Hawaii Inmate Deaths Are The Highest In 10 Years. But The State Can’t Say Why … Corrections officials still aren’t providing a cause of death for 20 of the 23 prisoners who died in Hawaii prisons and jails last year.
Hawaii had more inmates die in its prisons and jails last year than any other year in at least the past decade, a grim statistic that includes at least six prisoners who died after becoming ill with Covid-19 in the state’s largest prison.
The 23 deaths recorded in Hawaii correctional facilities in 2021 are more than any other year since 2012, but officials with the Department of Public Safety could not say if that death toll is an all-time record. The mortality data compiled by the department only extends back to 2012, according to a spokeswoman.
All but one of the inmates who died last year were men, and Halawa had the most deaths by far with 13. Oahu Community Correctional Center reported three deaths, and Maui Community Correctional Center reported two deaths last year. The other fatalities were scattered across five other correctional facilities in Hawaii and Arizona.
