Hawaii Inmate In An Arizona Prison Dies After Apparently Being Attacked
Prison officials say he was discovered in his cell with injuries that ‘appeared to have come from an assault.’
A Hawaii prisoner has died after he was apparently attacked and later found unresponsive in his cell with injuries on Saturday in the Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona.
Anton Myklebust, 46, was serving a prison sentence for methamphetamine trafficking and kidnapping, according to corrections officials. He was scheduled to be released in October after serving 20 years.
Tommy Johnson, director of the Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in a written statement Wednesday that “this tragic event will be thoroughly investigated, and whomever is found responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The department said in its statement that staff at the prison called in a medical emergency at 5:51 p.m. on Saturday after Myklebust was discovered in his cell with injuries that “appeared to have come from an assault.”
Staff administered first aid and life-saving procedures, but Myklebust died at about 6:53 p.m. at a nearby hospital, according to the statement.
The Eloy, Arizona, Police Department and Hawaii corrections officials are investigating, according to the statement.
Myklebust was arrested in 2004 and indicted by an Oahu grand jury on charges of kidnapping, robbing, sexually assaulting and drugging a 17-year-old high school senior in downtown Honolulu on Oct. 2, 2004. He was indicted on 15 counts, including 10 counts of sexual assault.
As part of an agreement with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty in 2006 to kidnapping, trafficking of methamphetamine to a minor, credit card theft and second-degree robbery in the case. He denied he sexually assaulted the girl, but was required to register as a sex offender, according to newspaper accounts of the case.
He was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison in 2007, and that sentence would have expired in October, according to corrections officials. Myklebust had previous federal convictions for trespassing and burglary.
Saguaro is operated by the private prison company CoreCivic, and Hawaii currently holds 1,036 prison inmates there because there is not enough room for them in Hawaii prisons.
