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Report: Kulani may
By Rod Thompson
be at ‘crisis stage’
Star-BulletinHILO -- Kulani prison southwest of Hilo is described as "dysfunctional" in a report prepared for the state Department of Public Safety in November.
"Staff have presented issues which appear to indicate that KCF is dysfunctional and may even be at a crisis stage," a Nov. 30 Management Assistance Visit report said.
A lawsuit filed this week by five women employees at the prison who complained of sexual harassment indicates problems are continuing. The management report was attached to their suit.
The women filing the suit are Tamar Aki, Kimberly Demorales, Faye Hanohano, Laura Henderson and Ida Perez.
They accuse employees Bruce Carter, Thomas Dela Cruz, Johnny Kanahele, Blaise Kimura and Tracy Otani of harassment. They name prison warden Peter McDonald and state corrections chief Ted Sakai as failing to stop it.
The suit says a male employee urinated in front of female employees. It says another male worker showed his penis to at least one female employee. Neither male employee could be reached for comment.
McDonald and Sakai were not available for comment on other charges.
Those include that someone slashed Aki's tires to stop her from looking into "misappropriation" of koa wood products and prison-produced meat.
Kulani is famous for the fine koa woodwork done by its inmates. Located on about 10,000 acres on the east face of Mauna Loa, inmates also raise horses, cattle and pigs.
The suit also charges that guards and nonemployees were permitted into the unwalled but remote prison at night "to allow sexual behaviors."
The suit suggests that the accused officers were part of a secret organization called "Hui" (group) or "Honest Maka'i" (honest guard).
Attached to the suit are typewritten memos, signed with those designations, with crude accusations against McDonald including racism and alcoholism.
In the November management report, nonsecurity staff said not all of the guards were a source of problems, but some were "out to get Pete" (McDonald).
Nonsecurity personnel accused guards of "gamesmanship."
"The (guards) call in sick, taking excessive time off, and using excuses to protest cutbacks in overtime," nonsecurity personnel said.
The management report found 34 staff members dissatisfied with the relationship between guards and the administration, eight neutral, and only two saying it was good.
Regarding morale, one unnamed woman told the interviewer, "It is hell and getting worse."
