Buses seen transferring women from FCI Dublin prison ahead of sudden shutdown

DUBLIN, Calif. - Buses were seen leaving the troubled FCI Dublin women's prison on Wednesday, shipping women off to far-flung facilities across the country.

"We aren't doing very well in here," Ashley Nicole Leyba wrote to KTVU from inside FCI Dublin. "I was stripped of all my possessions and I had 20 minutes to be ready to be transferred."

She said she was strip-searched, put in "transport clothes" and loaded onto a bus Monday, until she was returned to the facility, where her unit is now devoid of any toothpaste, underwear or personal products. The rest of her belongings had been stolen. And now, two days later, she said she is being screamed at by the officers to pack up again.

"This experience is so traumatizing, it's making us all sick," she wrote.

On Monday, the Bureau of Prisons decided to shut down the facility, where sex crimes, retaliation, mold and asbestos have plagued the property for years.

The news came as a surprise to the women, their families and U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers named a special master to oversee reforms over the prison on April 5. 

Many suspect the shutdown is payback for that oversight, despite the BOP's official contention that the prison wasn't "meeting expected standards." 

Sources told KTVU that all 605 women will likely be moved out by Friday.

Paul Knudsen said his daughter was shipped out Wednesday before noon. 

"They were not allowed to take their belongings or that many belongings with them, like one pair of pants, and just so many shirts, etc." he said.  "They were not allowed to get their belongings that they had to leave behind." 

Knudsen said he didn't know where his daughter was being sent.

Matthew Ellison also told KTVU that his wife was transferred as well. Where? He didn't know. 

"She was told she had 15 minutes to pack," he said. 

Linda Expose said this sudden closure has left some of her friends "stranded and confused. They are being shuffled onto buses without any idea of what is happening to them."

Despite what the judge has said, none of her friends have spoken with a case manager to determine if they should move to another prison or even home confinement. 

"It's a chaotic and distressing situation, and no one seems to be taking responsibility for it," Expose said. "It's heartbreaking to see them being subjected to abuse and neglect all over again."

The only other minimum- and low-security all-women's federal prisons in the country are in West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Connecticut, Florida and Minnesota.

Gonzalez Rogers had issued an order earlier this week, mandating that her special master review all the paperwork before the women were to be transferred, and the BOP pushed back on that order, saying that exceeded the judge's authority.

Gonzalez Rogers wanted to ensure that the women received the proper medical care before being transferred and that their releases to halfway houses or elsewhere would be honored. 

Gonzalez Rogers held a private court hearing Wednesday morning, where a decision on that issue has not yet been made public. 

It's also possible that the women seen leaving FCI Dublin had their paperwork reviewed. 

BOP buses were at FCI Dublin to take women away ahead of a sudden shutdown. April 17, 2024

Lisa Fernandez is a reporter for KTVU. Email Lisa at lisa.fernandez@fox.com or call her at 510-874-0139. Or follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez