OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — A judge is weighing a preliminary injunction demanding that the government take action on abuses of incarcerated people at a federal prison for women in the San Francisco Bay Area, in new claims that the prison enabled a pattern of abuse.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers heard arguments Monday in Oakland federal court on multiple cases against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, including a case challenging the state’s handling of multiple individual lawsuits claiming decades of sexual abuse at the prison.
Eight individuals and the grassroots organization California Coalition for Women Prisoners say in their complaint that the Federal Correctional Institute in Dublin enabled a pattern of “rampant” sexual abuse of incarcerated people. The Federal Bureau of Prisons manages the low-security facility, which houses women, transgender men and non-binary people.
The plaintiffs say that despite ongoing reports of systemic abuse of people at FCI Dublin, a culture of abuse is “deeply entrenched” due to inadequate policies to detect and prevent mistreatment of incarcerated people.
They say the bureau failed to take action such as to properly train and supervise employees to prevent misuse of power, implement a confidential system for reporting abuse, stop placing people reporting abuse into solitary confinement and provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care to abused people.
Rogers approved the government’s request for a stay on many similar cases until July 19, 2024 in order to try to reach settlements. However, she did not place a stay on the new case about FCI Dublin.
The government’s attorney Madison Mattioli said the bureau can bring new witnesses to an evidentiary hearing to fight a preliminary injunction. Rogers objected to one of the witnesses Mattioli named, accusing him of having information about what happened at the facility and not acting on it. She criticized the bureau for not surveying all incarcerated people to verify its claim that it has improved the situation at FCI Dublin.
“I want to hear from the people who were there, as much as I need to hear from the BOP officials,” she said.
Attorney for the plaintiffs Oren Nimni said 47 incarcerated people already submitted declarations of testimony.
“BOP has so far refused to submit evidence,” he said. “They’ve had years of problems and this injunction has been sitting with the government since September.”
Mattioli said the government needs to verify who wrote the declarations, which are anonymous to avoid retaliation. She said it blamed individual bureau officials, not policies, for mistreatment of people inside Dublin, saying that plaintiffs created a “culture of mistrust” she called unfair to most bureau employees.
Rogers said that bureau officials are known for treating some individuals differently from others and cannot be trusted to not retaliate against incarcerated people who reveal their identities. She said officials’ illegal behavior took place in prisons “openly and without any fear or correction,” and that they were clearly not concerned about the facility's residents.
“How does that give me any assurance that BOP is concerned in any legitimate way in changing what it's doing?" Rogers asked.
The Barack Obama appointee said both parties must return to court Dec. 18 to prepare for a multi-day evidentiary hearing on Jan. 3.
“I have very little trust in FCI Dublin. There must be significant evidence that they have it under control, and the evidence suggests that they don’t,” she said.
Sexual assaults at FCI Dublin occurred frequently between the 1990s and 2000s, for which at least four employees were convicted or pleaded guilty to sexually abusing incarcerated women. The new lawsuit claims years of “horrific abuse and exploitation” staff committed against incarcerated people in the past decade, including sexual assault and coercion, voyeurism, drugging and abuse during medical exams.
The plaintiffs say that the bureau has been aware of such problems for decades and continues to fail to take action, and its employees protected each other by failing to investigate abuse claims by incarcerated people or even retaliating against them.
In their complaint, the plaintiffs seek a trial, claiming the bureau’s employees violated their Eighth Amendment rights and the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act. They also want the bureau ordered to implement reforms to adequately address and prevent further abuse, such as by ensuring that officers with substantiated claims of sexual abuse and harassment against them are promptly fired and not permitted to return.
In 2019, the Congressional House Subcommittee on National Security determined widespread misconduct in the federal prison system had been tolerated and routinely covered up or ignored. FCI Dublin’s warden Ray J. Garcia, 55, became one of at least eight FCI Dublin workers charged between 2019 and 2021 with abusing incarcerated people. He was sentenced to serve six years in prison in March, and other officers and staff either await sentencing or face similar lawsuits claiming abuse.
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