At its annual convention in West Hawai'i last weekend, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs approved a resolution urging state lawmakers to provide more money for programs that assist female prisoners about to re-enter society.

Conventioneers were responding to statistics by the state Department of Public Safety showing 42 percent of the state's female inmates identifying themselves as Native Hawaiians. Hawai'i has a scarcity of work furlough and community-based gender-responsive programs for women and girls exiting prison despite having one of the fastest-rising female incarceration rates in the nation, the resolution said.

The resolution also pointed out that 11.99 percent of the state's prison population is female, compared with the national average of 6.9 percent.

Among 35 other resolutions adopted by the association were calls for: