LOS ANGELES (AP) — The beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons mentioned Monday it is going to shut a girls’s jail in California often called the “rape club” regardless of makes an attempt to reform the troubled facility after an Related Press investigation uncovered rampant staff-on-inmate sexual abuse.Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters mentioned in an announcement to the AP that the company had “taken unprecedented steps and provided a tremendous amount of resources to address culture, recruitment and retention, aging infrastructure — and most critical — employee misconduct.”“Despite these steps and resources, we have determined that FCI Dublin is not meeting expected standards and that the best course of action is to close the facility,” Peters mentioned. “This decision is being made after ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of those unprecedented steps and additional resources.”The announcement of Dublin’s closure represents a rare acknowledgement by the Bureau of Prisons that its much-promised efforts to enhance the tradition and setting there haven’t labored. Many makes an attempt to stem the issues at Dublin have come after the AP investigation revealed a sample of abuse and mismanagement that crossed years, even many years.Simply 10 days earlier than the closure announcement, a federal choose took the unprecedented step of appointing a particular grasp to supervise the jail.ADVOCATES WANT PRISONERS FREEDFCI Dublin, about 21 miles (34 kilometers) east of Oakland, is one in every of six women-only federal prisons and the one one west of the Rocky Mountains. It at present homes 605 inmates — 504 inmates in its fundamental jail and one other 101 at an adjoining minimum-security camp. That determine is down from a complete of 760 prisoners in February 2022.The ladies at present housed on the jail shall be transferred to different amenities, Peters mentioned, and no workers will lose their jobs.Advocates have referred to as for inmates to be free of FCI Dublin, which they are saying is just not solely tormented by sexual abuse but in addition has hazardous mould, asbestos and insufficient well being care.Final August, eight FCI Dublin inmates sued the Bureau of Prisons, or BOP, alleging the company had did not root out sexual abuse. Amaris Montes, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, had mentioned inmates continued to face retaliation for reporting abuse, together with being put in solitary confinement and having belongings confiscated.Montes mentioned she and her shoppers had suspected closure is likely to be a chance, however the suddenness of the choice so shortly after the particular grasp appointment got here as a shock. “It’s a signal that the prison knows that they are not meeting constitutional standards to keep people safe from sexual assault and sexual harassment,” Montes mentioned Monday.Montes mentioned timing on the closure and switch of inmates was nonetheless being labored out, however she hoped it might be carried out in a measured approach.“I think that the BOP is quick to try to transfer accountability and move accountability elsewhere as the way to remedy the issue. And that would mean, you know, moving people quickly without addressing people’s needs right now.” Lots of the incarcerated girls have bodily and psychological well being points that should be handled, she mentioned, whereas different inmates is likely to be thought of for launch.On Monday, two buses moved across the parking zone of FCI Dublin. Jail employees moved baggage and carts of provides between the buildings and buses. An AP reporter didn’t see any inmates leaving the power.A HISTORY OF ABUSE ALLEGATIONS — AND CONVICTIONSLast month, the FBI once more searched the jail and the Bureau of Prisons once more shook up its management after a warden despatched to assist rehabilitate the power was accused of retaliating towards a whistleblower inmate. Days later, a federal choose overseeing lawsuits towards the jail, mentioned she would appoint a particular grasp to supervise the power’s operations.An AP investigation in 2021 discovered a tradition of abuse and cover-ups that had endured for years on the jail. That reporting led to elevated scrutiny from Congress and pledges from the Bureau of Prisons that it might repair issues and alter the tradition on the jail.Since 2021, a minimum of eight FCI Dublin workers have been charged with sexually abusing inmates. 5 have pleaded responsible. Two had been convicted at trial, together with the previous warden, Ray Garcia. One other case is pending.All sexual exercise between a jail employee and an inmate is against the law. Correctional workers have substantial energy over inmates, controlling each side of their lives from mealtime to lights out, and there’s no state of affairs through which an inmate can provide consent.Inmate advocates fear that a few of the security issues at FCI Dublin might persist on the different girls’s prisons. Montes mentioned the civil litigation will proceed regardless of the approaching closure.“The BOP is the defendant in the case. It’s not FCI Dublin,” she said. “And so we are in the mindset that this did not end our case — that they still have a responsibilty to our clients to keep them safe.”___Sisak and Balsamo reported from New York. Comply with Sisak at x.com/mikesisak and Balsamo at x.com/MikeBalsamo1 and ship confidential ideas by visiting https://www.ap.org/ideas/. Related Press journalist Terry Chea in Dublin, California, contributed to this report.
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