HONOLULU — Nearly half of the guards at four prisons across Hawaii called in sick on Super Bowl Sunday.
HONOLULU — Nearly half of the guards at four prisons across Hawaii called in sick on Super Bowl Sunday.
That’s prompting state Rep. Gregg Takayama to call for an audit of sick leave time taken by prison guards statewide.
Hawaii News Now reported Wednesday about 47 percent of the guards at Waiawa Community Correctional Center and Maui Community Correctional Center called in sick. At the women’s prison in Kailua, the sick rate was 45 percent and at Halawa prison that rate was 42 percent.
The state Department of Public Safety had been struggling with guards calling in sick and other time-off abuses that frequently forced the cancellation of family visits at prisons. But no visits were cancelled on Super Bowl Sunday and on other recent weekend visit days.