The state has agreed to settle a lawsuit by a second former Maui Community Correctional Center inmate who claims she was sexually assaulted by the former warden of the jail.

Under the settlement now being considered by state lawmakers, the state would pay $25,000 to the former prisoner, who claims former Warden Albert Murashige sexually assaulted her in March 2003.

Deputy Attorney General Caron Inagaki said the case did not result in any criminal charges against Murashige, who was convicted for sexual misconduct involving another inmate.

Murashige was sentenced in 2004 to a year in prison and five years probation for sexually assaulting another woman prisoner at about the same time.

Murashige pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree attempted sexual assault and one count each of second- and third-degree sexual assault in that case.

Last year the state agreed to pay $95,000 to settle a lawsuit by the former jail inmate who was assaulted in the case that led to Murashige's conviction. Inagaki said the proposed settlement now pending before state lawmakers involves a different inmate who came forward after the first sexual assault case was made public.

"There was a lot of skepticism about this particular claim," Inagaki said. "We were willing to take this to trial, but it just seemed that it was a small enough settlement that we went ahead and settled it." Inagaki said the state is not admitting liability through the settlement.

Myles Breiner, lawyer for the former prisoner involved in the latest lawsuit, said "the state conceded (Murashige) acted inappropriately with the sexual misconduct with this inmate." He said the case involved alleged fondling and inappropriate touching in the warden's office after hours.

Breiner said state investigators interviewed his client several times, and "our understanding was that had Murashige not admitted to criminal culpability in the underlying case ... they would have proceeded to charge him in this second case."

The inmate was a drug offender who was in prison for a parole violation but has since been released, Breiner said. Under Hawai'i law, sexual contact between a corrections worker and an inmate is a felony.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.