Women's prison warden is removed
The ouster comes as a judge weighs whether to appoint a special master to oversee the scandal-plagued facility
The warden of FCI Dublin women's prison was ousted amid an FBI raid at the troubled facility on Monday, signaling a potential new front on the years-long investigation into allegations of rape and sexual misconduct by prison staff.
The departure of Warden Art Dulgov — who was not even three months into the job — came as an FBI official confirmed the agency had “conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity at that location.” The exact nature of the investigation remained unclear Monday afternoon, even to attorneys of inmates who recently filed a dozen new lawsuits last week alleging more mistreatment and sexual misconduct by staff. But The Associated Press reported a warden, associate warden and a captain were removed from the facility, while more than a dozen FBI agents seized computers and documents.
A Bureau of Prisons statement issued Monday, meanwhile, called the administrative shakeup “consistent with unprecedented and ongoing actions” to reform the prison's culture,” and said the “recent developments have necessitated new executive employees be installed at the institution.” The statement, which named N.T. McKinney as interim warden, added that “this new team has been charged with developing a plan for the future of the facility.”
Kara Janssen, an attorney representing inmates at the facility, assailed federal prison officials Monday for not taking action earlier.
“This is not a proactive change in leadership,” said Janssen. “The only changes in leadership seem to come through criminal investigations.”
She added that the constant shakeups of leadership at the prison — which has cycled through at least five different permanent or acting wardens in the past three years — have provided little relief for inmates. If anything, she said, Monday's developments only further prove the need for independent oversight of the prison.
“It's an incredibly difficult place for people to be living every single day,” Janssen said. “And
I just hope we can get relief for them soon, because they have no choice but to be there.”
The search comes as a federal district judge weighs whether to appoint a special master to oversee the scandal-plagued prison. And it follows a decision by federal prison officials to place numerous employees at the prison — including at least one prison captain charged with overseeing guards' adherence to policies — on leave over the past two months, according to court filings.
At least eight staff members at all levels of the prison — from jail guards to the chaplain to the warden — have been charged in recent years with sexually assaulting and harassing inmates amid a reputed “rape club” among prison staff. Most have either pled guilty or been convicted, including former Warden Ray J. Garcia, who was sentenced in early 2023 to nearly six years in prison for sexually assaulting women.
In August, advocates for prison inmates filed a sprawling lawsuit accusing prison managers of ignoring decades of warning signs, retaliating against inmates for speaking out and providing insufficient mental and physical health care. They are seeking classaction status, as dozens of similar lawsuits have been filed.
The advocates also asked U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to appoint a special master to oversee changes at the prison while the lawsuit winds its way to trial — a move that, if approved, would be unprecedented at a U.S. federal prison.
At least 11 staff members were accused of sexual misconduct and placed on leave in 2022 and 2023, according to court documents. And at least 19 prison staff members were on leave at the start of a key evidentiary hearing in early January, according to a filing by the inmate advocates.
The same court filing says at least seven more prison staff members have been placed on leave since the evidentiary hearing ended on Jan. 9, including two officers who were “walked off” after being accused of sexual misconduct during a hearing on Jan. 26.
Prison leaders — including Warden Dulgov — testified at the January hearing about how the decision to bring in new leadership in 2023 spoke to the prisons bureau's commitment to changing the facility's infamous culture.
Yet just last month, the prisons bureau narrowly avoided being held in contempt of court after an inmate who testified at the hearing was transferred to Southern California, in violation of the judge's orders — prompting accusations of prisoner retaliation. At the same hearing, Gonzalez Rogers signaled a renewed interest in mandating some type of oversight for the prison after a daylong visit to facility.
“I cannot personally be out there micromanaging Dublin,” said Gonzalez Rogers, who said she didn't “trust either side” to provide entirely factual information about conditions there.
The latest lawsuits accused numerous officers at the prison — including at least three who have not been criminally charged — of either raping inmates or forcing them to perform strip shows and sex acts on other inmates, the inmates' attorneys announced last week. They alleged that officers often made homophobic remarks and targeted women based on their immigration status, even threatening deportation or solitary confinement if an inmate refused their advances.
Just hours after Monday's raid became public, the inmates' attorneys reiterated their calls for more oversight of the prison.
“It speaks to a deep cultural structural issue at the prison that is ongoing,” said Susan Beaty, an attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice.