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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 12:23 p.m., Thursday, June 17, 2004

Former Maui warden to be an inmate

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui — Former Maui Community Correctional Center warden Albert K. Murashige today was sentenced to one year in jail and five years' probation for sexually assaulting a female inmate last year.

Maui Judge Reinette Cooper rejected the state's plea for a 10-year sentence even after saying she had no doubt Murashige would have been given 20 years in prison if the case went to trial.

"When I look at this case in totality, I say shame on you," Cooper told the former warden.

On the other hand, she noted that Murashige had a "stellar, law-abiding life" before the crimes and that psychological evaluators indicated he was unlikely to commit another offense.

Deputy state attorney general Rick Damerville said he was surprised by the sentence. He said it sends a "wrong message" to prison guards across the state.

"If the warden only gets one year, what am I going to get?" he said. "There are going to be more corrections officers that are going to be willing to take that chance."

The 46-year-old Makawao resident, married with two children, is the first warden in Hawai'i to be convicted of sexual misconduct.

Murashige last year pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree attempted sexual assault and second- and third-degree sexual assault. A plea bargain saw the state drop nine other charges and agree to seek only a 10-year term.

Damerville said the offenses occurred in Murashige's office at the correctional center in May last year. He inappropriately touched and groped a 44-year-old inmate, a drug offender who was in the facility for a parole violation.

The allegations came to light when the woman sent a letter to Maui state Rep. Kika Bukoski, R-12th (Upcountry Maui).

At the time of his arrest last year, Murashige was among the most senior wardens in the state's corrections system. He worked at the Maui jail from 1980 and was appointed to the top post in 1991. He was placed on leave and quit effective Sept. 5.

Cooper, a Maui District Court judge, presided over the case because all three of Maui's Circuit Court judges recused themselves, citing frequent dealings with him as warden of Maui's jail.