HAWAIIANS in AZ: Nunuha family sues CCA and Hawai'i for murder.

This poor man's murder was preventable - and horrendous. Condolences to his loved ones. I hope you make CCA and the State of Hawai'i pay - it's the only thing that seems to make these people change how they abuse and neglect other human beings. If you need the support of other prisoners' families surviving similar traumas, please let me know (Peggy Plews 480-580-6807 prisonabolitionist@gmail.com). I am in Phoenix, AZ.

Arizona State Legislature, Phoenix.

February 15, 2011

----------------from the ACLU of Hawai'i--------------

Family of Hawaii Prisoner Murdered in Mainland Prison Files Lawsuit Against State of Hawaii, Corrections Corporation of America

February 15, 2012 

 By acluhawaii

 

Today the family of Bronson Nunuha, a 26-year-old Hawaii prisoner who was brutally murdered at a Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) (NYSE:CXW) private prison in Arizona in 2010, filed a lawsuit in state court against CCA and the State of Hawaii.  The suit exposes CCA’s business model of grossly short-staffing prisons and cutting corners in every way possible to make its private prisons profitable.  These systemic practices violated fundamental safety requirements and subjected Hawaii prisoners to rampant gang violence in under-staffed prison units.  Bronson Nunuha was just months away from release on a burglary conviction when CCA forced him to share housing with extremely violent, gang-affiliated prisoners in the same unit.  A copy of the complaint is here. 

“Bronson’s death was senseless and preventable.  CCA and the State of Hawaii needlessly put him in danger,” said attorney Kenneth M. Walczak, who, along with the Human Rights Defense Center and the ACLU of Hawaii, represents the Nunuha family. 

“Private prisons are known to have higher levels of violence due to understaffing and high staff turnover that result from their goal of generating ever-greater profits,” added HRDC director Paul Wright. “But prison companies are not allowed to make profit more important than human life.  Unfortunately, CCA’s desire to turn a corporate profit needlessly cost Bronson Nunuha his life.”

Bronson was transferred to CCA’s Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona as part of a controversial practice in which Hawaii prisoners are sent to for-profit mainland facilities. He was serving a 5-year sentence for burglary and property damage when he was killed by other prisoners. Bronson, who was only months away from completing his sentence and returning to his family on Oahu, left behind a grieving mother, sisters, and his seven-year-old son. 

Under Hawaii law, the State was required to return Bronson to Hawaii when he had only a year left on his sentence so that he could complete necessary programs to help him re-enter the community.  The State ignored this law.

Bronson was murdered in CCA’s “Special Housing Incentive Program,” or SHIP. The SHIP program places rival gang members and prisoners who do not belong to any gang together in one unit, where they share recreation time and sometimes the same cell.  Predictably, this practice results in violent incidents like Bronson’s murder. Only one CCA employee was present to oversee approximately 50 prisoners in the SHIP unit where Bronson was housed.

While at the CCA prison, Bronson had asked to be removed from the SHIP unit but CCA staff denied his requests.  On February 18, 2010, two gang members attacked Bronson in his cell; the cell door had been opened by a CCA employee, who then left. Bronson was beaten and stabbed over 100 times. His assailants carved the name of their gang into his chest and even had time to leave his cell, shower and change clothes before CCA staff knew that Bronson had been killed. 

One of Bronson’s assailants, Miti Maugaotega, Jr., had previously been involved in several attacks on other prisoners at a different CCA prison. Maugaotega, a gang member, was serving multiple life sentences for attempted murder, rape, and armed robbery. CCA and the State knew that Maugaotega was dangerous and capable of extreme violence but still housed him in the same unit as Bronson, a non-violent offender close to finishing a 5-year sentence.

CCA prisons that house Hawaii prisoners have been plagued with problems. In addition to Bronson’s murder, another Hawaii prisoner, Clifford Medina, was killed at the Saguaro facility in June 2010. In 2009, Hawaii removed all of its female prisoners from CCA’s Otter Creek Correctional Center in Kentucky following a scandal that resulted in at least six CCA employees being charged with rape or sexual misconduct. Other Hawaii prisoners have sued CCA, charging that the company has tolerated beatings and sexual assaults in its mainland prisons, and for refusing to allow them to participate in native Hawaiian religious practices.

“Why the State of Hawaii continues to contract with this company is mystifying, frankly,” said Wright. “After two murders, disturbances, allegations of rampant sexual abuse and a lack of accountability by CCA employees, it’s fairly obvious that CCA is unable or unwilling to safely house Hawaii prisoners, and the State is unable or unwilling to adequately monitor conditions at mainland prisons. Hawaii taxpayers are certainly not getting what they’re paying for.”

ACLU of Hawaii Senior Staff Attorney Dan Gluck added, “the ACLU has long warned the State about the damaging effects of its short-sighted policy of shipping prisoners to the mainland. This tragedy is bound to be repeated unless Hawaii adopts more effective prison policies.” 

Bronson’s family is represented by the San Francisco law firm of Rosen, Bien & Galvan, LLP, by HRDC chief counsel Lance Weber, and by the ACLU of Hawaii’s Dan Gluck.  The attorneys ask anyone with information about Bronson’s death – or information about violations of other safety rules at the CCA Saguaro Correctional Facility – to contact them.              

 

###

The Human Rights Defense Center, founded in 1990 and based in Brattleboro, Vermont, is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human rights in U.S. detention facilities. HRDC publishes Prison Legal News, a monthly magazine that includes reports, reviews and analysis of court rulings and news related to prisoners’ rights and criminal justice issues. PLN has almost 7,000 subscribers nationwide and operates a website (www.prisonlegalnews.org) that includes a comprehensive database of prison and jail-related articles, news reports, court rulings, verdicts, settlements and related documents. 

 Rosen Bien & Galvan, LLP has a unique practice blending public interest and private sector litigation.  The firm represents individuals and companies in complex trial and appellate litigation in state & federal courts.

Honolulu to Eloy: Medina's family seeking answers.

From our friends in Honolulu at KITV 4 ... no surprise here from CCA. They don't need to deal with grieving families -what profit is there to be extracted from a man once he's dead, except by an undertaker? They passed off his belongings as carelessly as they are letting these guys get slaughtered.

I have such a hard time believing that some communities actually want these private prisons in their backyards. They dehumanize staff as much as they do the prisoners. That's got to have an effect on the ethos of a town...

What do the people of Eloy say about all this anyway? They welcomed CCA with dollar signs in their own eyes: Are they ethical business men and women willing to take responsibility for the consequences of their investment? Do they have a human rights committee overseeing prisons in their town, holding these people accountable? Or do they just rant when articles come out about these things, then quietly wash their hands of the blood spilled in their presence?

What do the people of Eloy have to say to the people of Hawaii and - more pointedly - to this man's family? Why has your prison not been able to keep those in its custody and care safe from harm?

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Hawaii Family Seeking Answers About Inmate's Death

Snubbed By Arizona Prisons Officials

Denby Fawcett KITV 4 News Reporter

POSTED: 11:44 pm HST June 18, 2010

UPDATED: 3:15 pm HST June 19, 2010

KITV.com

HONOLULU -- Clifford Medina, 23, died in his prison cell at Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz., June 8.

Eloy police said Medina's cellmate, 21 year-old, Mahinauli Silva admitted to strangling Medina.

Loke Medeiros, Clifford Medina's aunt, and his sister, Roseanna Medeiros, flew to Arizona from their Puna, Hawaii, home Wednesday, hoping to find out what happened. They said felt they needed to travel to Arizona after receiving no information from Hawaii prisons officials.Clifford Medina was among 1900 Hawaii inmates in Saguaro. Hawaii has been sending inmates to the privately run Arizona prison since 2007 to ease prison overcrowding here.

Roseanna Medina said she and her aunt went to Saguaro Correctional Center Friday to ask for an appointment with prison warden Todd Thomas. They were told the warden was too busy to see them. Then, they said another official brought them a box of Clifford Medina's personal belongings, asked them to sign for it, and then turned on his heels without saying another word to them.

"It was very disappointing," said Roseanna Medeiros. "There are so many questions we hoped to have answered, and so much we wanted to find out that only the prison staff could have told us."

"They were just rude," said Loke Medeiros. "I couldn't believe they wouldn't talk to us.Medina was serving time for burglary, theft, jumping bail and assaulting a law enforcement officer."Even though he was in prison, he should have been safe. It's very sad," said Roseanna Medeiros.

A team of investigators from Hawaii has been at Arizona prison since Tuesday to investigate Medina's death.

Medina is the second Hawaii inmate to be killed at Saguaro Correctional Center in less than four months. Bronson Nunuha of Maui died of multiple stab wounds in the neck February 18. Two Hawaii inmates, Miti Maugaotega and Micah Kanahele, were indicted May 20 on first degree- murder and gang related charges in Nunuha's killing. A spokesman with the Pinal County attorney's office prosecuting the Nunuha case said the prosecutor is reviewing a possible death penalty sentence if the two defendants are convicted.

Clifford Medina's aunt and sister said they will remain in Arizona next week still hoping to get a better sense of why he died, and why more was not done to protect him and to supervise the inmate police say killed him.

They said they don't want it to happen to anyone else.

CCA, Nunuha, and the right to life.

Hawaii inmates complain about safety in Arizona prison

Posted: Jun 17, 2010 1:07 AM EDT

Hawaii News Now

By Tim Sakahara - bio | email

Two Hawaii inmates were murdered in the last four months at a prison in Arizona and tonight we're hearing more complaints about safety.

Miti Maugaotega and Micah Kanahele were indicted on first degree murder charges. They're accused of stabbing fellow Hawaii inmate Bronson Nunuha several times in February. Investigators believe it was a gang murder. Nunuha was set to be released in October.

Both suspects were already serving lengthy prison terms. Kanahele was serving 25 years for shooting and killing a man in an Aiea carport, then killing another man in the parking lot of the Longs Drugs in Pearl City.

Maugaotega was described as a "walking crime wave" by a judge. He is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for shooting a man in the chest during a home invasion in Punchbowl. Maugaotega was 17 at the time and had a lengthy criminal record.

Arizona prosecutors should decide in the next few days if they will pursue the death penalty option, even though Hawaii does not have capital punishment.

Earlier this month a second Hawaii inmate was killed. Mahinauli Silva is accused of strangling his cell mate Clifford Medina.

Among the complaints from inmates is that there aren't enough guards and they are denied "comfort moves," meaning if cell mates have problems with each other they are not moved until there's an assault or worse.

Just today State Senator Will Espero received a letter from an inmate at Saguaro Correctional Facility in Arizona complaining about housing conditions and their safety.

"If you get this letter I guess it's an I told you so," Espero read from the letter. "Help before it gets worse and more people die or get hurt. There's a lot to this death that you don't know and may never know."

He's got a drawer full of these types of letters.

"Inmates are human beings too and have needs and must be dealt with properly or else if you treat them like animals they'll act like animals," said Espero.

It's not just letters. We spoke with an inmate by phone who wanted to remain anonymous for his safety.

"This facility (Saguaro) is greatly understaffed pursuant to the contract," he said. He also said he's worried about his safety, not necessarily from other inmates but from the prison staff.

Nearly 1,900 Hawaii inmates are incarcerated at Saguaro Prison in Arizona. The state says it pays Corrections Corporation of American $60 million a year to lock them up. That's about $43 million a year cheaper than keeping them here in Hawaii.

But some feel the savings isn't worth the cost. Meaning with a private company making money the public gets no accountability.

"I think the system was broken in the first place. The problem is we contract with a facility or a company that has no incentive to provide rehabilitative services. It's a for profit operation," said Myles Breiner, Attorney. "No one is saying let's coddle these people but you have to balance out. The reality is every single individual, the vast majority are going to return to Hawaii so we have every reason in the world to treat these people in a way where they can come back into the community and not be a risk and we're not doing that. We're closing our eyes. I want accountability."

"You know if they really want to complain about it don't do the crime," said Peter Carlisle, Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney.

Carlisle says it's prison. It's not supposed to be a cake walk and sending them to Arizona is the best option otherwise they'd kill each other in Hawaii.

"We've had deaths in all of our prison systems here in the State of Hawaii. We've had people killed in prison regularly, we've had people commit suicide, when you're dealing with an unstable and dangerous population like this it's not unusual for them to do the most horrendous, horrific and violent acts," said Carlisle.

Today Hawaii Department of Public Safety Director Clayton Frank said he's heard the complaints, but says the prison's process is appropriate and he has not seen anything that would raise a red flag.

He also says Saguaro is accredited by the American Correctional Association, which is difficult to get. None of Hawaii's prisons accredited.

Honolulu Weekly: "Death, Detention, and Dollars"

From the Honolulu Weekly just last month. They have a lot to say about CCA et al, for those of you entertaining them in your town. Patronize their site: Hit the link at the end for part two of the series.

--------------------------

Death, detention and dollars

Alan D. McNarie
May 19, 2010
Honolulu Weekly

---

---

Editor’s note: This week, we begin a two-part story on a proposed audit of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety’s contracts with outside correctional corporations.

When Hawaii inmate Bronson Nunuha was stabbed to death in his cell at Corrections Corporation of America’s Saguaro Correctional Facility in Eloy, Arizona, on February 18, he had only about eight months left to serve on his full sentence for three counts of burglary. Normally, at that stage of a prisoner’s sentence, he or she would expect to be out on parole or serving in a minimum security facility and enrolled in programs to help him or her transition to life in the outside world. But Nunuha was in a high-security program that placed him under lockdown for all but two hours of each day.

Nunuha was among about 1900 Hawaii inmates kept at CCA facilities–most at Saguaro, but about 50 at nearby Red Rock Correctional Center and one woman still at CCA’s Otter Creek facility in Kentucky (most Hawaii women inmates were transferred back to the islands after allegations surfaced of rape and other misconduct at Otter Creek). Nunuha’s death, along with the sudden closure of the Big Island’s Kulani Correctional Center last year, have helped to fuel calls for an independent audit of the state’s Public Safety Department and its dealings with CCA. A bill requiring such an audit passed the Hawaii Legislature in its 2010 session and HB415 is now awaiting Gov. Linda Lignle’s signature.. It received support from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Community Alliance on Prisons, the Drug Policy Forum, the United Public Workers, the Hawaii Government Employee’s Association, and various attorneys and social workers. Among the very few to testify against: Public Safety Director Clayton Frank.

De-paroling for profit?

“Private prisons are for-profit corporations, accountable as most of those businesses are to their shareholders and investors; with profits as their primary motive. They have a self-serving interest in keeping their census up to capacity, and their costs low, much like hotels and other lodging businesses,” testified Jean Ohta of the Drug Policy Forum. “It is because of this self-interest on the part of private prisons that an audit should be conducted.”

“We have received numerous reports suggesting that CCA is not meeting its most basic of constitutional obligations in housing inmates. We have also received several reports suggesting that CCA may be keeping inmates longer than necessary; because Hawaii pays CCA per inmate per day of incarceration, the longer inmates are held, the more money CCA receives,” testified ACLU attorney Daniel Gluck.

Gluck wrote that his organization had received “numerous reports” of inmates who’d been granted parole being “held for four months or more by CCA (based on vague and unsubstantiated reasons for ignoring the Paroling Authority’s orders)” and of Saguaro inmates, including those with no previous records of infractions, being “written up for spurious rule infractions shortly before their parole eligibility dates,” disqualifying them for parole.

“One month of additional incarceration at CCA can easily cost the State and the taxpayers nearly $2,000–money that is sorely needed for other programs like drug rehabilitation, mental health care, and education–and the Legislature need not (and should not) allow these reports to be ignored,” he added.

Asked about infractions at CCA, Franks told Honolulu Weekly, “I don’t believe that they receive anymore disciplinary writeups than what we have here.”

At the legislature, Frank maintained that an independent audit was unnecessary. “These contracts and agreements referenced in this measure are already audited on a regular basis by an independent auditor,” he testified.

But when the Weekly checked the department’s records for an audit of the Saguaro facility, all that turned up was a checklist.

Shari Kimoto, who filled out that checklist, is the Public Safety Department’s Mainland Branch Manager, the state employee in charge of managing the department’s relations with CCA. She is also the wife of Republican Party Chair Jonah Kaauwai, who is himself a former Public Safety official. CCA has been a heavy contributor to Republican Party candidates and causes, including Republican Governor Linda Lingle, who received the maximum legal donation of $6,000 for each of her gubernatorial campaigns.

Kimoto checked the “compliant” box for every one of the audit checklist’s 115 categories, covering everything from the temperatures of the freezers to the presence of “inmate property forms.” But the audit did not appear to monitor whether inmates were being kept overtime.

HW asked Frank about the “independent audits” he referred to in his testimony. He said he would check. Later in the interview, he said that CCA facilities were audited and accredited by the American Correctional Association.

Frank told the legislature that prisoners in CCA facilities cost the state about half as much to maintain as those at the state’s own correctional facilities. He told HW that those figures were based on the state’s contracts and included transportation costs to the mainland. But neither his figures, nor the ACA audits, nor Kimoto’s, include an examination of such factors as the length of time inmates served before parole in different facilities, the costs of lawsuits by inmates or their families, or the recidivism rates of inmates–factors that the department’s critics want examined.

Services and sentences

Frank said prisoners were selected to go to the mainland based on a series of criteria: They must have sentences of “a minimum of 24 months,” they must have “no major medical or health care problems, and “They don’t have any pending criminal cases here.”

Apparently, though, that system doesn’t always work.

“I’ve had clients who’ve been transferred to AZ who still have cases pending,” attorney Daphne Barbee said. “I’ve had to have them brought back.” One client, she said, didn’t get back in time for his own hearing; he only got his day in court because the judge granted an extension.

Bronson Nunuha was in the 22-hour lockdown, Frank said, because of “disciplinary conduct.” How fast an inmate such as Nunuha goes through the system, he maintained, “depends on the inmate what the level of participation he wants.” Sometimes, he said, “Rather than participate in the program they just choose to max out on their sentence.”

But the department’s critics say that often services just aren’t available, that the programs at CCA were sparse, and that the closure of Kulani Prison had aggravated the problem.

(Part II: Death, Detention and Dollars)

Hawaii, Outsourcing Prisoners, and the Death Penalty.

This comes via Ken's list-serve at Private Corrections Working Group. Hit them up for rap sheets on CCA and all these private prison profiteers, too.

This is a fascinating article about the implications of shipping one's prisoners out of state - in this case, from Hawaii, which abolished the death penalty, to Arizona, which employs it with glee. It comes down to what we value most - life or profit/"savings". If Hawaiians value life, they'll bring their people home sooner rather than later, and keep them there.

These journalists in Honolulu rock...follow them for news as the Hawaiian prisoner murders unfold.

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http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20100616_2_inmates_could_face_death_penalty_in_killing.html

2 inmates could face death penalty in killing

By Mary Vorsino

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 16, 2010

Honolulu StarAdvertiser.com

Two Hawaii inmates charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a fellow Hawaii inmate at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona could face the death penalty if convicted.

The two are the first to face capital punishment for a crime committed in a private prison on the mainland since Hawaii started housing inmates out of state in 1995.

Because Hawaii has no death penalty, some legal advocates say the case could be unprecedented in the nation. Some also argue the situation raises new questions about the practice of sending inmates out of state to serve their sentences.

State Department of Public Safety officials say they are monitoring the case, but it doesn't appear they plan to step in to urge Arizona to take the death penalty off the table.

"When you commit a crime in a different state, it's a crime that is addressed with that state," said DPS Director Clayton Frank. "We abide by the laws of that respective state."

The two inmates -- Miti Maugaotega Jr., 24, and Micah Kanahele, 29 -- were indicted on first-degree murder and gang-related charges May 20 in the killing of Bronson Nunuha, 26, who was found in his cell at Saguaro on Feb. 18 with multiple stab wounds.

Maugaotega was serving a life sentence for first-degree attempted murder in the June 2003 shooting of Punchbowl resident Eric Kawamoto. Kanahele was serving two 20-year sentences for the October 2003 shooting deaths of Greg Morishima at his Aiea home and Guylan Nuuhiwa in a Pearl City parking lot a week later.

Nunuha was behind bars for three counts of second-degree burglary.

News that Maugaotega and Kanahele could face the death penalty comes as the state is investigating a second killing of a Hawaii inmate at Saguaro.

Clifford Medina, 23, was killed June 8 at Saguaro, and his cellmate, also a Hawaii inmate, is in custody in connection with the case.

Yesterday, Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, the acting governor while Gov. Linda Lingle is traveling in Asia, said the killings highlight the need to take a closer look at security at Saguaro and could prompt the state to move inmates from the facility.

But he said he would have to do more research before weighing in on whether the state should voice opposition on the two inmates facing the death penalty.

Some 1,871 male Hawaii inmates are at Saguaro, a 1,897-bed prison in Eloy, Ariz., owned by Corrections Corp. of America. About 50 more are at a separate CCA prison in Arizona.

The state spends about $61 million a year to house male inmates on the mainland because there is not enough room for them at Hawaii prisons. Last year, allegations by female Hawaii inmates of widespread sexual abuse by guards and employees at a CCA facility in Kentucky prompted the state to pull all 168 of its female inmates from the prison and bring them back to the islands to serve their time.

A spokesman with the Pinal County Attorney's Office, which is prosecuting the Nunuha case, said the death penalty is within sentencing guidelines in a first-degree murder case.

He declined further comment because the case is ongoing.

Fifteen states, including Hawaii, do not have the death penalty.

state Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, said the Nunuha case could prompt more discussion on the implications of shipping Hawaii inmates out of state.

Espero added he wants to learn more about the killing before trying to determine whether the state should stand in the way of a death penalty sentencing.

"Quite frankly, it was a cold-blooded murder," he said. "I'm sure you will find people in Hawaii that say they deserve (to face) the death penalty."

But, he added, "these cases really do show the need to come up with a plan to bring home our prisoners one day."

Opponents of the death penalty say the case raises legal questions. In a statement, ACLU Hawaii said it hopes Arizona will "respect Hawaii's history and tradition of rejecting capital punishment in their treatment of Hawaii's inmates."

ACLU also said Nunuha's killing is "just one of a morbid series of events showing the need for independent oversight" of CCA's contract with Hawaii. The group urged the governor to sign a bill into law that calls for an audit of the state's contract with CCA.

Hawaii DPS to investigate AZ prison.

Wonder why they wouldn't be confident in AZ ADC or DPS investigating CCA ourselves?

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State to investigate killing of island inmate in Arizona
By Mary Vorsino
Star Advertiser

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST,
Jun 15, 2010

Amid growing scrutiny of the state's practice of shipping inmates to the mainland, a state Department of Public Safety team left for Arizona yesterday to investigate the killing of a 23-year-old Hawaii inmate at Saguaro Correctional Center.

Arizona authorities expect to charge a 21-year-old Hawaii inmate in connection with the killing at Saguaro, a private prison in Arizona where nearly 1,900 Hawaii inmates are housed.

BY THE NUMBERS
1,871 male inmates at Saguaro
1,897 beds at Saguaro
$61 million per year to house male inmates on mainland

Eloy, Ariz., police said Mahinauli Silva strangled his cellmate, Clifford Medina, while the prison was in lockdown on last Tuesday.

The killing is the second of a Hawaii inmate on the mainland this year and is prompting calls for new attention to the out-of-state prison population.

State Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, said the two inmate deaths raise serious questions about the state's policy of shipping out inmates and will undoubtedly raise the prominence of the discussion in the 2011 legislative session.

"Maybe this could give us a reason to pause," he said, adding that the Hawaii team in Arizona to investigate Medina's death needs to answer this question: "Is this prison unsafe, and are there some major security breaches?"

Meanwhile, Medina's family said they are not getting any details on the killing from the state Department of Public Safety and plan to travel to Arizona to look into the death themselves.

"It's so frustrating," said Loke Medeiros, Medina's aunt. "No one from Public Safety talks to us."
Medeiros said that Medina had cognitive disabilities and attention deficit disorder and had recently been placed in isolation. As a result, he could call his family only once a month.

"The day of his death was the day he was supposed to call home," said Medeiros, of Puna. "He had told us he was in what they call the hole."

DPS Director Clayton Frank said he had not gotten official word yesterday on Medina's cause of death and so could not comment on the case. But he did say the DPS team would be working with Eloy police and with prison officials to investigate what happened and evaluate security at the facility.

Some 1,871 male Hawaii inmates are at Saguaro, a 1,897-bed prison owned by Corrections Corp. of America. About 50 more are at a separate CCA prison in Arizona.

The state spends about $61 million a year to house male inmates on the mainland because there is not enough room for them at Hawaii prisons. Last year, allegations by female Hawaii inmates of widespread sexual abuse by guards and employees at a CCA facility in Kentucky prompted the state to pull all 168 of its female inmates from the prison and bring them back to the islands to serve their time.

Silva, the suspect in the killing last week, remains in custody at the Saguaro Correctional Center and is expected to be charged today or tomorrow, said Sgt. Michelle Tarango, of the Eloy Police Department.

Police did not provide information yesterday on a motive in the killing and could not say why the prison was in lockdown.

Tarango said Silva confessed in police custody to strangling his cellmate, then waiting a "short while" before pushing an emergency button to call for guards.

Medina was sent to Arizona about six months ago and was serving time for first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer, two counts of second-degree burglary, second-degree theft and bail jumping. He would have been eligible for parole in 2012.

Silva was serving time for burglary and theft.

Saguaro was also the site of the stabbing death of Bronson Nunuha on Feb. 18. Two Hawaii inmates -- Micah Kanahele and Miti Maugaotega Jr. have been indicted on first-degree murder charges in the case.

Nunuha was the first Hawaii inmate killed in a private prison on the mainland since the state started housing inmates out of state in 1995, though others have been seriously assaulted.

Officials have said Nunuha's death appeared to be gang-related. There are no indications Medina's death was linked to gangs.

Isle inmate is killed in Arizona prison

Source: Star Bulletin
By Leila Fujimori

Feb 20, 2010

An inmate from Hawaii who would have completed a five-year prison term for burglary on Oct. 31 was killed in an Arizona prison Thursday morning.

Hawaii Public Safety Director Clayton Frank said the Public Safety Department is sending a four-person investigative team today to Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz., to look into the death of Bronson Nunuha, 26, of Maui.

The Eloy Police Department has not made any arrests yet, but has been interviewing several inmates, he said yesterday during a news conference.

Cousin Lilynn Nunuha said of Bronson Nunuha's parents: "They're hurt. They're sad. He was going to be released in 10 more months.

"We don't actually know what happened," she said. "All we know was there was a fight and he was killed."

Any one or more of the 40 inmates who shared the living unit in which his cell is located could have been involved in Nunuha's death, Frank said. His cellmate was away from the cell at the time, Frank said. But at the time Nunuha was found, the unit was not locked down.

Nunuha's cell door was closed but unlocked when a prison guard making her rounds discovered him unresponsive at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Frank said. The guard immediately deployed an alarm signal and alerted her superiors, and prison medical personnel were summoned to the cell. Emergency personnel also responded but were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, Frank said.

Except for five inmates from Washington state, the remaining prisoners at Saguaro, numbering 1,900, are from Hawaii.

Frank said he has concerns about the death penalty in Arizona, which could affect any of the Hawaii inmates, who could be suspected in Nunuha's death.

Saguaro Correctional Center is a private, multilevel security facility owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America and contracted to house Hawaii state inmates, according to the Department of Public Safety. It is situated halfway between Tucson and Phoenix.
Nunuha was convicted in 2006 on Maui of two counts of second-degree burglary, a Class C felony; one count of attempted second-degree burglary; and third-degree criminal property damage. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

He was also convicted of crimes ranging from petty theft to auto theft.
Police, the Corrections Corporation of America, the Public Safety investigators and the facility will be reviewing surveillance tapes as part of their investigation into the death.

An inmate from Hawaii who would have completed a five-year prison term for burglary on Oct. 31 was killed in an Arizona prison Thursday morning.

Hawaii Public Safety Director Clayton Frank said the Public Safety Department is sending a four-person investigative team today to Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz., to look into the death of Bronson Nunuha, 26, of Maui.

The Eloy Police Department has not made any arrests yet, but has been interviewing several inmates, he said yesterday during a news conference.

Cousin Lilynn Nunuha said of Bronson Nunuha's parents: "They're hurt. They're sad. He was going to be released in 10 more months.

"We don't actually know what happened," she said. "All we know was there was a fight and he was killed."

Any one or more of the 40 inmates who shared the living unit in which his cell is located could have been involved in Nunuha's death, Frank said. His cellmate was away from the cell at the time, Frank said. But at the time Nunuha was found, the unit was not locked down.
Nunuha's cell door was closed but unlocked when a prison guard making her rounds discovered him unresponsive at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Frank said. The guard immediately deployed an alarm signal and alerted her superiors, and prison medical personnel were summoned to the cell. Emergency personnel also responded but were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, Frank said.

Except for five inmates from Washington state, the remaining prisoners at Saguaro, numbering 1,900, are from Hawaii.

Frank said he has concerns about the death penalty in Arizona, which could affect any of the Hawaii inmates, who could be suspected in Nunuha's death.

Saguaro Correctional Center is a private, multilevel security facility owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America and contracted to house Hawaii state inmates, according to the Department of Public Safety. It is situated halfway between Tucson and Phoenix.
Nunuha was convicted in 2006 on Maui of two counts of second-degree burglary, a Class C felony; one count of attempted second-degree burglary; and third-degree criminal property damage. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

He was also convicted of crimes ranging from petty theft to auto theft.
Police, the Corrections Corporation of America, the Public Safety investigators and the facility will be reviewing surveillance tapes as part of their investigation into the death.

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See also: AZ Central. RIP, Bronson.