Hawaii Inmates Escape From Their Cells And Attack Another Prisoner In Arizona
A corrections officer was also assaulted in the incident that reportedly occurred in a disciplinary segregation unit at Saguaro Correctional Center.
A Hawaii inmate serving time in a privately run Arizona prison assaulted a guard on Saturday and then used the guard’s keys to release other prisoners before the group attacked another inmate in the same area of the facility.
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a written statement the injured corrections officer was taken by ambulance to an area hospital, while the injured prisoner was flown by helicopter to a hospital.
Those assaults come two months after another Hawaii inmate at the same prison — the Saguaro Correctional Center — was apparently murdered in his cell. That case is under investigation, according to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
According to the DCR statement, the unidentified Hawaii inmate in the latest incident allegedly assaulted a correctional officer, took his keys and unlocked the cells of three other inmates. Three inmates then allegedly opened the cell of another Hawaii inmate and assaulted him while a fourth served as a lookout.
“Additional correctional officers immediately responded and stopped the assault,” according to the statement.
The corrections officer was released from the hospital the following morning. The prisoner who was assaulted was treated for his injuries and then returned to the Saguaro Correctional Center medical unit on Sunday.
Family members of inmates at Saguaro reported the assault occurred in an administrative segregation unit of the prison where the inmates’ activities are tightly controlled, and said the inmate was stabbed. However, the department would not to confirm those details.
Administrative segregation units are generally used to discipline prisoners for misconduct.
Hawaii is holding 1,001 sentenced felons at Saguaro in Eloy, Arizona because there is no room for them in Hawaii prisons. Saguaro is operated by the publicly traded company CoreCivic, formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America.
The Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the latest assault at the facility is being investigated by the department as well as by Saguaro Correctional Center, the Eloy Police Department and the Hawaii Department of Law Enforcement.
