A delegation of state lawmakers will meet today with inmates and staff at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona to explore conditions and talk to Hawaii inmates about allegations of mistreatment at the for-profit prison.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, two Hawaii inmates have died at Saguaro from the virus, and 696 have tested positive, according to the state Department of Public Safety. As of Thursday no Hawaii inmates at the CoreCivic- operated correctional center were infected with the virus.

However, an inmate from Kalihi, who has two years left on a five-year sentence for second-degree theft, claims infection statistics do not paint an accurate picture.

In a phone interview with the Honolulu Star- Advertiser, inmate Felix Savoy said Hawaii detainees are subject to abuse, blocked from filing grievances and do not have consistent access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines.

“Our entire unit got sick. I felt like I was dying. I kept asking to get treated for COVID, and I was told I didn’t have it,” said Savoy. “A lot of programs over here don’t work. Remember, CoreCivic is a business, they fill beds for a living. The longer you stay in this facility, you fill that bed space, and the taxpayers have to pay for that bed space because it’s part of the contract.”

Savoy claims the for-profit structure of CoreCivic (formerly the Corrections Corp. of America) is conducive to prolonged stays in solitary confinement for some prisoners and has little incentive to maintain rehabilitation and education programs to help inmates reenter the community.

“If we do eight weeks of programming, they pay us one (Burger King) Whopper. Finance, parenting, reading, whatever program they give us, it’s pretty much bribing us. Giving us one Whopper from Burger King is dehumanizing,” said Savoy. “We are asking for a normal inmate life. Does that make any sense? Treat us like human beings.”

Savoy helped put together Senate Bill 3344, which restricts the use of solitary confinement in state-operated and state- contracted correctional facilities, according to his attorney, Myles Breiner, who helped proofread the proposal currently before the state Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

A CoreCivic spokesman did not immediately respond to a Star-Advertiser request for comment about the Whopper incentives or allegations of abuse and lack of access to COVID-19 tests and vaccines. The company operates more than 70 correctional and residential reentry facilities nationwide.

“CoreCivic is proud of our long-standing partnership with the Hawaii Department of Public Safety and honored to welcome the Hawaii legislative delegation to our Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, AZ. The facility leadership team, led by Warden Shawn Wead, is excited to highlight the great work that our staff do each and every day, as we care for those individuals entrusted to our care,” said Matthew Davio, public affairs manager for CoreCivic, in a statement to the Star-Advertiser.

State Sen. Clarence Nishihara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, and committee Vice Chairwoman Lynn DeCoite will join their counterparts on the House Committee on Corrections, Military and Veterans, Chairman Takashi Ohno and Vice Chairman Sonny Ganaden, in Arizona today.

Nishihara told the Star- Advertiser the lawmakers want to see conditions for themselves and meet inmates who have reached out with concerns.

“The administration is aware that we want access. We will also get to tour programs we want to see,” said Nishihara. “The Senate president and the speaker have OK’d this trip because they see the importance of how our Hawaii inmates are treated, especially our concerns over private prisons.”

Saguaro opened in 2007 and is a 1,926-bed, medium- security correctional facility that employs 355 staff, according to an annual U.S. Department of Justice audit. The facility has 16 buildings, including six housing units and four covered recreational areas.

The state spent $47.7 million last year to care for inmates at Saguaro, according to the state Department of Public Safety’s annual report, down from $49.6 million in 2020.

Tommy Johnson, deputy director of the state Department of Public Safety, told the Star-Advertiser that from what he’s seen of the staff and facilities, they treat Hawaii inmates with courtesy and respect. A contract officer is on-site 40 hours a week to monitor conditions of the contract, field concerns and ensure inmate grievances are documented and shared with correctional staff.

“We don’t have the space in Hawaii. At this point we really don’t have a choice,” said Johnson in a telephone interview from Arizona. “Ideally, we would like to have all the inmates in Hawaii, but we simply don’t have the space and infrastructure.”

The state lawmakers are scheduled to tour the facility with correctional staff, including visits to the medical center and food service areas. They will have “unfettered access” to inmates and programs offered by the facility, said Johnson, and lawmakers can speak to Hawaii prisoners one on one or in groups.

Ganaden, an attorney and longtime opponent of private prisons, told the Star-Advertiser in an interview from Arizona that lawmakers are looking at everything from parole reform to culturally appropriate programs and services.

He called shipping inmates across the ocean an expression of U.S. colonialism and a “tremendous failure of our state.”

“It saves us money but it costs us humanity,” he said.