Inmate Deaths In Hawaii Prisons And Jails Are On The Upswing This Year … The state is on track to have more fatalities in correctional facilities in 2021 than in any year in the past decade.
Hawaii prison and jail inmates are dying at a higher rate thus far this year than at any time in the past decade, a pattern being fueled in part by six deaths related to COVID-19 at the state’s largest prison.
At least one mainland study has shown that prison deaths have been increasing during the pandemic, and Hawaii appears to be following that pattern.
Statistics provided by the state Department of Public Safety show 16 prisoners died in all of 2020, while 14 have already died so far this year. That includes a 38-year-old prisoner who died Thursday after he was found unconscious at Halawa Correctional Facility, the state’s largest prison.
