A contraband search conducted Friday morning at the Oahu Community Correctional Center led to the opening of criminal and internal investigations after an undisclosed number of items were taken away from inmates.
The search comes eight days after 36-year-old Christopher Ikaika Vaefaga Jr. was found dead in an OCCC housing unit after he was allegedly beaten by two other inmates.
The Honolulu Police Department opened a homicide investigation after his body was found and identified the two alleged suspects who were in the same housing unit as Vaefaga prior to his death.
Vaefaga “may have been assaulted by two other male inmates,” according to HPD, who are ages 41 and 33, police said.
Toni Schwartz, public information officer for the state Department of Public Safety and the state Department of Law Enforcement, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that contraband searches are routine at all facilities, and Friday’s search was planned.
It was a coordinated effort with the Department of the Attorney General, DPS’ Sheriff Division and Narcotics Enforcement Division, and Internal Affairs, Schwartz said.
“As part of the Department of Public Safety’s efforts to remain vigilant against the introduction of contraband in the correctional facilities, a contraband search was conducted at the Oahu Community Correctional Center. Undisclosed contraband items were recovered. Internal and criminal investigations were initiated. No other information can be released at this time,” said Schwartz.
DPS did not release the number of investigations that were opened, but said they were in the “preliminary stages.”
Situated on 16 acres in Honolulu, the 950-bed OCCC is the largest jail in Hawaii.
It houses both pretrial detainees and provides reintegration programming for sentenced male felons, according to DPS.
“To protect the integrity of an ongoing investigation, we respectfully decline to comment at this time,” read a statement from the Department of the Attorney General.
HPD’s homicide probe and a Department of Public Safety internal investigation were opened after Vaefaga was found in his cell at about 8:30 p.m. July 6.
HPD officers responded to OCCC “on a defibrillator- type case for an unresponsive inmate” shortly after 8:40 p.m. that night. OCCC security and medical staff had responded to a “medical backup call” and found Vaefaga unconscious and unresponsive.
Staff administered first aid and CPR. A medical examiner arrived and pronounced Vaefaga dead at 9:26 p.m.
Vaefaga, who had 89 arrests and citations dating to 2004, was at OCCC awaiting trial on a charge of felony second-degree assault of a person 60 years old or older and a petty misdemeanor charge of harassment involving insults and taunting.
The assault charge is tied to a March 7 incident involving a woman, and the harassment charge is connected to a separate incident that same day involving a man.
The court was formally informed July 12 of Vaefaga’s death.
In January, Vaefaga was cited for having an unpermitted structure on the sidewalk in the Chinatown area, suggesting he was homeless, according to state records. He had no local address at the time.
The state Department of the Attorney General has jurisdiction in the case.
HPD’s Criminal Investigation Division-Homicide Detail and its Scientific Investigative Section assisted with the initial investigation, police have said.
No arrests have been made.
