Modules in Monday’s Jail Riot on Maui Secured

Disturbance at MCCC. (3.11.19) Photo by Wendy Osher

By Wendy Osher

The two modules involved in Monday’s riot at the Maui Community Correctional Center have since been secured.

“Although the common areas in those units are still unusable, individual cells that are fully or partially operational, are now being occupied by inmates,” said Toni Schwartz, Public Information Officer for the Hawaiʻi Department of Public Safety.

As of Thursday morning, March 14, damage to the common area is still being assessed. In the meantime, inmates in those modules will use the outside recreation field during their out of cell time.

In an email communication to Maui Now, Schwartz said, “At present time, MCCC is making every effort to return to full normal operations starting with the lifting of the full facility lockdown on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. Individual damaged areas remain locked down and will be released from that status once appropriate safety, security and utility repairs are completed.”

On Wednesday afternoon, inmates remained agitated and were pounding on doors of the facility.

Schwartz named overcrowding as the likely cause of the disturbance, saying the department has regularly expressed concerns for the conditions across the state.

Maui Community Correctional Center was built with a design capacity for 209 beds. As of May 31, 2018, MCCC had 399 male inmates and 70 female inmates for a total of 469 inmates.  That’s 56% above its operational capacity of 301 beds.