New COVID-19 Cases at OCCC Taper Off, Officials Say

Courtesy of Public Safety Department

Inmates diagnosed with COVID-19 at O‘ahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) have significantly decreased since the cluster was identified earlier this month.

On Saturday, the Public Safety Department (PSD) confirmed one new case out of a recent test pool of 99 prisoners. PSD coordinated with the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct mass testing of all OCCC inmates in each of the 19 individual housing units there when the outbreak began in the first part of August.

The initial round of mass testing was completed Thursday. DOH will be conducting follow up testing in the coming weeks on all inmates requiring it at OCCC. Thirty-seven OCCC staff tests recently conducted delivered all negative results.

The inmate releases directed through the Hawai‘i Supreme Court orders are on-going. As of Saturday, nearly 50 prisoners were released in an effort to quell the spread of the virus within the facility.

The court order requires that PSD provide a list of all inmates released under the order no later than the next day following the release.

All transports to court from all O‘ahu facilities are suspended through Aug. 28. Video hearings will still be accommodated to the extent possible and as legally permissible. PSD is in constant contact with the Judiciary to assure the safety of all staff and inmates involved.

PSD will continue to closely monitor the spread of COVID-19 and make additional operational and preventative decisions as the situation evolves.