OAKLAND, California — A special master will be appointed to oversee a troubled federal women’s prison in California known for rampant sex abuse against inmates, a judge ordered Friday. This is the first time the federal Bureau of Prisons has been subject to such oversight.
A 2021 Associated Press investigation that found a culture of abuse and cover-up at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin prompted increased scrutiny from Congress and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The low-security prison and adjacent minimum-security satellite camp, located about 21 miles (34 kilometers) east of Oakland, house more than 600 inmates.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers called the jail “a dysfunctional mess” in her order. She did not name anyone as special master, but wrote that the court would appoint one soon.
“The situation cannot be tolerated any longer. The prison is in dire need of immediate change,” she wrote, adding that the Bureau of Prisons “has moved slowly with deliberate disregard for inmates’ constitutional rights despite being fully aware of the situation for years . Failure to understand and address the situation strains credulity.”
The order is part of a federal lawsuit filed in August by eight inmates and the advocacy group California Coalition for Women Prisoners. They allege that sexual abuse and exploitation have not stopped despite the prosecution of the former director and several former officers. Representatives for the inmates and the coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on the captain’s special appointment.
The FCI Dublin sex abuse scandal is one of many problems facing the agency, which has also been plagued by major staff shortages, suicides and security breaches.
Since 2021, at least eight FCI Dublin employees have been accused of sexually abusing prisoners. Five have pleaded guilty. Two were convicted at trial. There is another case pending. There are also approximately fifty civil rights cases pending against FCI Dublin employees.
Rogers wrote that “in making this extraordinary decision, the Court relies on BOP’s repeated failure to ensure that the extraordinary history of this facility is never repeated.”
Any sexual activity between a prison employee and an inmate is illegal. Correctional officers enjoy substantial power over inmates, controlling every aspect of their lives, from mealtimes to turning off the lights, and there is no scenario in which an inmate can give consent.
Rogers made an unannounced visit to the prison on February 14, touring the prison and satellite camp for nine hours. She spoke to at least a hundred prisoners and staff.
Many inmates told her they were not afraid of sexual misconduct and said “no” when asked if it still happened in prison, Rogers wrote. Yet in the August lawsuit, plaintiffs presented “incidents of sexual misconduct that occurred as recently as November 2023.”
While she did not believe the prison has a “sexualized environment,” as alleged in the lawsuit, the judge wrote that she does not believe sexual misconduct has been eradicated at FCI Dublin.
“The truth lies somewhere in the middle: allegations of sexual misconduct have lingered, but labeling it as ubiquitous goes too far,” she wrote. and the continued retaliation against inmates who report misconduct, BOP has lost the ability to act with integrity and trust.”
Friday’s special appointment of the master comes days after the FBI searched the prison as part of an ongoing, years-long investigation. The current warden has also been ousted following new allegations that his staff retaliated against an inmate who testified against the prison, according to court documents filed Monday.
Despite recent reform efforts, Rogers wrote that the prison “cannot leave behind the suspicion that it is the system, not the incarcerated women, that is being abused.”