FCI Dublin employees told to work at high-security Atwater prison

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.

DUBLIN, Calif. - The remaining employees at the now-closed women's prison in Dublin, Calif., were told this week that they must work at a high-security prison in Atwater, Calif., nearly 90 miles away, according to a memo obtained by KTVU.

The current warden at FCI Dublin told the roughly 200 FCI Dublin employees that by Wednesday, "daily assignments to USP Atwater will be mandatory."

The message emphasized: "Be advised that this is neither a volunteer opportunity nor a Temporary Duty Assignment (TDY), and refusal to participate when called upon will be regarded as a refusal of a work assignment."

Bureau of Prisons spokesman Emery Nelson stated on Tuesday in an email that the agency is "actively dealing with a nationwide staffing crisis, and USP Atwater is no exception."

However, Nelson said that a "small number of employees" from correctional and health services, as well as Human Resources, are "temporarily assisting at USP Atwater."

Nelson explained that a Temporary Duty Assignment is a status that indicates a US government employee is officially traveling or assigned to a location that is not their permanent duty station for an assigned period of time.

TDY assignments are typically longer-term assignments "than a day here and a day there," Nelson said.

Nelson explained that the employees at Dublin are not on TDY status to Atwater.

They are still assigned to Dublin, he said, and are "simply assisting at Atwater on a rotational schedule, similar to being assigned to work a different post at Dublin."

Nelson further explained that the memo was sent to all employees, and that 20 to 30 employees will be assigned to Atwater during each rotation.

FCI Dublin President of Local 3584 Ed Canales told KTVU he could not comment on the Atwater memo.

It's unclear how many FCI Dublin employees will make the drive or move to a new location to work at the high-security penitentiary that has 1,200 incarcerated men behind bars.

United States Penitentiary Atwater in Merced County is 87 miles, or roughly a two-hour drive, from Dublin in Alameda County.

The BOP closed the low-level women's prison in Dublin in April, following a judge's unprecedented order to place a special master over the facility in the hopes of reforming the sexualized and retaliatory culture at the prison.

Seven correctional officers there have been sentenced to prison for sex crimes since 2022.

Since then, sources have told KTVU that the employees have assessed the property to see how much it would cost to upgrade the facilities, but mostly done nothing, though the BOP said they have been engaged in trainings.

The Atwater announcement comes two days after FCI Dublin sexual assault survivors, all of whom have been released, spoke at an Oakland church.

One of the women, Windy Panzo, spoke publicly about how she was raped by former FCI Dublin chaplain James Highhouse, who was sentenced to seven years in prison.

The BOP has not said what will become of the shuttered FCI Dublin property, which sits adjacent to Santa Rita Jail.

Sources have floated the possibility that it might turn into a men's prison or possibly be turned over to the Department of Defense as a technology school.