A Maui corrections officer has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the Hawaii Department of Public Safety saying he was retaliated against for complaining that his supervisor was using inmates to do work for his private landscaping company.

Hendricks Haupu, a Native Hawaiian and a 20-year veteran of the Maui Community Correctional Center, alleges in his suit that he was overworked, reassigned, verbally and physically harassed after complaining to his supervisor that inmates in the Community Workline Program were cleaning Department of Hawaiian Homelands land that was contracted to be landscaped by a private company.

Turns out Haupu’s supervisor, Sergeant Carl Duarte, owns the landscaping business that had won the contract with the DHHL to landscape that parcel. That in itself is a violation of department rules, Haupu’s lawyers said in a press release: 

“Mr. Haupu began to be overworked shortly after making his complaint regarding Sergeant  Duarte’s illegal activities. The overworking of Mr. Haupu and his crew made Mr. Haupu’s job very difficult and stressful. Mr. Haupu believes all of this is an attempt to force him to quit his job. This is retaliation for Mr. Haupu speaking up against the illegal conduct occurring at MCCC.”