Inmate Foiled in Escape Attempt in Wailuku

By David Kvasnicka

Kristopher Sharrott. Photo courtesy Dept. of Public Safety.

An inmate at Maui Community Correctional Center attempted to escape as he was being transported to court on Monday, July 7 at around 8:25 a.m.

Inmate Kristopher Sharrott, 41, was to appear in court in Wailuku for first-degree robbery and second-degree theft, said the Hawaii Department of Public Safety.

A department official says the inmate was fully shackled but somehow managed to free himself.

As corrections officers were unloading the van Sharrott was being transported in, the inmate fled on foot. A corrections officer pursued him about 100 yards and re-captured the man.

How Sharrott was able to free himself of the shackles is under investigation, said a department official.

Officials say sheriffs are conducting the final investigation.

Sharrott will be charged with escape, a class C felony (if it is classed second-degree; a non-violent escape). Toni Schwartz, a spokesperson for the public safety department, said an escape conviction typically carries a 10-year prison term.

Sharrott has a history of escape attempts, having attempted to flee when police were seeking him as the suspect in a bank robbery at the Kihei Safeway on Feb. 23, 2014. Maui police described that foot pursuit as “brief.”