Hawaii Inmate Who Died In An Arizona Prison Is Identified
Soosoo Motu was serving a 10-year sentence for robbery at Saguaro Correctional Center.
A Hawaii prison inmate who apparently hanged himself at the Saguaro Correctional Center this week has been identified by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as Soosoo Motu.
Motu, 36, was serving a 10-year prison sentence for robbery. He was found unresponsive Monday evening in a single cell in a disciplinary unit of the privately run Arizona prison.
He is the fourth Hawaii inmate in Arizona to die this year. The state holds nearly 1,000 prisoners at the privately run Saguaro prison because Hawaii facilities have no room for them. The Arizona prison is , one of the largest prison operators in the nation.
The said in a written statement Saguaro staff found Motu unresponsive in his cell at about 7:38 p.m. Monday.
Prison staff immediately administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation and called emergency medical services and the Eloy Police Department. Motu was pronounced dead at about 8:14 p.m. before being removed from the facility, according to the statement.
The official cause of death is pending determination by a medical examiner鈥檚 office in Arizona.
If Motu’s death is confirmed as a suicide, it would be the 11th known suicide of a prisoner held in the Hawaii correctional system since 2020. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation rarely announces a cause of death for the inmates who die in custody.
The Eloy Police Department and the Hawaii Department of Law Enforcement are investigating the death.
