Officials question judge’s order for troubled prison
LOS ANGELES — Federal officials are pushing back against a judge’s order that would delay the planned closure of a troubled women’s prison in California where inmates suffered sexual abuse by guards, according to court documents.
After the Bureau of Prison’s announcement Monday that FCI Dublin would be shut down, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered an accounting of the casework for all 605 women held at the main lockup and its adjacent minimum-security camp.
In response, the bureau has filed court papers questioning the authority of the special master appointed by the judge on April 5 to oversee the prison, who is tasked with reviewing each inmate’s status.
The judge’s order amounts to “a de facto requirement” for the bureau to keep the prison open, U.S. attorneys wrote in Tuesday’s filing. But plans for the closure and transfer of inmates “cannot be changed on the fly,” especially because the facility faces a “significant lack of health services and severe understaffing,” according to the filing.
A review of each incarcerated woman’s status would “ensure inmates are transferred to the correct location,” the judge wrote in her order Monday.
“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 Thursday how long the process could take.
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.
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 acknowledgment that reform efforts have failed.