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Articles by Kevin Dayton

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.

by Kevin Dayton

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 ...

Whistleblower Alleges Hawaii Prison Officials Provided False Audit Data

A staffer says false data in a 2018 audit of the Maui jail hid deviations from staffing requirements under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.

by Kevin Dayton, Honolulu Civil Beat

State officials submitted data for a federal audit of the Maui jail in 2018 that dramatically understated the number ...

Beating Death in Oahu Jail Ends With Acquittal of Mentally Ill Killer

by Kevin Dayton, Honolulu Civil Beat

A jail prisoner who admitted to the fatal beating of another prisoner in 2019 has been acquitted of murder, concluding a case that triggered scrutiny of the state’s practice of withholding information when prisoners die in custody.

Judge Rowena Somerville on Wednesday cited mental ...