HILO — Two former inmates at Hawaii Community Correctional Center are suing the state Department of Public Safety, alleging they were incarcerated longer than a judge ordered.
Separate civil lawsuits were filed March 16 in Hilo Circuit Court by Kona attorneys Michael Schlueter and Jason Kwiat on behalf of Michael Kaonohi Perry Jr. and Kurt Russell Cardines.
Perry’s suit claims he was incarcerated at the Hilo jail 20 days beyond his scheduled release date, while Cardines’ filing alleges he was kept three days longer than his sentence specified.
Also named as defendants in the suit are DPS Director Nolan Espinda, Deputy Director Jodie Maesaka-Hirota and HCCC Warden Peter Cabreros.
Both suits seek unspecified damages for false imprisonment, negligence “including the deprivation of liberty without due process,” intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and failure to properly train and supervise employees at HCCC “to provide and maintain proper and accurate credit calculations for the time that prisoners serve while incarcerated at HCCC.”
Cardines’ suit also alleges battery, claiming he was subjected to strip searches during his forced overstay in jail, and describing it as “non-consensual and unjustified bodily contact.”
The lawsuits allege “an ongoing pattern of deliberate indifference to the prisoners housed at HCCC.”
DPS spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said the agency has been served with the lawsuits.
“We have been advised to reserve comment at this time since they are pending legal matters,” Schwartz said in an email Monday evening.
“We recently received these complaints and our comments will likely be limited to what is contained in our responsive filings in court,” state Attrney General Joshua Wisch added in an email Tuesday evening.
Perry’s suit claims the 41-year-old Kailua-Kona man was re-sentenced to 90 days in jail on Aug. 12, 2016, with a release date of Nov. 1o, 2016, for violating probation on a 2014 terroristic threatening conviction. Perry wasn’t released, however, until Nov. 30, after Deputy Public Defender Andrew Kennedy contacted HCCC’s records department requesting information on why the jail hadn’t released Perry, according to the suit.
HCCC’s records department allegedly told Kennedy the jail was holding Perry on separate drug charges, but Kennedy replied those charges had been dismissed on Oct. 18, and the jail released Perry.
The Department of Public Safety website indicates Perry had a scheduled release date of Oct. 22, 2016, but was released on Nov. 30.
According to Cardines’ suit, the 43-year-old Waimea man was re-sentenced on Nov. 4, 2016, in Kona Circuit Court on a probation violation for a 2014 conviction for unauthorized control of a stolen vehicle. His re-sentencing included a year in jail with credit for time served, but that year had already been served, so he was to be released immediately. Cardines requested to be transported back to Hilo before being released and the court granted that request, the filing states.
The document states Cardines was released only after Kennedy wrote to HCCC’s records department on Nov. 7, 2016, requesting information on why HCCC refused to release Cardines.
HCCC’s records department allegedly told Kennedy it was holding Cardines on a 2016 domestic abuse case, but Kennedy informed the jail that case had been dismissed in October 2016, and HCCC then released Cardines.
The Department of Public Safety’s website indicates Cardines had a scheduled release date of Oct. 18, 2016, but was released on Nov. 7.
A phone call to Schlueter and Kwiat wasn’t returned by deadline.
This isn’t the first time DPS and its officials have been sued by a former inmate claiming to have been locked up at HCCC beyond a court-ordered release date.
Another former HCCC inmate, Byron Mitsuo Miyashiro, settled his August 2016 lawsuit against DPS, Espinda, former DPS Deputy Director Alan Asato and Cabreros for $10,000. The settlement was read into the record Friday in Hilo Circuit Court.
Miyashiro was sentenced on Feb. 18, 2014, to four years probation and a year in jail for his second habitual DUI conviction within a year. Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara, who’s since retired, also reset the clock on Miyashiro’s previous five-year probation term. Miyashiro was given credit for time served and was supposed to have been released on Nov. 29, 2014, according to court records.
He wasn’t released by the jail, however, until Jan. 13, 2015, 65 days beyond his scheduled release date.
The lawsuit, which originally sought at least $40,000 in damages for the 58-year-old Papaikou man, said Miyashiro worked in the kitchen during the 65-day period and “was subjected to daily strip searches after the end of his kitchen duties.”
“While the settlement was referenced in court, the settlement agreement has not yet been signed by all parties. As a result, it would be premature for us to comment on this case,” Wisch said. “More broadly, our attorneys regularly work with their clients when a judgment is issued against the state or a settlement is resolved, in an effort to help address any future potential problems.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
