HONOLULU (KHON2) — The head of the State’s Corrections Department said there’s been a surge of Hawaii inmates being sent away to a facility on the mainland, but it’s only temporary.
When the state’s correctional facilities are over capacity, inmates get sent to a mainland prison like the Saguaro Correctional Center (SCC) in Arizona. According to Tommy Johnson, Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation Director, Hawaii does not have enough beds for all inmates in their custody.
“We have no choice but to contract with an outside vendor to house some of our inmates out of state,” stated Johnson.
As of now, there are more than 1,000 inmates at Saguaro, but recently that number’s grown because of work being done at the Halawa Correctional Facility.
“We have a temporary surge now because we’re doing major repairs at two housing units,” said Johnson. “Once those repairs are done, then those 300 plus inmates will be returned back to Hawaii to go back into those dormitories.”
Costs to house an inmate in Saguaro are cheaper than in state.
“We pay approximately $89.96 per day per bed, but that includes everything: medical, food, programs. Here in Hawai’i, we spend about $260 a day,” stated Johnson.
The surge comes at a time when a Saguaro inmate’s death is being investigated. Hawaii inmate, 46-year-old Anton Myklebust, was doing time at the mainland correctional center before he was found unresponsive in his cell on Saturday, May 4. Officials said it appeared he was assaulted.
As for when the department will try to get the inmates back to Halawa– they said as soon as possible.
“So they can complete whatever programs are not available at the Saguaro facility so they can do work, furlough here and go through with socialization,” stated Johnson.