The U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BoP) has agreed to pay $115 million to more than 100 survivors of a major sex abuse scandal, a landmark settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging widespread officer misconduct in a federal prison brought light.
The payout resolves 103 claims of sexual abuse and retaliation for reporting misconduct by people incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin, a troubled women’s institution in California. Harassment and abuse by staff at FCI Dublin, east of Oakland, was pervasive and extensively documented, and the facility was known internally as the “rape club.”
Related: The US is closing prisons amid sex abuse investigations and suicide crisis
Victims who came forward to report the abuse have been fighting for years for protection and accountability. Seven former employees in Dublin, including the warden who ran the prison and the chaplain, have been criminally convicted of sex crimes, and more than 20 other employees have been placed on leave and are under investigation. The agency announced Dublin’s permanent closure earlier this month and former residents have been transferred to other federal prisons across the country.
The settlement appears to be the largest payout in the BoP’s history, according to plaintiffs’ lawyers. The agreement is a major victory for advocates fighting misconduct in women’s prisons, who have documented how sexual abuse is a systemic problem in the U.S. prison system. Staff sexually abused incarcerated residents in at least two-thirds of federal women’s prisons over the past decade, with some women abused for months and years, a 2022 U.S. Senate investigation found.
The class action settlement also includes a proposed consent decree negotiated by the BoP, current and former incarcerated survivors and the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, an advocacy group. The agreement covers almost 500 class members who are former Dublin residents and are now incarcerated in other prisons.
The consent decree stipulates that the agency will be subject to continued outside oversight and will issue regular public reports on ongoing abuse and retaliation; provide class members with access to community-based advisors; limit the use of solitary confinement; and release eligible claimants to home detention and community programs “as soon as practicable.”
Survivors of the Dublin scandal who have been transferred to other prisons have reported continued concerns about retaliation and said they have had difficulty accessing trauma recovery services while still in the Bureau of Prisons system. Advocates say some of the victims were targeted because they were not U.S. citizens and are at constant risk of deportation. Imprisoned survivors have fought for compassionate release, clemency grants from Joe Biden and immigration relief.
Aimee Chavira, who was previously jailed in Dublin and spoke out about the abuse she suffered, has now been released and is part of the settlement.
“We have been sentenced to prison, we have not been sentenced to assault and battery,” Chavira said in a statement on Tuesday. “I hope this settlement will help survivors like me as they begin to heal – but money will not repair the damage BoP has done to us, or free survivors still suffering in prison, or bring back survivors who have been deported and separated. of their families. And money will not stop prison officials from continuing to abuse inmates.”
Susan Beaty, senior attorney at the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, and co-counsel in the class action lawsuit, added: “We are hopeful that these funds will provide survivors with some stability and resources to heal their lives and to rebuild. I am very aware that no amount of money can heal the wounds suffered by people in Dublin.”
Randilee Giamusso, a spokesperson for the BoP, said in an email that a “neutral third-party process” was used to distribute the funds to the claimants.
“The [BoP] is committed to appropriately addressing the impact of sexual abuse at FCI Dublin. The [BoP] remains committed to rooting out unlawful behavior and holding accountable those who violate their oath of office,” she said.
