Hawaii inmate at an Arizona prison dies after apparently being attacked

A Hawaii inmate has died after he was apparently attacked and found unresponsive with injuries in his cell at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona on Saturday.

Corrections officials said Anton Myklebust, 46, was serving a prison sentence for methamphetamine trafficking and kidnapping. He was due to be released in October after 20 years in prison.

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 whoever is found responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The department said in its statement that prison staff called for a medical emergency at 5:51 p.m. Saturday after Myklebust was discovered in his cell with injuries that “apparently resulted from an assault.”

Staff administered first aid and life-saving measures, but Myklebust died at a nearby hospital around 6:53 p.m., according to the statement.

According to the statement, correctional officers from Eloy, Arizona, the police department and Hawaii are investigating.

Myklebust was arrested in 2004 and indicted by a grand jury in Oahu for the kidnapping, robbery, sexual assault and drugging of a 17-year-old high school student in downtown Honolulu on October 2, 2004. He was charged with 15 counts, including: 10 counts of sexual assault.

As part of a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty in 2006 to kidnapping, trafficking methamphetamine to a minor, credit card theft and second-degree robbery. He denied sexually abusing the girl but was required to register as a sex offender, according to newspaper reports on the case.

He was sentenced in 2007 to up to 20 years in prison, which corrections officials said would have expired in October. Myklebust had previous convictions for trespassing and burglary.

Saguaro is operated by private prison company CoreCivic, and Hawaii is currently holding 1,036 inmates there because there is not enough space for them in Hawaii’s prisons.