This
poor man's murder was preventable - and horrendous. Condolences to his
loved ones. I hope you make CCA and the State of Hawai'i pay - it's the
only thing that seems to make these people change how they abuse and neglect other human beings.
If you need the support of other prisoners' families surviving similar
traumas, please let me know (Peggy Plews 480-580-6807
prisonabolitionist@gmail.com). I am in Phoenix, AZ.
Arizona State Legislature, Phoenix.
February 15, 2011
----------------from the ACLU of Hawai'i--------------
Family of Hawaii Prisoner Murdered in Mainland Prison Files Lawsuit Against State of Hawaii, Corrections Corporation of America
February 15, 2012
By
Today the family
of Bronson Nunuha, a 26-year-old Hawaii prisoner who was brutally
murdered at a Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) (NYSE:CXW)
private prison in Arizona in 2010, filed a lawsuit in state court
against CCA and the State of Hawaii. The suit exposes CCA’s business
model of grossly short-staffing prisons and cutting corners in every way
possible to make its private prisons profitable. These systemic
practices violated fundamental safety requirements and subjected Hawaii
prisoners to rampant gang violence in under-staffed prison units.
Bronson Nunuha was just months away from release on a burglary
conviction when CCA forced him to share housing with extremely violent,
gang-affiliated prisoners in the same unit. A copy of the complaint is here.
“Bronson’s death was
senseless and preventable. CCA and the State of Hawaii needlessly put
him in danger,” said attorney Kenneth M. Walczak, who, along with the
Human Rights Defense Center and the ACLU of Hawaii, represents the
Nunuha family.
“Private prisons are
known to have higher levels of violence due to understaffing and high
staff turnover that result from their goal of generating ever-greater
profits,” added HRDC director Paul Wright. “But prison companies are not
allowed to make profit more important than human life. Unfortunately,
CCA’s desire to turn a corporate profit needlessly cost Bronson Nunuha
his life.”
Bronson was
transferred to CCA’s Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona as
part of a controversial practice in which Hawaii prisoners are sent to
for-profit mainland facilities. He was serving a 5-year sentence for
burglary and property damage when he was killed by other prisoners.
Bronson, who was only months away from completing his sentence and
returning to his family on Oahu, left behind a grieving mother, sisters,
and his seven-year-old son.
Under Hawaii law,
the State was required to return Bronson to Hawaii when he had only a
year left on his sentence so that he could complete necessary programs
to help him re-enter the community. The State ignored this law.
Bronson was murdered
in CCA’s “Special Housing Incentive Program,” or SHIP. The SHIP program
places rival gang members and prisoners who do not belong to any gang
together in one unit, where they share recreation time and sometimes the
same cell. Predictably, this practice results in violent incidents
like Bronson’s murder. Only one CCA employee was present to oversee
approximately 50 prisoners in the SHIP unit where Bronson was housed.
While at the CCA
prison, Bronson had asked to be removed from the SHIP unit but CCA staff
denied his requests. On February 18, 2010, two gang members attacked
Bronson in his cell; the cell door had been opened by a CCA employee,
who then left. Bronson was beaten and stabbed over 100 times. His
assailants carved the name of their gang into his chest and even had
time to leave his cell, shower and change clothes before CCA staff knew
that Bronson had been killed.
One of Bronson’s
assailants, Miti Maugaotega, Jr., had previously been involved in
several attacks on other prisoners at a different CCA prison.
Maugaotega, a gang member, was serving multiple life sentences for
attempted murder, rape, and armed robbery. CCA and the State knew that
Maugaotega was dangerous and capable of extreme violence but still
housed him in the same unit as Bronson, a non-violent offender close to
finishing a 5-year sentence.
CCA prisons that
house Hawaii prisoners have been plagued with problems. In addition to
Bronson’s murder, another Hawaii prisoner, Clifford Medina, was killed
at the Saguaro facility in June 2010. In 2009, Hawaii removed all of its
female prisoners from CCA’s Otter Creek Correctional Center in Kentucky
following a scandal that resulted in at least six CCA employees being
charged with rape or sexual misconduct. Other Hawaii prisoners have sued
CCA, charging that the company has tolerated beatings and sexual
assaults in its mainland prisons, and for refusing to allow them to
participate in native Hawaiian religious practices.
“Why the State of
Hawaii continues to contract with this company is mystifying, frankly,”
said Wright. “After two murders, disturbances, allegations of rampant
sexual abuse and a lack of accountability by CCA employees, it’s fairly
obvious that CCA is unable or unwilling to safely house Hawaii
prisoners, and the State is unable or unwilling to adequately monitor
conditions at mainland prisons. Hawaii taxpayers are certainly not
getting what they’re paying for.”
ACLU of Hawaii
Senior Staff Attorney Dan Gluck added, “the ACLU has long warned the
State about the damaging effects of its short-sighted policy of shipping
prisoners to the mainland. This tragedy is bound to be repeated unless
Hawaii adopts more effective prison policies.”
Bronson’s family is
represented by the San Francisco law firm of Rosen, Bien & Galvan,
LLP, by HRDC chief counsel Lance Weber, and by the ACLU of Hawaii’s Dan
Gluck. The attorneys ask anyone with information about Bronson’s death –
or information about violations of other safety rules at the CCA
Saguaro Correctional Facility – to contact them.
###
The Human Rights
Defense Center, founded in 1990 and based in Brattleboro, Vermont, is a
non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human rights in U.S.
detention facilities. HRDC publishes Prison Legal News, a monthly
magazine that includes reports, reviews and analysis of court rulings
and news related to prisoners’ rights and criminal justice issues. PLN
has almost 7,000 subscribers nationwide and operates a website
(www.prisonlegalnews.org) that includes a comprehensive database of
prison and jail-related articles, news reports, court rulings, verdicts,
settlements and related documents.
Rosen Bien &
Galvan, LLP has a unique practice blending public interest and private
sector litigation. The firm represents individuals and companies in
complex trial and appellate litigation in state & federal courts.
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