FCI Dublin: Nearly 300 more women expected to file sex assault claims vs. BOP
KTVU interviewed, emailed and read the written testimony of more than three dozen women who are currently incarcerated at or released from custody from FCI Dublin about the sexual abuse and retaliation that occurs there.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Nearly 300 women who were formerly incarcerated at the now-closed FCI Dublin prison have come forward with sex assault claims and lawsuits, or soon plan to, against the Bureau of Prisons, after 103 women won an unprecedented $116 million from the agency exactly one year ago.
Nearly 400 women
On Wednesday, Asst. U.S. Attorney Jevechius Bernardoni, who represents the BOP, told U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, that he expects a "total of 280 cases" to be filed within the next six months against the agency and individual correctional officers.
That would bring the total number of women to officially file sex assault lawsuit claims against the BOP to nearly 400.
"This is Round 2," said Deborah Golden, an attorney who represents roughly 50 women who say they were sexually assaulted by correctional officers at FCI Dublin, which closed in 2024 after the BOP director at the time said that despite the resources she put in, she couldn't change the sexualized nature of the facility. "There could even be a Round 3."
During a court hearing on Zoom, Rogers corralled all the government lawyers and attorneys representing the women in 43 of those 280 cases, calling the court hearing an "organizing one," which she needed to get her "arms around the totality" of it all.
She ordered everyone back to court on Jan. 28.
Criminal sex crime convictions
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.
Separately, nine former FCI Dublin correctional officers have been convicted of sex crimes against incarcerated women; one of the correctional officers had his case dismissed after two hung juries.
Civil cases accruing
Former Dublin warden Ray Garcia declined comment ahead of his sentencing. March 22, 2023
One of those officers was former Warden Ray Garcia, who is serving a nearly six-year prison sentence and is facing at least 21 civil cases in this second round of lawsuits, according to his attorney Kevin Little.
Another attorney, Jessica Pride, said she is representing about 80 women, and attorney Kyle Gains told the judge he has filed 17 lawsuits on behalf of female plaintiffs in Round 2 so far and expects to file "40 or 60 more."
FCI Dublin is now vacant
Ten former correctional officers at FCI have been charged with sex crimes at the now-closed women's prison.
FCI Dublin now sits vacant next to Santa Rita Jail. This month, the BOP turned the land over to the General Services Administration. It's unclear what will become of it, though on Tuesday, the Dublin City Council passed a symbolic resolution saying they didn't want it to become any type of correctional facility in the future.
In an interview ahead of the hearing, Golden explained that after the first payout to 103 women who were once held at FCI Dublin, many other women came forward, too.
That was the largest settlement ever paid by the Department of Justice to incarcerated women.
Woman's specific allegations
One of her clients, identified as H.R., in court documents had been out of prison for eight years, but saw the headline in December 2024 about former FCI Dublin women each receiving about $1 million for the sexual assaults they endured.
She told her attorneys that she never thought anyone would believe her, until that historic payout, and she decided to file suit, too.
Her suit, which she filed in September, alleges that she had spent 12 years at FCI Dublin and started seeing a man she described as a psychologist to discuss her trauma.
In her sessions, the treatment provider encouraged H.M. to believe he was one of the "good ones" and not like other officers at FCI Dublin, some of whom she accused of watching her in the shower, conducting aggressive strip searches and commenting on her body, the suit alleges.
The treatment provider did not report this alleged abuse, and instead groomed her, fondled her and manipulated her and picked her up on the day of her release and brought her to his home in Northern California to have sex with her, the suit alleges.
He continued to pursue her for two years while she remained on supervised release and the "BOP did nothing to protect her," the suit alleges.
Larry Elam, the attorney representing the officer, denied that his client represented him as a psychologist, instead describing him as a drug treatment provider, and in court documents, denied grooming her or having a sexual relationship with her while she was in prison. His motion states he never told H.M. he was a doctor.
He acknowledged picking her up on her release date because H.M. called him and told him she missed her bus, but denied stalking her for two years.
This particular officer is not one of the 10 correctional officers who were charged with sex crimes by the Department of Justice.
KTVU is not naming him because he has not been criminally charged in the case.
Meanwhile, the DOJ has been fighting many of these new allegations, in some cases, by accusing them of coming forward now, just to get a large payout.
This was the strategy used in both trials of correctional officer Darrell Wayne "Dirty Dick" Smith, whose charges were ultimately dismissed after two mistrials.