A federal judge sentenced former prison guard John Joseph Kalei Hall to 13 months in prison Thursday for smuggling cigarettes into Halawa Correctional Facility and selling them to inmates.
He pleaded guilty in August.
Defense lawyer Lars Isaacson said Hall did not deal in drugs or more serious contraband, and suggested that others in similar situations received probation.
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor said Hall, 38, should serve prison time because not only did he do the very thing he was supposed to prevent, he promoted gang-related activity in the prison and allowed a particular group, United Samoan Organization, or USO, to thrive.
The judge said Hall sold the cigarettes at $500 per carton to members of USO, who in turn sold the cigarettes to other inmates for $1,000 per carton. That allowed the gang to control the flow of contraband in the prison and to strong-arm other inmates, she said.
Federal prosecutor Michael David Nammar said Hall smuggled cigarettes into the prison for more than a year in exchange for $10,000 to $30,000 in bribes. Hall also warned the inmates of upcoming searches for contraband, he said.
Hall’s actions helped fuel racketeering by USO, Nammar said.
Hall apologized to his family, the court, the people of Hawaii and witnesses against him, including one who was so fearful of retaliation, Nammar said, that he asked to be placed in protective custody.
The state Department of Public Safety said it uncovered Hall’s scheme and turned over the case to the FBI.
Hall resigned from his job in February. He has until September to surrender to begin serving his prison term.
Gillmor said she will recommend that Hall not serve his time at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu, but did not say why.
Another former Halawa prison guard, Feso Malufau Jr., is awaiting trial on federal charges of accepting bribes while employed by the Department of Public Safety and failing to report the bribe money as income in his 2011 bankruptcy filing. The government says Malufau received thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle contraband into Halawa prison.
The DPS fired Malufau in September. He is scheduled to stand trial in October.
