Court briefs
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Family sues state over inmate death
The family of an inmate from Hawai'i who died in an Arizona prison two years ago has sued the Hawai'i Department of Public Safety and the Corrections Corporation of America, a private company that operated the Florence Correctional Center in Florence, Ariz.
The lawsuit says Iulai Amani died of a heart attack on April 15, 2001, at a time when a gang identified as the United Samoan Organization presided over "drug use, work details, sex with female inmates and prison-yard beatings" at the prison.
The lawsuit says Amani was forced by the prison gang to swallow crystal methamphetamine within a balloon, and the packets of drugs burst in his stomach.
The state of Hawai'i and other unnamed defendants had a duty to protect Amani, the lawsuit said. The family said officials knew or should have known that drugs were being smuggled into the prison.
Amani didn't have a history of drug use, said James Kawashima, an attorney representing Amani's family. "He was being used by the gang as a mule to smuggle drugs," Kawashima said.
James Propotnick, acting director of Hawai'i's Department of Public Safety, said he was aware of the suit filed Tuesday in Circuit Court but couldn't comment because he didn't know the particulars. Corrections Corporation of America officials could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Amani's mother, Darnell Amani, and brothers, Jorden Amani and Fia Broyard-Amani.
Iulai Amani was convicted of manslaughter in 1998 and sent to the Florence prison in 2000.
Charges involve 180 Viagra pills
Two men have been charged with providing six bottles of Viagra to a buyer without a prescription.
According to a complaint filed in federal court yesterday, a confidential source told federal agents that Yoshihiro Kurashima and Morikatsu Hirata sold 180 tablets without a prescription.
An affidavit attached to the complaint said the two men met with the informant in the Honolulu Zoo parking lot and turned over the tablets in exchange for $1,800. They are awaiting their initial appearance in court.
Woman indicted in child porn case
A federal grand jury has indicted a Hawai'i woman on charges of possessing a hard drive in her computer containing images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
The indictment also says Lani L. Hansen knew that the production of the images involved the use of minors and that the shipment of the images involved interstate and foreign commerce.
Correction: Darnell Amani is the mother of Iulai Amani. She was incorrectly described in a previous version of these briefs.
