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California senator pushes for media access in prisons
California state Sen. Nancy Skinner wrote a bill to allow media access into prisons.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it has opened an investigation into allegations that correctional officers systematically sexually abused incarcerated women at two state-run California prisons, drawing immediate praise from state lawmakers.
"No person, no matter what they did to be sentenced to prison, should be forced to endure the crime of rape or sexual assault by prison staff," state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and Vice Chair Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) said in a joint statement.
Authorities found "significant justification" to open an investigation into the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino, the DOJ said in a news release. Both are run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
KTVU reached out to CDCR for comment.
Jeff Macomber, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in a statement that the department welcomes the independent investigation.
"Sexual assault is a heinous violation of fundamental human dignity that is not tolerated — under any circumstances — within California’s state prison system," he said.
The formal inquiry was sparked by hundreds of private lawsuits over the past two years alleging that women incarcerated at the Chowchilla prison were raped or otherwise sexually abused, according to the news release.
A single lawsuit filed on behalf of 21 women incarcerated at the Chino facility alleges that from 2014 to 2020, correction officers there groped and forcibly raped the women, forced them to participate in oral copulation, and threatened them with violence, the release said.
Correctional staff are accused of seeking sexual favors in return for contraband and other privileges, according to the Justice Department. It added that some of the accused include prison officials who are responsible for handling sexual abuse complaints at the facilities.
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Powerless in Prison: The fallout of FCI Dublin
In April, the Bureau of Prisons abruptly shut down the troubled FCI Dublin. KTVU interviews dozens of women and explains what led up to the closure, questioning whether this was retaliation for outside oversight over the prison, which has been riddled with sex abuse for decades.
The sexual abuse allegations at the state prison level follow sexual assault convictions of seven correctional officers so far at the federal prison level, stemming from one prison alone – FCI Dublin – which shut down earlier this year. The federal Bureau of Prisons is also facing a massive lawsuit by more than 70 women alleging sexual abuse by dozens of guards. That case is currently in settlement negotiations.
One year ago, the California Legislative Women's Caucus hosted a legislative briefing on sexual assault and harassment in California women’s prisons.
The briefing, which included top officials from CDCR, followed revelations that a single prison guard, Gregory Rodriguez, at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla had raped or sexually assaulted at least 22 women over many years. That guard is now facing 96 felony charges.
In addition, more than 120 women have sued CDCR alleging widespread sexual assault and harassment by prison staff at Chowchilla and Chino. In January of this year, members of the Legislative Women's Caucus toured Chowchilla to view the conditions and talk to incarcerated individuals.
The Legislative Women's Caucus has also partnered with Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, an Oakland-based nonprofit with over 5,000 formerly and currently incarcerated and systems-impacted members, and other survivor groups and advocates, to raise awareness about and address the pervasive problem of staff sexual misconduct in state prisons.
Skinner's office noted it was this group’s report back to the Legislature on the systemic issue of sexual assault in California’s women’s prisons that was cited by the US Justice Department as one of the reasons for launching this investigation.
"Over the past year, we have met with far too many incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people who have shared horrific stories of sexual misconduct by staff in our state prisons," Skinner and Aguiar-Curry said in their joint statement. "We hope that this DOJ investigation will not only put an end to this unconscionable abuse, but also ensure that California meets its constitutional duty to safeguard the civil rights of all incarcerated people."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.