Letter for Monday, November 23, 2020

Four years later, many questions about death of KCCC inmate

Aloha,

My name is Greg Silva. I was born on June 28, 1970 and raised on Kaua‘i. Proud to be Kanaka Maoli. That is me in my twenties.

When I was in my thirties I got into trouble with the law and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. My time was served on the mainland in different prisons. I returned to Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center in 2015 and entered the work-furlough program in February of 2016 until November of that year. I worked construction on the Southside, saved my money, focused on my future and reconnecting with my grown kids.

My family could not visit me because I was always working and we lost touch with each other.

On November 16, I was taken from work and thrown into solitary confinement at KCCC. On the morning of November 21, Warden Wagatsuma telephoned my grandmother from Honolulu and sadly told her I died in my cell of a meth overdose. My grandmother was so traumatized she handed the phone to my auntie Debbie.

Warden Wagatsuma didn’t say much more except that an investigation would be done within 60 days and my ‘ohana would be informed about what they found out.

Four years later my ‘ohana have received nothing from anybody. My family got my autopsy report from a journalist at Civil Beat. From that autopsy report and talking to others, they have tried to piece together what happened to me.

I grieve for my family, which was treated so disrespectfully upon my death. I wish they could get answers about this tragedy. I hope for future inmates that they never suffer like I did. I speak through my ‘ohana and my friends in this fourth year of my passing.

Please never forget me.

My love to all my ‘ohana.

A hui hou

Greg Silva

A‘ O‘ Le Kauli‘ke tfl

A‘ O‘ Le Maluhi‘a

The Greg Silva ‘Ohana would like answers to the following questions:

• How did Greg Silva get exposed to the amount of meth that killed him?

• Why was there no medical assistance with the overdose during his four days of solitary confinement?

• Why was the investigative and autopsy reports not made available to the immediate family members of Mr. Silva?

• Why were visitation rights stopped during the work-furlough program, isolating him from family support?

Blu Dux on behalf of the Greg Silva ‘ohana, Kalaheo
Source: The Garden Island