Some 80 Hawaiian prisoners housed at Arizona’s private Saguaro Correctional Center are being monitored for symptoms of COVID-19, including 28 who likely had contact with Nevada inmates who have already tested positive.
The 28 Hawaiian inmates will be quarantined and monitored for 14 days, the Hawaii Department of Public Safety confirmed Friday. Another 47 Hawaii prisoners incarcerated in the same housing unit are in quarantine and are being monitored for symptoms of COVID-19.
The other five inmates from Hawaii were being held in the prison’s medical unit for reasons beyond COVID-19 surveillance.
As of Friday, 1,125 of Saguaro’s 1,926 beds were occupied by prisoners from Hawaii, followed by 120 from Kansas and 99 from Nevada.
The PSD announcement that 69 Nevada prisoners infected with COVID-19 may have had contact with Hawaiian inmates at Eloy Prison, Arizona, came in response to an investigation by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Friday.
CoreCivic, which runs the private Saguaro Correctional Center, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Friday.
Bulla and Lynette Eastman, who run a Saguaro prison ministry, posted a prayer request for prisoners of Hawaii on Facebook.
Bulla told the Star-Advertiser that she was unable to confirm second-hand information that a Hawaiian inmate had contracted COVID-19.
Toni Schwartz, spokesperson for the Hawaii Department of Public Safety, said in a statement that, “There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among Hawaii inmates housed at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Az. Saguaro’s parent company, CoreCivic confirms that 69 Nevada criminals, housed in a separate part of the facility, tested positive for COVID-19. There are a total of 80 Hawaiian inmates in quarantine. Out of the 80, through contact tracking it was determined that 28 inmates from Hawaii may have had contact with them. As a precautionary measure, the 28 inmates from Hawaii were relocated to vacant homes and will be monitored for symptoms for 14 days, to include daily temperature checks. “
Another 47 Hawaii prisoners held in the same housing unit, which included prisoners from other jurisdictions, are being monitored for symptoms for 14 days, Schartz said.
“No inmate in Hawaii exhibits symptoms of infectious respiratory disease,” Schwartz said in a statement.
His statement quoted Nolan Espinda, director of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety, who said Saguaro officials, “assure us that they are taking all necessary precautions proactively to mitigate any possible spread of the virus within their facilities, including continuous and improved detection of anyone entering the facility and monitoring inmates and staff for signs and symptoms due to possible exposure. “
Hawaiian inmates occupy the majority of Saguaro’s capacity.
Corrections Corporation of America contracts with the Hawaii Department of Public Safety to house adult male prisoners from Hawaii to alleviate prison for overcrowding on the islands.
