Family seeks answers in personal tragedy
This letter comes as we remember the painful unresolved death of our relative, an inmate at Kauai Community Correctional Center, who perished in there last Nov. 21, 2016.
The wounds we suffered as a family have neither diminished nor healed, and as this first year passes we confront an event that can never be erased from our family history. When our relative, Greg Silva, died of a meth overdose four days after being placed in solitary confinement, it was determined that he deserved no news coverage, nor did we receive any follow-up on the particulars, such as the death report or autopsy of this tragic circumstance.
Why we bring this matter to the attention of the community after a year is because there continues to be a lack of transparency in our correctional facility. This incident could happen to anyone’s loved one who might be incarcerated. Many of our islanders may, at any given time, find themselves on the wrong side of the law and funneled in our facility. If their personal well-being is threatened, we must correct this.
As a family, as we approach this painful date, we have confidence that this community will identify with our requests for answers in our personal tragedy.
Our family will gather to remember the memory of our loved one, Greg Silva, and seek healing through the demand for answers on how this tragedy occurred. Doing so will provide the justice system a vehicle to bring accountability to us, his family, and to stop this from happening to others by correcting the weaknesses in the prison system.
We are working with Kauai Alliance for Peace and Social Justice to bring a formal inquiry with the leaders of Kauai’s justice system to discuss solutions. This will be followed by the recently released documentary, “Out of State,” about the private prison facility in Eloy, Arizona, where Hawaii’s extended-sentence inmates are housed away from their families.
Our goal is restorative justice, a change to the procedure in the event of an inmate death and an important community conversation on over-incarceration in a period of lowest crime rate in four decades. Announcements will be posted.
Henrietta Napolis, Hanalei
Nov 4, 2016, an inmate at Kauai Correctional Facility escaped and went on a day long crime spree before being apprehended. Last month, not one, but two KCCC inmates escaped–one was caught within a few hours and the other not for a few days. What I want to know is, what guard or guards messed up and allowed those events to happen? Also what’s being done to ensure that it doesn’t happen again? The news hasn’t followed up on the story, why? Something fishy’s going on at that jail. And what about Greg Silva? Why was he found dead in his KCCC cell from a meth overdose? How is that even possible in jail? Where are the guards when all these events are happening? Does KCCC actually employ jail guards, because it doesn’t sound like it. To the family of Greg Silva, I hope you hire an attorney to get the records you need and that you’re able to find out the truth about what happened to Greg.