Female inmates in Hawai’i and in facilities across the U.S. are demanding accountability for a pattern of sexual abuse by guards and staff. More than 5,000 claims of sexual assault and abuse by guards have been reported since 2012, including a series of assaults at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua.
Hawaiʻi prison officials have pledged to improve security for women inmates at the facility as part of a $2 million settlement on behalf of six women who were sexually assaulted by guards.
“This settlement recognizes that these women were victims while in the State’s custody and that they should receive a measure of justice for the harm the ACOs caused them,” said Attorney General Anne Lopez.