A Hawaii inmate who was stabbed dozens of times by other inmates last month fears for his life and is “desperate” to be moved from the Arizona prison where he is being held, according to his lawyer.
The July 27 attack on Daniel Kosi, 51, was among a recent spate of violence at the Saguaro Correctional Center that prompted the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii to call for a federal inquiry into conditions at the facility.
Kosi is recovering in the prison’s medical unit, his Honolulu lawyer said, but the inmate is worried about being targeted again.
“Daniel is absolutely petrified that someone is going to try to finish him off,” Myles Breiner said. “He believes that he is going to die if he remains at the Saguaro correctional facility. He desperately wants to come back to Hawaii.”
Hawaii inmate Daniel Kosi, 51, is recovering in the medical unit of the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona, after being stabbed dozens of times. Kosi’s sister said prison officials are alleging he had drugs on his person when he was hospitalized after the attack. (Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2016)
Kosi has told his family he was stabbed more than 50 times including wounds to both of his eyes during the attack in his cell in the administrative segregation unit. That is a highly restrictive area of the prison that is generally reserved for inmates accused of violating prison rules.
Kosi is serving eight life terms in prison including one life sentence without possibility of parole for the shooting death of Eric Vinge and the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Aisha Tolentino on Maui in 1997. He has served 27 years so far.
The Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement last month that an unidentified Hawaii inmate allegedly assaulted a Saguaro correctional officer, took his keys and unlocked the cells of three other inmates on July 27.
Three of those inmates then allegedly opened the cell of another Hawaii inmate and assaulted him while a fourth served as a lookout, according to the department. “Additional correctional officers immediately responded and stopped the assault,” the statement said.
Kosi’s sister Rhonda confirmed Kosi was the inmate who was attacked and said in an interview Monday that prison officials at Saguaro are alleging that drugs were found on Kosi’s person after he was taken by helicopter to an Arizona hospital.
Hawaii prisoner Daniel Kosi (Hawaii Corrections Department photo)
She also said prison officials convened a disciplinary panel after the attack and advised Kosi that he was being accused of unspecified violations of “state and federal laws.”
“They’re trying to put my brother back into segregation,” Rhonda Kosi said. “It’s insane. It’s really insane.”
Brian Todd, CoreCivic’s public affairs manager, said in a written statement the company has forwarded Breiner’s concerns to the Saguaro facility leadership team “for them to investigate.” Saguaro is a privately owned prison that is operated by the Tennessee-based CoreCivic.
“The safety of the individuals in our care is our top priority,” Todd said in his statement. “The decision to transfer, release or move an individual in our care is made at the direction of our government partner. Any questions about those decisions should be directed to the Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.”
The ACLU wants the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate conditions at Saguaro following the Kosi stabbing and the May 4 killing of Anton Myklebust, another Hawaii inmate.
The state holds 1,001 prisoners at Saguaro because of overcrowding in Hawaii prisons.
Tommy Johnson, director of the Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said last week the attacks on Kosi and Myklebust are being investigated by his department, the Eloy Police Department and the Hawaii Department of Law Enforcement.
He declined further comment because those incidents are still under investigation, and Johnson said he does not want to compromise the integrity of those inquiries.
Breiner has questioned the official account that a guard was overpowered and lost his keys before the attack. He said there must have been a security lapse before the attack because all inmates in administrative segregation are supposed to be shackled and accompanied by two guards whenever they leave their cells.
“So, for an inmate to be out and about unshackled in that portion of the prison and only one guard present doesn’t make much sense,” he said. “It sounds — again — questionable.”
Breiner said some in the public may be unsympathetic to a prisoner with Kosi’s very violent background, but said Kosi was not sentenced to be stabbed over and over in the face and the eyes. What happened to Kosi at Saguaro is “a condition of confinement that shouldn’t exist,” Breiner said.
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Publish date : 2024-08-27 23:01:00
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