Ex-correctional officer at federal prison in California gets 5 years for sexually abusing inmates
OAKLAND, California — A former federal correctional officer was sentenced Friday to more than five years in prison for sexually assaulting two inmates at a women's prison in California, where the warden and other employees were accused of similar conduct.
A federal jury in June found John Russell Bellhouse guilty of two counts of sexual abuse and three counts of abusive sexual contact involving the two women between 2019 and 2020 at FCI Dublin, about 20 miles east of Oakland.
He was sentenced to five years and three months in prison on Friday.
U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California, whose office prosecuted the case, said the verdict “makes it clear that sexual abuse of inmates by guards will not be tolerated.”
“This conduct was a disturbing departure from the expectations and requirements of all federal correctional officers,” Ramsey said in a statement Friday. “Bellhouse violated his oath and abused the power given to him, all to victimize the people he was meant to protect.”
According to the FBI, Bellhouse was the eighth case against the facility's correctional officers for sexual abuse. The prison's former director, Ray Garcia, was convicted in December of harassing inmates and forcing them to pose naked in their cells. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
An Associated Press investigation revealed a culture of abuse and cover-up that persisted at the prison for years. This prompted the Bureau of Prisons to launch new training for guards and create specialized teams aimed at reducing sexual abuse in the nation's federal prisons.
An attorney for Bellhouse, Shaffy Moeel, did not immediately return a request for comment. KTVU-TV reported that Bellhouse did not make a statement during Friday's court proceedings.
In court documents, prosecutors wrote that in 2020, Bellhouse “began showing interest in a particular female inmate and began referring to the inmate as his 'girlfriend'.” Authorities said he touched the woman inappropriately and that she had oral sex with Bellhouse twice while in the prison's security office.
All sexual activity between a prison employee and an inmate is illegal.
Prosecutors said Bellhouse allowed a woman to use an office phone — a violation of Bureau of Prisons policy — and also gave her earrings. Another inmate was assigned to act as a lookout during at least one of the sexual encounters, prosecutors said.