The U.S. government will pay nearly $116 million to resolve lawsuits brought by more than 100 women who say they were abused or mistreated at a now-shuttered federal prison in California that was known as the "rape club" because of rampant staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct, reports the Associated Press. Under settlements approved Tuesday, the Justice Department will pay an average of about $1.1 million to each of 103 women who sued the Bureau of Prisons over their treatment at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif. The agreements were finalized the same day a federal judge was set approve a settlement in a separate class-action lawsuit that requires the Bureau of Prisons to open some facilities to a court-appointed monitor and acknowledge abuse at Dublin.
"We were sentenced to prison, we were not sentenced to be assaulted and abused," said lawsuit plaintiff and former Dublin prisoner Aimee Chavira. "I hope this settlement will help survivors, like me, as they begin to heal – but money will not repair the harm that BOP did to us, or free survivors who continue to suffer in prison, or bring back survivors who were deported and separated from their families," Chavira said. The Bureau of Prisons said it "strongly condemns all forms of sexually abusive behavior and takes seriously its duty to protect the individuals in our custody as well as maintain the safety of our employees and community."
Tuesday's settlements cover an initial wave of lawsuits seeking monetary compensation from the Bureau of Prisons after former warden Ray Garcia and other employees at the Dublin prison went to prison for sexually abusing inmates. Subsequent lawsuits have yet to be resolved.
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