Maui Jail, Halawa Prison Report New COVID-19 Outbreaks
Inmates at Maui Community Correctional Center and Halawa Correctional Facility test positive this week.
The state is reporting new COVID-19 outbreaks at both Hawaii’s largest prison and at the state-run jail on Maui.
The Department of Public Safety reported Thursday that 20 out of 106 inmate tests at the Maui Community Correctional Center were positive, while 18 inmates out of 86 who were tested at Halawa Correctional Facility turned out to be infected.
Another four inmates tested positive at Halawa on Wednesday, prompting restrictions on the movements of inmates within the facility.
At the Maui facility, six staff members and two inmates also tested positive on Monday, according to聽 Public Safety officials.
Both facilities had widespread infections earlier in the pandemic, and at least seven inmates at Halawa have died of COVID-19.
Corrections officials working with the state Department of Health have initiated contact tracing, and are coordinating voluntary testing for the inmates, according to a statement from the department.
A federal court judge last month ruled the state correctional system has failed to protect inmates from infection from the coronavirus, and ordered the department to follow its own Pandemic Response Plan to limit the spread of the virus inside state facilities.
