Inmates’ status must be reviewed before prison closes
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The planned closure of a federal women’s prison in California notorious for staffon-inmate sexual abuse won’t occur before each inmate’s status has been reviewed, with an eye toward determining who will be transferred elsewhere or released, authorities say.
Following the Bureau of Prison’s sudden announcement Monday that FCI Dublin would be shut down, a judge ordered an accounting of the casework for all 605 women held at the main lockup and its adjacent minimum-security camp.
A special master recently assigned to oversee the troubled prison will review the casework and “ensure inmates are transferred to the correct location,” US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers wrote in her order. “This includes whether an inmate should be released to a BOP facility, home confinement, or halfway house, or granted a compassionate release.”
It wasn’t clear Tuesday how long the process would take. Another court hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.
Advocates have called for inmates to be freed from FCI Dublin, which they say is not only plagued by sexual abuse but also has hazardous mold, asbestos and inadequate health care. They also worry that some of the safety concerns could persist at other women’s prisons.
“There are survivors of sexual assault that are still at Dublin. And the idea that BOP could just transfer them to some other far-off place without care ... it’s just abhorrent to me,” said Susan Beaty, an attorney for inmate whistleblowers who exposed the abuse and corruption.
Beaty said Tuesday that inmates have so far received very little information about their fates. “These are people who are traumatized already, and now they’re being told that they’re moving but they don’t know where or when. They’re understandably freaked out,” Beaty said.
A 2021 Associated Press investigation exposed a “rape club” culture at the prison where a pattern of abuse and mismanagement went back years, even decades. The Bureau of Prisons repeatedly promised to improve the culture and environment — but the decision to shutter the facility represented an extraordinary acknowledgment that reform efforts have failed.
“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,” Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters said in a statement to AP. “This decision is being made after ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of those unprecedented steps and additional resources.”