State Hospital’s procedures under review in wake of escape

Six investigators from the state Attorney General’s Office are looking into how killer Randall Saito escaped from the Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe on Nov. 12 and made his way to Maui and then California while officials at the psychiatric hospital waited 10 hours to notify authorities, Gov. David Ige said Tuesday.

The investigators “are interviewing staff, reviewing security footage and other activities,” Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The goal, Ige said, is “to improve all of the safety and security protocols in the hospital to make sure they are appropriate and we can make changes as necessary.”

Today, security experts are scheduled to tour the hospital, and additional fencing is being ordered, Ige’s office said.

Seven hospital employees who belong to the Hawaii Government Employees Association were immediately suspended without pay after Saito’s escape, creating an even heavier workload for employees who already are forced to work mandatory overtime and even double shifts, said Randy Perreira, the HGEA’s executive director.

“They have some severe staffing issues to begin with,” Perreira said. “You have employees that … are being forced to work double shifts. They’re stuck for 16 hours. Morale is certainly bad, I can assure you of that.”

Perreira predicted that conditions are so poor at the Hawaii State Hospital that assaults on hospital staff might increase.

“We have seen over the years a number of assaults of staff by patients,” he said. “We’re going to see more staff assaulted.”

The state Health Department, which runs the Hawaii State Hospital, has said the hospital has 630 employees and 202 patients, the maximum allowed under its license.

The employees who were suspended “worked on the two shifts that straddled this man’s escape,” Perreira said.

The union had filed a complaint about mandatory overtime to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board “even before Saito ran off,” Perreira said.

“It’s been going on for a couple of months,” Perreira said.

Ige acknowledged that the seven suspensions are having an effect.

“Yes, there is an impact on staffing,” he said. “But we are required to provide services 24/7, 365 days, so, yes, we needed to make some adjustments and that may include some overtime.”

After Saito walked off the hospital grounds, police said, he took a taxi to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport where he chartered a plane to Maui, paying cash. Using a fake ID, he then flew to San Jose, Calif., on a commercial flight, arriving at about 5:30 p.m. He was later arrested in Stockton, Calif., after inquiring about the cost to take a taxi to Reno, Nev.

Saito was committed to the hospital in 1981 after he was acquitted by reason of insanity of shooting and stabbing 29-year-old Sandra Yamashiro, who was in a car parked next to Saito’s at Ala Moana Center.

Saito was diagnosed with sexual sadism and necrophilia.

Perreira acknowledged the possibility that some hospital employees might have helped Saito escape. But he said the facility is also dealing with bigger problems.

“It’s really sad to see that this guy had help escaping the facility,” Perreira said. “What shouldn’t be missed here are the systematic problems that have plagued this hospital for decades and will continue to be a community issue. … We’re only lucky something worse hasn’t happened. To have a manipulative, sociopathic murderer running on the streets is unthinkable.”

Ige’s office said the hospital’s security guards have been “reposted,” and all staff are being retrained on existing policies, which are also being reviewed.