HILO, Hawaii (AP) - Big Island prison guards locked down their facility after four inmates attempted to escape Saturday.
The inmates opened a door in their housing unit at Hawaii Community Correctional Center by ramming a piece of furniture into it about 2 a.m., the state Department of Public Safety said in a statement.
The inmates left through the door but were quickly restrained by corrections officers outside their housing unit.
The men never got outside the perimeter of the prison. No injuries were reported.
“Staff immediately implemented crisis response procedures to safely end the situation and prevent the escape,” said the department’s director, Nolan Espinda.
The prison canceled family visits for the day and rescheduled them for Sunday.
Authorities are investigating.
One of the four was Malaki McBride, who was sentenced to life plus 20 years in the 2007 shooting death of 21-year-old Tyrone Torres in Puna, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald (https://bit.ly/1IXMqlD ) reported.
McBride was 17 when the shooting occurred, but he was tried as an adult on charges of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony and auto theft.
His conviction was overturned in 2010 after the Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara’s jury instructions on extreme mental or emotional disturbance differed from agreed-upon written instructions.
McBride is awaiting a new trial on Torres’ slaying.
The attorney representing McBride in the Torres case didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
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