Prison guard left inmate’s cell unlocked to sexually abuse her in Hawaii, feds say

A 47-year-old former prison guard pleaded guilty to sexually abusing inmates between the years of 2017 and 2018 in Hawaii, federal officials said.

Mikael Rivera, of Kapolei, was a correctional officer at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu from approximately 2014 to 2018, according to a March 4 news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii.

McClatchy News reached out to Rivera’s lawyers on March 5 and was awaiting a response.

In 2017, while employed at the detention center, Rivera sexually abused an inmate for months and remained in contact with her via email when she was transferred to another prison, according to the plea agreement.

In 2018, Rivera sexually abused another inmate, documents said.

Around a month later, Rivera “began to make lewd and inappropriate comments” toward a different inmate, staring into her cell and kicking her cell door, documents said.

On multiple occasions when Rivera was assigned to the woman’s unit and required to lock all inmates’ doors, Rivera left the victim’s door unlocked and sexually abused her in her cell, prosecutors said.

During his shift one evening, he summoned the inmate to the guard office, took her outside of her housing unit and sexually abused her in a janitor’s closet, prosecutors said.

Rivera pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual abuse of a ward and is facing a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison on each count, prosecutors said.

He is scheduled to reappear in court for his sentencing on July 3, prosecutors said.

This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Prison guard left inmate’s cell unlocked to sexually abuse her in Hawaii, feds say."