HCCC inmates transferred to O’ahu Prison, test positive for COVID-19 – Honolulu, Hawaii

A new COVID-19 case has been identified among prisoners at an Oahu state prison after a prisoner was transferred from the Hawaii Community Correction Center last week.

Nine of the HCCC transfers to Halawa Correctional Facility were virus positive, and all prisoners had already undergone forced transfer quarantine on Tuesday, June 22, according to a PSD.

On June 22, the Public Safety Department reported the recovery of 42 HCCC inmates, reducing the total number of active cases at the facility from 111 to 69. A total of 167 cases in prison were liquidated. There are still 6 positive personnel cases and 2 are still in the hospital.

34 prisoners were transferred to Oahu Prison on June 17 to reduce overcrowding in the Big Island Prison. This prisoner movement is taking place as the HCCC continues to fight the COVID-19 cluster at the facility. A bimonthly report released June 7 by PSD currently has a capacity of 226 and the HCCC contained 344 prisoners.

HCCC detainees were also taken to the Women’s Community Correction Center (WCCC) and the Kurani Correctional Facility. No new cases of coronavirus have been reported in prisoners at other prisons on Oahu, but the WCCC found that the last employee who worked on June 16 tested positive for COVID-19. I have confirmed that it is so.

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Only prisoners who were vaccinated and / or negative prior to transport and who were medically considered to be entitled to travel were considered transferred to a prison on Oahu. The facility has added newly admitted inmates to the penal institution’s DOH and CDC guidelines for ingestion quarantine, as per the PSD pandemic plan.

The HCCC has been blocked and quarantined between facilities since May 24, when the outbreak was first reported. No prisoners have been moved from prison to a court in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus.

PSD continues to encourage all employees and prisoners to volunteer to be tested against COVID and vaccinated. Click for more information on PSD’s plans and response to COVID-19, inmate inspection dates, and efforts to protect inmates, staff and the public. Here..