of the Department of Corrections' plans to locate a prison facility or 16 contract for the operation of a facility within one-half mile of the community council's 17 boundaries; 18 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the proposed 19 expansion of law enforcement activities throughout Alaska planned by the United States 20 Marshals Service, the United States Attorney's office, and other federal criminal justice 21 agencies operating in Alaska; and be it 22 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature encourages the United 23 States Congress to appropriate the $30,000,000 necessary to fund the expansion of the 24 Anchorage Jail to house up to 200 Alaska federal prisoners; and be it 25 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests the Alaska 26 commissioner of corrections to notify all community councils within one-half mile of the 27 Anchorage Jail if the Department of Corrections plans to expand the jail to house additional 28 federal prisoners, because such an expansion is within the spirit, if not the letter, of 29 AS 33.30.025. 30 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President 31 of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States
01 and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bill Frist, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; 02 the Honorable Thomas Daschle, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable J. Dennis 03 Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority 04 Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the 05 Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. 06 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.