The federal government agreed on Tuesday to pay about $116 million to settle lawsuits by 103 women who said they had been sexually abused while in custody at a now-shuttered women’s prison in Northern California where such claims were rampant.
Lawyers for the women said the deal was the largest of its kind reached with the federal Bureau of Prisons, and a landmark victory that they hoped would offer abuse victims at prisons across the country hope that justice was possible.
The Bureau of Prisons confirmed the settlement in a statement on Tuesday and said that 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.”
The Federal Correction Institution in Dublin, Calif., a low-security facility about 30 miles east of San Francisco, had at one point housed 600 inmates and had stood out as a particularly egregious example of abuse in women’s prisons. At least seven correctional officers have pleaded guilty or been convicted on charges of sexual abuse at the prison. The case against an eighth officer is still pending.
Last year, a former prison warden, Ray Garcia, was sentenced to 70 months in prison and 15 years of supervised release for sexually abusing three female inmates and lying to federal investigators.
Abuse had been so rampant at the prison that it became known among to many as the “rape club,” said Jessica Pride, whose law firm represented some of the victims.
“What happened at Dublin was not just a failure of oversight,” Ms. Pride said in a statement. “It was a cultural rot, where sexual abuse became entrenched as part of the prison’s operations.”
Tuesday’s settlement agreement resolved claims that had been made in the last three to five years against more than 25 correctional officers and medical personnel, according to another law firm that represented 24 of the women. But the settlement represents only a fraction of the abuse at the facility because of a two-year statute of limitations on tort claims, said Adam Slater, a lawyer at the firm Slater Slater Schulman L.L.P.
“So the abuse dates way back,” Mr. Slater said. “We have been contacted by tons of women that have no legal recourse.”
In its statement, the Bureau of Prisons said that the settlement addressed sexual abuse and retaliation claims made by current and former prisoners and that the bureau was “dedicated to appropriately addressing the consequences of sexually abusive behavior at F.C.I. Dublin.”
Earlier this month, the agency announced that it was permanently shutting down the Dublin prison because of low staffing levels, crumbling infrastructure and the high cost of living in the Bay Area. The agency also said at the time that it was disbanding six other facilities across the country, citing maintenance struggles and “a very difficult budget situation.”
Mr. Slater said that women incarcerated in Dublin had faced retaliation, including being placed in solitary confinement, if they reported being abused. His colleague, James Lewis, said such abuse was systemic and not limited to the Dublin facility.
“I think this settlement sheds a light on that a little bit and hopefully will bring attention to all prisons and rampant sexual abuse that goes on in virtually in every prison across the country,” Mr. Lewis said.
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