Another Hawaiʻi Prison Death Has Family Seeking Answers

A 55-year-old transgender inmate at the state's largest prison was beaten and strangled in her cell, according to her family, and a maximum security prisoner who is a twice-convicted murderer is being blamed for the killing.

Denise Foster, who had her name legally changed from from Godwyn to Denise, was looking forward to being released from prison sometime next year. Foster's oldest brother Edwin said family members are angry, and are determined to find out how this could have happened.

"I told the warden, 'Hey, brah, this is you guys' responsibility, I'm suing you, and you guys the ones who are going to pay for this,' " said Edwin Foster. "My brother, I know he cannot fight."

"If he died with sickness, no problem, I wouldn't talk to you, I wouldn't talk to nobody, it's just automatic, I'll go bury him. But this is totally different," he said. "I have to find out."

Three sources with ties to the state correctional system claim that inmate Jason Lee McCormick, 52, entered Foster's cell at Hālawa Correctional Facility and attacked her Tuesday. The three provided information about the incident on condition they not be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

It would be the sixth murder or suspected murder of a Hawaiʻi inmate since May of 2024.

McCormick was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 2013 for the murder of visiting University of Pittsburgh Professor Robert Henderson in 1996.

He also pleaded guilty to premeditated first-degree murder in Arizona in the 2015 strangulation death of his then-cellmate Jonathan Namauleg, 21, at the Saguaro Correctional Center. That conviction carries a life sentence without parole to be served after McCormick's life sentence for the Henderson murder.

Foster was sentenced to five years in prison on May 10, 2023 after pleading no contest to second-degree theft and unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle.

Those were the latest in a long string of convictions dating back to 1992 for property crimes including theft, credit card fraud and forgery, but Foster's defense lawyer Nelson Goo said Foster was never violent.

Goo questioned why Foster was housed in a prison module where she would have contact with an inmate as dangerous as McCormick. Foster had no known gang ties, he said, and would likely have been paroled within a year.

"It doesn't make sense," Goo said.

The prison system has not released any information about Foster's death publicly. However, Foster's niece Queenair Bulawan, said she was called by Hālawa's Chief of Security Maj. Joanna-Jacklyn “Jojo” White, who told her "an incident" had occurred and Foster had died from her injuries.

White did not say Foster had been attacked, Bulawan said, but she said she was contacted by a family friend who is serving time at Hālawa who confirmed Foster was assaulted by another inmate. Edwin Foster said the Honolulu Medical Examiner's staff also told him Denise had been beaten and strangled.

"It shouldn't be that way," Bulawan said. "It's hard."

Denise Foster was the youngest of nine children, and when she wasn't locked up would join her large family for mealtime gatherings or excursions to the beach, Bulawan said.

Foster often called Bulawan and said "he was coming out pretty soon, he was doing good, and he was saying that he was was doing some college courses in there," she said. "He was going to graduate soon."

Foster called her former boss at Goodwill Hawaiʻi every Sunday, and the boss promised her she would have a job when she got out, Bulawan said. Foster had been taking classes related to counseling, Bulawan said.

Edwin Foster said Denise had been beaten in jail before, but Bulawan said "he was trying to stick to himself in there and don't get in trouble, because I know he doesn't get into trouble or do anything stupid like that."

"I just don't know why this inmate or person did that," Bulawan said, adding that the family plans file a lawsuit over Foster's death because "we need answers why."