‘No accountability’: Special master sought to oversee scandal-plagued federal women’s prison in Dublin

Inmate advocates and attorneys say nothing other than a court-ordered, independent monitor can help stem the tide of abuse at FCI Dublin.

Women housed at a troubled Bay Area federal prison say multiple leadership changes at FCI Dublin have done little to end rampant bullying, intimidation and retaliation by its staff — even as the inmates continue to face ongoing sexual abuse from the facility’s corrections officers.

Advocates highlighted the complaints, made during testimony last week, in a bid for the appointment of a special master at the prison — one who would be tasked with overseeing long-sought reforms at the facility. Attorneys for the inmates say nothing other than a court-ordered, independent monitor can help stem the tide of abuse, reprisals and woefully inadequate mental health care that inmates contend with on a daily basis.

“The rot is much deeper than any one bad actor,” said Oren Nimni, litigation director of the Washington D.C.-based group Rights Behind Bars. “There is a systemic problem at FCI Dublin and that requires a systemic solution.”

The request comes amid a sprawling lawsuit over conditions at the prison, which accuses its managers, including a former warden, of ignoring decades of warning signs of a reputed “rape club” that targeted inmates for years. If approved, the appointment of a special master would have little, if any, precedent at a United States federal prison, according to attorneys seeking the arrangement.

Numerous similar lawsuits have been filed, and attorneys in this case are seeking class-action status for the cases, a motion the court has not yet addressed.

Waiting for the lawsuit to play out isn’t an option, the advocates say. Multiple wardens have cycled through the prison’s top post since the ouster of former warden Ray J. Garcia, who was sentenced last year to nearly six years in prison for sexually assaulting women.

Other guards and prison workers have also been sent to prison for their own crimes against inmates.

If appointed, the special master could have broad authority to make myriad policy changes at the prison — which houses about 700 inmates and includes a minimum-security camp — while conducting audits and site visits. That includes overseeing a mental health system at the prison that inmates say is essentially non-existent.

“There’s really nobody in charge – there’s no accountability,” said Jane Courant, of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, which is one of the plaintiffs.

In testimony that often brought inmates to tears, women at the prison recalled being sexually abused by officers who acted with impunity — in their cells, by the prison’s dumpsters and during dubious medical exams. Few, if any, of the numerous officers named in court this week have been charged in the sprawling criminal investigation that has led to at least eight convictions of corrections staff.

The Bay Area News Group is not naming the women, who were referred to only by their first names in court, because they are victims of sexual crimes.

“It’s terrifying living in here,” said one inmate, adding that there’s also a rampant drug problem at the prison.”Half the inmates are walking around looking like zombies, and it’s scary.”

One woman described being harassed and assaulted by a guard who kissed and groped her numerous times in 2022 — once surprising her immediately after she exited a shower. It all began with a note that declared “he knew that I was going to be his wife,” the 30-year-old mother of two testified.

The guard left the prison a few months later, but he continued to send her emails using an alias, she testified. He then moved out of state to the same city as her parents — befriending them and even securing a job at her mother’s workplace. His actions terrified the woman, who wept while recalling him appearing on video calls with her mother at her house.

“I honestly, to this day, have no idea what it is he told my mom and dad,” the woman testified.

She said she didn’t immediately report the harassment or assaults out of fear of retaliation from other guards, who appeared to cover for the officer. It only came to light after another inmate reported the abuse — a report that appeared to prompt other officers to bully her.

“My room’s been ransacked,” the woman testified. “I’m super scared being here because I don’t know what I’m going back to when I get back to my cell today.”

The testimony followed hours of claims by the prison’s leaders that touted numerous changes aimed at righting an institution plagued by scandal.

Erika Quezada, a deputy captain in charge of enforcing policies at the prison, wept on the stand when describing the work she’s put in to improve the facility. When she arrived in June 2022, Quezada said she could immediately see “an overall lack of accountability” and a lack of training. And officers reacted poorly to her demands — going so far as to allegedly remove the lug nuts from her vehicle, she said.

“There was a lot of hostility, a lot of hostility and anger about what was going on,” Quezada testified. “Not just anger about what had happened, but anger at how there was so much change all at once.”

She emphasized how the prison is now in better shape — recounting increased policy training, as well as twice as many cameras at the facility, now numbering 386 at the facility.

“My integrity matters to me,” she said. “I love the good people I work with, and I love that I feel like I can make a difference.”

Still, nearly a dozen inmates refuted those claims of progress — describing an atmosphere of fear and distrust at the facility that persists even now. One inmate recalled being denied visits with her family and being barred from visiting the prison’s commissary for food or clothing after reporting a staffer for an “aggressive” pat-down of her breasts. Others said they were verbally berated, sent to restrictive housing units or forced to go without needed medicine as unsanctioned punishment doled out by guards.

The apparent culture of intimidation was even noted by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who admonished a U.S. attorney for objecting to one of the witness’s statements. The quip came after the inmate recalled how prison staff retaliated against her for reporting misconduct.

“She’s telling what she thinks,” Rogers told the attorney. “And that perception — you all need to be listening, too.”