The federal prison FCI Dublin in Northern California saw employees prey on prisoners for years in a pervasive culture dubbed "the rape club." Women were abused by the chaplain, medical staff, and even the warden, who had trained others on the Prison Rape Elimination Act. These violations finally came to light in 2021 after an investigation by the Department of Justice led to the indictment of a guard. Eventually, seven FCI Dublin employees, including the warden, were convicted of sexual abuse (an eighth will stand trial next year). The California Coalition of Women Prisoners (CCWP), also filed a class-action lawsuit against the BOP. A federal judge appointed a special master to look into the allegations, which advocates hoped would bring some measure of oversight. Eventually, the BOP announced it was closing the facility entirely.
Nearly everyone was transferred, sent to over a dozen different federal prisons throughout the country, some thousands of miles from their family and children. Women were retaliated against further on the drive there, as Lisa Fernandez, who has covered sexual abuse at FCI Dublin since early 2022, reported recently for Rolling Stone; many face ongoing retaliation at their new facilities. Lately, lawyers representing the survivors are trying a novel strategy: compassionate release, Bolts reports. The mechanism, generally conceived of as a last-resort option for dying or medically incapacitated prisoners, is for the first time being considered as a reparative measure for women who were sexually abused while in federal custody. FAMM and the pro bono lawyers working with them have helped secure compassionate release for 17 former inhabitants of FCI Dublin, and they’re evaluating 95 additional requests for legal aid from women formerly held at the facility. They argued that sexual abuse in custody should qualify as a reason for release—both as a concrete reparative measure the government can offer, and as a necessary precondition to healing—and many of the judges agreed.