SAN FRANCISCO– Two advocacy groups asked a judge Wednesday to unseat court records and preserve public access to hearings in the class-action lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons over the sexual abuse of incarcerated women at a now-closed California prison.
The agency suddenly announced on April 15 that it would close FCI Dublin and transfer around 600 women, despite efforts to reform the facility after an Associated Press investigation exposed rampant attacks by staff on prisoners.
The legal nonprofit Public Justice and the ACLU of Northern California have jointly filed a motion seeking greater transparency in the case. who will appear in court in June next year.
In the weeks since the trial began, the federal district court held a series of closed hearings to address the hastily planned closure of the prison near San Francisco. “These hearings took place without notice, and in many cases the docket does not indicate that they even took place,” the groups said in a statement on Wednesday.
In addition, the court has granted “numerous requests to seal the documents in the case and many of the requests themselves have been sealed, leaving the public and press in the dark,” the statement said.
The groups argued that previously sealed documents should be made public because security concerns are irrelevant now that FCI Dublin is closed.
The prison bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday’s request to unseat the data. But the agency has repeatedly said it does not comment on cases pending in court.
“Holding public officials accountable for the horrific conditions at FCI Dublin requires full transparency,” said Angelica Salceda, director of the Democracy and Civic Engagement program at the ACLU of Northern California. “The public needs to know the full extent of the systemic sexual misconduct that occurred there, as well as what happened during the final chaotic weeks leading up to the facility’s closure and in its immediate aftermath.”
Prison officials have reiterated that the closure plan was carefully considered for months.
FCI Dublin Inmates sued the prison agency last August claiming the agency had failed to root out sexual abuse.