Blaisdell v. Department of Public Safety

Opinion of the Court by

ACOBA, J.

We hold that (1) the plain language of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 353-20 (1993) 1 expressly authorizes Respondent/Defendant-Appellee Department of Public Safety (DPS or Respondent) to maintain only one individual trust account for prisoners pertaining to sums collected while committed, (2) Respondent violated HRS § 353-20 because it maintained two accounts with respect to Petitioner/Plaintiff-Appellant Richard Blais-dell (Petitioner), one of which restricted withdrawals to purposes determined by Respondent, and (3) interest accrued on Petitioner’s accounts…