A former Hawaii Community Correctional Center guard was sentenced Monday to eight years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi for his role in a prison yard beating that left an inmate with a broken nose, jaw and eye socket.
Jason Tagaloa, 31, is one of a trio of former guards convicted by a jury July 8 for violating Chawn Kaili’s constitutional rights when they assaulted him and conspired with one another for 18 months to cover up their crime.
Security camera footage of the assault in the Waianuenue Recreation Yard made clear who was dealing out the most punishment, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Tagaloa was the most violent of all the Defendants. In response to Inmate 1’s attempts to protect his face and tuck his arms under his body, Defendant Tagaloa repeatedly retaliated with lethal force by kicking him in the face, punching him in the face, and hammer-fist striking the back of his head,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig S. Nolan in a motion opposing Tagaloa’s request to be released from custody before sentencing to tend to his ailing mother.
Tagaloa’s conduct in the recreation yard was not an isolated incident, according to federal prosecutors.
“Although not presented at trial, the State of Hawaii entered a settlement agreement regarding claims that Defendant Tagaloa violently retaliated against another
inmate,” wrote Nolan. “In Smith v. Espina et al. … then-HCCC inmate Zachary Smith filed a federal lawsuit accusing Defendant Tagaloa and fellow Alpha Dawg ACO Patrick Chong of assaulting him at HCCC in retaliation for stealing ACO Chong’s lunch.”
Tagaloa was accused of punching the inmate in the face, kicking him in the body and continuing the assault while ACO Chong repeatedly slammed the inmate’s head into the bathroom wall. That lawsuit was eventually settled for $125,000.
In July, Tagaloa was found not guilty of a second charge of violating Kaili’s constitutional rights for allegedly beating him in his cell.
Tagaloa, Craig Pinkney, 38, and Jonathan Taum, 50, were part of a group of adult corrections officers who called themselves Alpha Dawgs, big men who used violence against inmates to show others what would happen if they didn’t play the guards’ game.
Taum was sentenced to 10 years in prison in November, and Pinkney is scheduled for sentencing Wednesday. A fourth corrections officer, Jordan DeMattos, had earlier entered into a plea agreement with the government and pleaded guilty to the same charges.
The Department of Public Safety fired the four former adult correctional officers in December 2016.
Kaili was held facedown on the asphalt of the HCCC’s recreation yard by the four guards, who punched and kicked him with repeated blows to his head and body, breaking his nose, jaw and eye socket.
The defense argued that they were trying to get Kaili handcuffed, but he refused to give up his hands, which he had under his body. A fourth corrections officer, Jordan DeMattos, had earlier entered into a plea agreement with the government and pleaded guilty to the same charges.
During the 18-month
cover-up, Tagaloa and Pinkney repeatedly “gamed the system by writing false statements in their reports, lying under oath in administrative hearings, and attending cover-up meetings with co-Defendants, friends, and a member of Defendant Tagaloa’s household,” wrote Nolan.
After learning that an internal investigation would be opened to investigate the assault, Taum invited Tagaloa, Pinkney and “Officer A” to his house so that they could devise ways to explain and justify their use of excessive force, according to the indictment.
Taum got a copy of HCCC surveillance video of the attack, and the group watched it and devised a story that “trained strikes” were insufficient to subdue Kaili, according to the indictment.
