The federal Bureau of Prisons will close a women’s prison in California known as the "rape club" despite attempts to reform the troubled facility after an Associated Press investigation exposed rampant staff-on-inmate sexual abuse, the AP reports. Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters said the agency had “taken unprecedented steps and provided a tremendous amount of resources to address culture, recruitment and retention, aging infrastructure - and most critical - employee misconduct.” She added that, “Despite these steps and resources, we have determined that [the facility known as] FCI Dublin is not meeting expected standards and that the best course of action is to close the facility."
FCI Dublin, about 21 miles east of Oakland, is one of six women-only federal prisons, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. It has 605 inmates — 504 in its main prison and another 101 at an adjacent minimum-security camp. That’s down from a total of 760 prisoners in February 2022. The women currently housed at the prison will be transferred to other facilities and no employees will lose their jobs, Peters said. 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. Last month, the FBI again searched the prison and the Bureau of Prisons again shook up its leadership after a warden sent to help rehabilitate the facility was accused of retaliating against a whistleblower inmate.
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