A notorious California prison – known by inmates as the “rape club” and “club fed” to famous inmates like Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin – will be closed after years of rampant staff sexual abuse against female inmates.
Some inmates at FCI Dublin, located about 21 miles (34 kilometers) east of Oakland, were already being transferred to other prisons on Monday as Federal Bureau of Prisons officials announced plans to close the facility.
Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters confirmed to DailyMail.com that the agency has “taken unprecedented steps and committed a tremendous amount of resources to address culture, recruitment and retention, aging infrastructure – and most critically – employee misconduct.” to deal with.
“Despite these steps and resources, we have determined that FCI Dublin is not meeting expected standards and that the best course of action is to close the facility,” Peters said. “This decision is made after continued evaluation of the effectiveness of these unprecedented steps and additional resources.”
FCI Dublin, located in the Bay Area, has been plagued by sexual abuse of female inmates by staff for years
“Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman completed her prison sentence for her part in the college admissions scandal at the camp at the Dublin, California facility.
‘Full House’ actress Lori Loughlin also spent two months in California federal prison in connection with the college admissions scandal
A judge had appointed a special master to oversee reforms at FCI Dublin after a 2021 investigation found prison staff had sex with prisoners, including former warden Ray Garcia.
Sex between a prisoner and an inmate is illegal because correctional officers could use their position of power over the departments.
At least eight FCI Dublin employees have so far been accused of abusing prisoners since 2021.
Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss – who served three years of her tax evasion and money laundering charges at FCI Dublin from 1997 to 2000 – told DailyMail.com that it was common knowledge that guards had sexual relations with prisoners.
Fleiss said she was shocked that the prison was closing, but wasn’t surprised that the sexual abuse of guards continued years after she had been in Dublin because “everyone knew this was happening all the time.”
“When I was there, there were inmates eating Kentucky Fried Chicken,” Fleiss told DailyMail.com on Monday. “And you knew right away they were fucking the guards, because that fried chicken definitely wasn’t from the prison menu.”
Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss told DailyMail.com that sex between inmate and guards was common during her time in Dublin
Heidi Fleiss is pictured with girlfriend ‘Sylvia’, who were both imprisoned at FCI Dublin in 1999
‘I remember a woman said to me, ‘Hey, look at this,’ and then she showed me her lingerie while she was eating her KFC.
“All I said to her was, ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ but what I was really thinking was, ‘None of my girls had to fuck for fried chicken!’
Fleiss said she initially spent four months of her time in the facility’s medium security camp, known as a “club fed” area where other famous inmates such as Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin spent their time before their involvement in the college admissions scandal .
But after throwing a chair at a guard, Fleiss said she was sent to the “big house” in Dublin, where she saw moldy carpets and cells that were in disrepair.
During her three years in Dublin, Fleiss said one of her former prison friends started having sex with a prison guard named ‘Hyson’, who was known to all the female prisoners as a flirtatious charmer.
That former prison guard – Jon C. Hyson – was ultimately charged with seventeen counts of sex with inmates and five counts of lying to investigators. He was accused of asking two inmates to perform a sex act on each other and allegedly receiving oral sex from an inmate.
He was also accused of committing fourteen sex acts with at least two inmates and lying to Justice Department investigators.
Former FCI Dublin guard Ray Garcia, left, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison in 2022 for sexually abusing three inmates and lying about it to federal officials
“My boyfriend was going to have sex with Hyson and he brought her treats,” Fleiss recalled. “But when she found out he was having sex with other inmates, she got angry.”
Hyson pleaded guilty in 1999 to four counts of illegal sex acts, one count of attempted sex acts and one count of making a false statement to the FBI, according to the San Francisco Gate.
Fleiss said that during her time in Dublin, the prison was “overcrowded” and overcrowded with about 2,400 inmates.
She recalled a time when she had to share her small prison cell with three other women.
“I remember asking them if I could go to the bathroom and if I could get some privacy,” Fleiss said. “And one of them said, ‘Do you think you’re fucking special?’ You need to be in a resealable bag or you’re going to sit on that toilet right now and take that s**t.”
Fleiss added, “I almost started crying. There have been many times when I feared for my life because I was there with murderers.”
Fleiss said some female inmates traded sex for Kentucky Fried Chicken, which was sneaked into the prison by guards.
A typical cell at FCI Dublin, which is on the verge of closure due to the rampant sexual abuse of prisoners and the mold and asbestos found in the facility
Bureau Of Prisons officials said the female inmates will be transferred to other prisons, while staff will keep their jobs
Fleiss said that in addition to married prison guards having affairs with inmates, suicide and prison escapes also occurred during her time in Dublin.
“There were a lot of bad women there – believe me, they were really, really bad,” Fleiss told DailyMail.com. “I didn’t know them all, but some should never have been released.”
Although Dublin appears to be less crowded since Fleis’s time, prison officials still have to find a place to transfer the 605 inmates.
BOP officials would not confirm which other prisons the women will be transferred to for safety reasons.
The official last day for Dublin to close remains unclear, but BOP officials said no current employees will lose their jobs.
In the meantime, the agency continues to face lawsuits against eight inmates, who allege prison officials did nothing for years to stop the sexual abuse.
Amaris Montes, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said her clients continue to face retaliation.
“I think the BOP is trying to quickly transfer responsibility and shift responsibility elsewhere as a way to solve the problem,” the attorney told the Associated Press. “And that would mean getting people moving quickly, without meeting people’s needs at the moment.”