Washington (AP) The federal Bureau of Prisons will be forced to publicly recognize widespread misbehavior at its now-closed women’s jail in California and open its doors to a court-appointed monitor as part of a legal settlement following widespread staff-on-inmate sexual abuse.
On Friday, the Bureau of Prisons and attorneys representing women who are suing the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, for abuse filed a draft settlement agreement that calls for greater openness and important safeguards for victims, such as home confinement and early release options.
As part of the settlement, FCI Dublin staff sexual abuse victims will get a formal, public acknowledgement from the agency’s director, Colette Peters.
Following months of negotiations to settle a class-action complaint launched last year that sought specific reforms to the Bureau of Prisons’ treatment of female inmates and its handling of abuse claims, the agreement—which will need a judge’s approval—has been reached.
Emily Shapiro, an advocate with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Dublin Prison Solidarity Coalition, stated, “Our work is just beginning, but the proposed consent decree, which would be in effect for at least two years, is a historic victory.”
According to Shapiro, we will fight to see that the agreement is fully implemented, stay in constant contact with the survivors of FCI Dublin, and keep calling for their release, radical policy changes throughout the prison system, and eventually community-based alternatives to prisons and the gender violence they support.
A former warden and other staff members at FCI Dublin were sentenced to jail for sexually abusing detainees, prompting the filing of a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Oakland last year.
Victims of abuse and retaliation at the low-security prison, which staff and inmates have dubbed the “rape club,” are seeking financial compensation in other lawsuits.
Nearly 500 prisoners who were transferred to other federal prisons following the Bureau of Prisons’ temporary closure of FCI Dublin in April and subsequent announcement of its permanent closure on Thursday are directly affected by the proposed settlement.
The decision to permanently close (FCI Dublin) is not a result of the settlement, the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement, even though it accepted the substantive terms of a proposed settlement to resolve all injunctive claims in the class-action lawsuit on Nov. 21. The settlement was filed with the district court on Friday.
However, as the court-appointed monitor examines the treatment of former Dublin inmates currently detained at over a dozen federal lockups around the United States, those involved in the negotiations think it is likely that thousands more women may benefit.
In addition to having access to the women, staff, and records, the monitor will provide the public with monthly reports on significant discoveries about a variety of topics, such as medical care, early release regulations, staff abuse, and retaliation against prisoners.
The AP has discovered several arrests and convictions of Bureau of Prisons employees for sexually abusing inmates at other federal prisons, and some of the women who reported abuse at Dublin said they have experienced similar mistreatment at other facilities.
According to plaintiffs attorney Amaris Montes of the legal advocacy group Rights Behind Bars, the BOP has failed prisoners in its custody all throughout the nation, and the issues at FCI Dublin were not specific to that facility. This represents the lived experience of the class members in this complaint.
The Bureau of Prisons attempted to have the complaint dismissed before reaching a settlement, claiming at one time that the issue was irrelevant due to FCI Dublin’s temporary shutdown. Days after Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, the case’s judge, appointed a monitor to supervise the agency’s operations, the agency began removing prisoners from the institution.
Gonzalez Rogers was jointly urged by the plaintiffs’ attorneys and the Bureau of Prisons on Friday to designate Wendy Still as the court-appointed monitor required by the settlement agreement.
In order to report abuse and potential violations of consent decrees, plaintiffs will have continuous and private access to the court-appointed monitor, attorneys, and community-based counselors under the proposed agreement.
Protections against retribution are also included in the proposed deal, such as a prohibition on the Bureau of Prisons placing plaintiffs in segregated living units—a penalty similar to solitary confinement—for minor infractions.
Invalid disciplinary reports produced by FCI Dublin staff that may have been issued to punish or silence inmates must also be reviewed and expunged by the agency. If those disciplinary reports are upheld, they may prevent a person from being placed in a halfway home or granted early release.
Additionally, the government must release qualified jailed plaintiffs to halfway homes and home confinement as quickly as possible, and it must restore early release credits that convicts lost during their transfer from FCI Dublin. The proposed agreement prohibits the agency from denying early release based just on a detainer or immigration status.
A 2021 AP investigation discovered a long-standing culture of abuse and cover-ups inside the institution. Congress began to pay more attention as a result of that research, and the Bureau of Prisons made commitments to address issues and alter the prison’s culture, but those promises were shelved with Thursday’s closing news.
At least eight FCI Dublin staff members have been accused of sexually abusing prisoners since 2021. Five have entered guilty pleas. Ray Garcia, the former warden, was one of two people found guilty at trial. There is still another lawsuit pending.
Follow Balsamo atx.com/MikeBalsamo1 and Sisak atx.com/mikesisak.go visit https://www.ap.org/tips/ to submit private tips.
The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!