Staff abuse outnumbers inmates’ for second year

Investigators working in the Hawaii correctional system were able to substantiate more cases in which corrections staff sexually abused inmates during 2015 than cases where inmates sexually assaulted one another, according to a new report released by the state Department of Public Safety.

That report marks the second consecutive year the corrections system reported it had substantiated more sex assaults of inmates by staff than by other inmates.

Nolan Espinda, director of the state Department of Public Safety, said in a written statement about the report that “even a single substantiated complaint represents an unacceptable sign of a problem, and we doggedly pursue each complaint to its investigative, administrative and prosecutorial conclusion.”

“We constantly train staff to assure their understanding that there is no form of sexual contact with inmates under their supervision that is not considered illegal,” Espinda said in his statement. “Still, there have been incidents where poor judgment has led to inappropriate sexual contact between staff and inmates.

State law mandates that prison officials report to lawmakers each year on the number of reported sexual assaults of men and women while they are in the custody of the department. The law also requires the prison system to report on its efforts to comply with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, or PREA.

PREA guidelines define offender-­to-offender abuse as instances where the victim does not consent to sexual contact. However, the guidelines define staff-to-offender abuse as any kind of sexual contact between a staffer and an inmate, regardless of whether the inmate consents.

Under state law, it is a felony for prison or jail employees to have even consensual sexual contact with an inmate.

The latest report to lawmakers shows there were 33 reports of inmate sexual assaults of other inmates in 2015, and investigators determined four were substantiated. There were 31 reports of inmates being sexually abused by corrections officers or other staff that year, and investigators substantiated eight of those cases.

The cases where investigators concluded inmates had been sexually abused by staff included one incident at Kulani Correctional Facility in Hilo, three at Maui Community Correctional Center, three at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua, and one at Waiawa Correctional Facility.

According to the report, five prison staffers resigned or were fired because of the eight reported staff-inmate sex abuse incidents in 2015. Two of those staff members had “multiple victims,” and all of the incidents were reported to county law enforcement agencies for possible prosecution, according to the report.

A report to lawmakers on incidents in 2014 also showed there were more substantiated reports of sex abuse of inmates by staff that year than confirmed sexual assaults by inmates on other inmates.

The 2014 report found there were 24 reports of sexual assaults of inmates by other inmates that year, and three were substantiated. There were 21 reported incidents of staff sexually abusing inmates, and five of those were substantiated.

The substantiated cases of staff sexual abuse of inmates in 2014 included one at Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo, two at Halawa Correctional Facility, one at Maui Community Correctional Center, and one at Oahu Community Correctional Center.

Prison officials reported that five prison staffers resigned or were fired because of those 2014 cases, and all were reported to county law enforcement authorities.

Kat Brady, coordinator of the Community Alliance on Prisons, said she is surprised the department is now disclosing a significant number of staff-on-inmate assaults. Brady said her experience has been that prison officials retaliate against inmates who report sexual assaults by staff.

Brady said she tried to assist inmates in two cases who alleged they were assaulted by staff — a man and a woman — adding that “I’ve heard of many more.”

In one case “I would say they went out of their way to retaliate against this person,” she said. The employee who was accused is still working in the corrections system, she said.

In another case, prison officials referred the inmate who complained to sex assault treatment, but then denied the complaint and retaliated against the inmate, Brady said.

The allegations in that case were well known among staff members, “and the person then gets retaliated against by multiple staff members — sanctions, write-ups, that kind of stuff,” she said.

“You shouldn’t be going to prison and be afraid that you’re going to be in an unsafe place, and that sex assault is going to be ignored,” Brady said.

Espinda said his department has a “zero tolerance” policy against any form of sexual abuse and sexual harassment toward an offender by another offender, staff member, volunteer or contractor.

The prison system educates inmates on their right to report assaults under the federal PREA law, and prison officials “expect and encourage them to speak up if they feel they may be a victim of sexual assault,” Espinda said in a written statement.

“Most importantly, each complaint is reported to the appropriate law enforcement entity to be pursued through prosecution. We fully investigate the complaints through the full exercising of the staff disciplinary process,” he said.

Espinda said PREA requires that staff go through extensive training, including volunteers and contractors who work at state facilities. Reporting of all allegations of sex assaults is mandatory, and the department follows up with investigations, he said.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed to address sexual abuse and sexual harassment in prisons and jails, and Hawaii’s facilities underwent audits from 2013 to 2016 that concluded all of Hawaii’s eight correctional facilities under the Department of Public Safety comply with the 2003 federal law.

The one exception is the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility in Kailua, which houses juveniles. HYCF is part of the state Department of Human Services.

Keopu Reelitz, public information officer for DHS, said in a written statement that officials at the youth prison have been consulting for the past year with the United Public Workers union about the effect of the PREA requirements on union members.

The union has accepted a state policy dealing with PREA but is still consulting with the state on issues related to training required by the federal law, she said.

Among the changes the state must make at HYCF to comply with the federal law are upgrades in the youth prison’s video surveillance system, she said. Reelitz said the department expects HYCF will finally meet the requirements of the federal law next year.