HILO >> Two former inmates have filed separate lawsuits against the state Department of Public Safety alleging that they were held past their release dates.
Michael Kaonohi Perry Jr., 41, and Kurt Russell Cardines, 43, were incarcerated at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center. They filed the civil lawsuits March 16, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
The department’s website had stated that Perry would be released Oct. 22, but he was actually out of prison Nov. 30.
The website states that Cardines’ scheduled release date was Oct. 18, but he was released Nov. 7.
The lawsuits seek damages for false imprisonment, negligence “including the deprivation of liberty without due process,” intentional infliction of emotional distress and failure to properly train and supervise correctional center employees “to provide and maintain proper and accurate credit calculations for the time that prisoners serve while incarcerated at HCCC.”
Cardines’ lawsuit also claims he underwent nonconsensual and unjustified bodily contact in the strip searches he was subjected to during the 20 extra days he was in prison.
Department Director Nolan Espinda, Deputy Director Jodie Maesaka-Hirota and HCCC Warden Peter Cabreros are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said the agency has been served with lawsuits before.
“We have been advised to reserve comment at this time since they are pending legal matters,” Schwartz said in an email Monday evening.
Slight quake rattles Kilauea
A small earthquake shook the slopes of Kilauea Volcano on Friday.
The magnitude-2.9 temblor, with an epicenter 3 miles south of Volcano Village at a depth of 1.7 miles, struck at 12:16 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
Seismic activity in that area usually relates to the rumblings of Kilauea, which continues to generate lava flows entering the ocean at Kamokuna.
