State wins suit
inmate’s mother files
in death by drug overdose

---

Star-Bulletin staff

A Circuit Court judge has ruled in favor of the state in a lawsuit filed by the mother of an inmate who died at the Halawa Correctional Facility of an apparent heroin overdose on June 25, 1994.

The suit alleged Halawa personnel were negligent in allowing David C. Afong access to contraband drugs. The woman claimed inmates were not properly searched when returning to their housing units and that her son should have been forced to participate in substance-abuse treatment programs.

The state had presented evidence at trial that Halawa personnel took measures to minimize contraband from being introduced to prisoners.

Judge Dan Kochi found the prison personnel's actions were reasonable and proper, and consistent with generally accepted correctional practice. He said the plaintiff's case was built on a number of alleged unrelated acts or omissions by the state's Halawa employees.

Kochi concluded that Afong's mother failed to prove a "casual relationship" between the alleged acts or omissions and Afong's obtaining the heroin.