HILO — A former inmate of a state correctional facility on the Big Island is suing the Hawaii Department of Public Safety, claiming he was locked up for 20 days beyond his scheduled release date.
Michael Kaonohi Perry Jr., 44, filed the lawsuit in mid-October after he was released from the Hawaii Community Correctional Center on Nov. 30, 2016 instead of Nov. 10, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Wednesday.
Perry was sentenced to 90 days in jail after his probation in a misdemeanor terroristic threatening case was revoked in August 2016, according to the lawsuit. He was not released until his court-appointed public defender contacted the facility’s record department to see why his release was refused.
Correctional officers somehow did not receive Perry’s release documents, his attorney Jason Kwiat said. Following the hearing, the court sends an order along with the inmate, “so there’s really no reason that HCCC shouldn’t get the records on time,” he said.
The lawsuit also names as defendants department director Nolan Espinda, corrections deputy director Jodie Maesaka-Hirata, and jail warden Peter Cabreros.
“We are hoping to settle the matter instead of litigating it because it’s clear he should’ve been released, and he wasn’t,” Kwiat said.
Another former inmate at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center sued the department after he was released in January 2015, 65 days beyond his scheduled release date. The department settled the case for $10,000 in April 2017, according to court documents.
“It’s an ongoing systemic problem, whether they’re releasing them early or releasing them late,” Kwiat said.
The department had not yet been served with the lawsuit, said spokeswoman Toni Schwartz, who referred the newspaper to the state Department of the Attorney General.
The office also had not yet been served, said James Walther, a special assistant to the attorney general.
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Information from: Hawaii Tribune-Herald, http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/
