Every prisoner has now been abruptly transferred out of the federal women’s prison in Dublin, but some have been hauled as far away as Florida, and a judge is ordering their belongings returned and their medical care restored.
The federal women’s prison known as Federal Correctional Institution of Dublin (FCI Dublin) has had a stunning string of ghoulish sexual abuse scandals bubble up over the last nearly two years. And while we knew the staff had been abusing the women prisoners, it was a shock when the prison was raided by the FBI in March, and then suddenly closed out of the blue on April 15. The 600-plus prisoners were hastily shoved into buses with no idea where they were being sent, often without their possessions, and with their families not being notified where the women were being sent.
All of the women are now out of that prison. But according to the latest report from KTVU, they’ve been shipped as far away as Texas, Alabama, and Florida. And that same KTVU report details how the women were denied the ability to bring their belongings, medicine, and even feminine hygiene products. So a US District Court judge has written a blistering 15-page ruling condemning how the whole mess was handled, and ordering regular updates proving that the prisoners’ possessions have been returned and their rights restored.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers wrote that the US Bureau of Prisons’ “operational plan for closure of FCI Dublin was ill-conceived and, like Swiss cheese, full of holes.” She added that the bureau “ignored other operational issues including the proper movement of the [adults in custody's] property and the appropriate communication and messaging to the [prisoners] and staff who were not advised of the closure until the last minute.”
Last minute, indeed. The staff were apprantly not notified of the Monday morning tranfers until late the prior Friday afternoon.
Oh, and we’re also learning the prison was somehow crawling with illegal drugs. “Drug treatment programs were not available for the majority of the population that requested treatment, despite drugs being rampant at the facility,” Gonzalez Rogers said.
She mentions this in the context that the transferred prisoners had been denied their prescribed medication, or any medical care they needed.
Gonzalez Rogers ordered weekly and monthly reports proving that each prisoner had all of their possessions returned, all of their medicine provided, and all of the medical care they need delivered. She also demanded staffing reports proving that the new prisons to which the women were moved were adequately staffed.
It seems like a responsible intervention to what has been a real disaster. And maybe it will bring some closure to this nightmare. But considering the haphazard way this matter has been handled, it seems likely that we have not heard the last of these prisoners’ rights being abused.
It also remains unclear if the Bureau of Prisons still intends to reuse and repopulate FCI Dublin, or if it's just going to sit empty for a while.
Image: Jesstess87 via Wikimedia Commons
