The U.S. Justice Department has launched a probe into sexual abuse by prison guards at two California facilities, including the California Institution for Women in Chino, in the wake of hundreds of lawsuits by inmates being filed over the past decade.
Federal officials on Sept. 4 said the investigation was opened in response to public records and information from inmates and other stakeholders at the Chino facility and the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, which are run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
“No woman incarcerated in a jail or prison should be subjected to sexual abuse by prison staff who are constitutionally bound to protect them,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a prepared statement. “Every woman, including those in prison, retains basic civil and constitutional rights and should be treated with dignity and respect. … This investigation will determine whether California is meeting its constitutional obligations.”
The CDCR secretary said in response that the department would cooperate with the federal probe.
““Sexual assault is a heinous violation of fundamental human dignity that is not tolerated – under any circumstances – within California’s state prison system,” Secretary Jeff Macomber said in a statement emailed to the Southern California Record. “Our department embraces transparency, and we fully welcome the U.S. Department of Justice’s independent investigation.”
The probe was opened even though the department has in recent years attempted to make policy reforms that increase accountability and transparency. The reforms were designed to facilitate the reporting of sexual assault allegations among inmates and provide better training to staff members, as well as the deployment of body cameras and audio surveillance at the two women’s prisons.
The private lawsuits against the CDCR have made allegations of sexual abuse ranging from inappropriate groping to forcible rape. One civil lawsuit on behalf of 21 female inmates held at the California Institution for Women included allegations that staff members offered contraband and privileges in return for sexual favors, according to the Justice Department officials.
In January, the Southern California personal injury law firm ACTS Law filed a civil suit against the CDCR on behalf of 130 women who alleged they were sexually abused by the staffs of the two women’s prisons. The prisons lacked policies to exclude sexual predators from access to the prison population and proper training for security staffs, according to the lawsuit.
“Every woman's worst nightmare is being locked inside a facility filled with sexual predators with no means of escape," ACTS LAW partner Doug Rochen said in a prepared statement on Jan. 18. “And that's exactly what each of these women, and likely thousands more, were subjected to for decades. California paid no attention to their well-being, left them to suffer at the hands of the worst kinds of sexual deviants and made them relive their pain daily while being locked behind bars."
Two state lawmakers welcomed the federal investigation into inmate sexual abuse.
“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," Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and Vice Chair Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) said in a joint statement.