State prison officials have recommended disciplinary action against four employees at the Oahu Community Correctional Center in connection with two escapes this year by inmate Kerbert Silva. Workers blamed
in two escapes by
OCCC inmateBy Nelson Daranciang
Star-BulletinOne of the four is facing disciplinary action in both escapes, which occurred during OCCC's evening, or second, watch.
"We have identified the staff who we believe are responsible," said Ted Sakai, director of the state Department of Public Safety.
Prison officials have forwarded their recommendations to a hearings officer who is reviewing the report. The employees are entitled to union representation in an administrative hearing before any discipline is imposed.
Warden Clayton Frank said his staff was responsible for the report and recommendations following Silva's first escape from OCCC on Jan. 17. Frank has said he accepts responsibility for whatever happens at the prison; however, he said he did not recommend himself for discipline.
The department's Internal Affairs investigated Silva's second escape from the facility, on March 21. A prison guard and his supervisor were suspended for 30 days without pay. Their punishments will be adjusted following the conclusion of the hearing process.
Silva was transferred to Halawa Correctional Facility a day after he was recaptured following his second escape.
"He was already approved to be transferred. We were just waiting to finalize the transfer when he escaped," said Francis Sequeira, deputy warden.
Meanwhile, OCCC officials have fortified the perimeter with additional razor wire and added two armed guards to patrol the outside of the facility during the evening and overnight shifts.
Silva bolted from the prison's recreation yard and climbed two 20-foot-high fences topped with razor wire on his 37th birthday for his first escape. He was awaiting trial for auto theft. Honolulu police recaptured him eight days later.
Silva's second escape was from OCCC's holding unit, the facility's most secure area. Accused robber Paul Damas, 43, was allowed to leave his cell unescorted to make a telephone call. Instead, he gained access to the unit's control box to open all the cell doors on the unit's first floor. Damas, Silva and accused killer Eric Vance, 31, were the only inmates to escape.
Prison officials caught Damas in the facility. Police recaptured Silva 45 minutes later on Sand Island Access Road. They recaptured Vance three hours later hitchhiking on Nimitz Highway.
Vance is awaiting trial for the Christmas Eve slaying of Kaneohe liquor store owner Song Chol Marshall.
State Public Safety Director Ted Sakai is keeping a close eye on developments at the Florence Correctional Center in Arizona after two Hawaii inmates died there this month and three were severely beaten. Concern grows over
isle prisoners in ArizonaBy Nelson Daranciang
Star-Bulletin"We are concerned for the safety of our inmates," Sakai said. A team from the department went to Arizona to monitor conditions at the facility. There are 550 Hawaii inmates in Florence.
John Kia, 41, died of a heart attack Thursday at the Maricopa County Medical Center. Kia had a long history of heart problems, said Karl Stansel, Florence Correctional Center security chief.
Iulai Amani, 22, died on April 15 after choking on an object. Prison officials are awaiting an autopsy to determine what the object was since Amani eventually swallowed it.
Stansel said Ulysses Kim was hospitalized three days this month after prison officials found him with a swollen cheekbone, broken nose and black eye. Kim has refused to say how he got the injuries.
Victoriano Ortiz spent a week in the hospital after three or four other Hawaii inmates attacked him in the recreation yard on April 14, Stansel said.
Sakai said a third inmate, Dean Lai, suffered a broken jaw in a fight on April 6.
"We know it's inmate on inmate," Sakai said, "but it's prison management."
Sakai is waiting to hear the recommendations of senior staff members of the Correctional Corporation of America, the company that runs the prison, which went to Arizona to survey conditions in Florence.
The state in 1998 moved all Hawaii inmates from Texas prisons to facilities in other states, in part over security concerns.
