AP investigation: Women's prison fostered culture of abuse

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-california-united-states-prisons-00a711766f5f3d2bd3fe6402af1e0ff8

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inside one of the only federal women’s prisons in the United States, inmates say they have been subjected to rampant sexual abuse by correctional officers and even the warden, and were often threatened or punished when they tried to speak up.

Prisoners and workers at the federal correctional institution in Dublin, California, even have a name for it: “The rape club.”

Together, they detail how inmates’ allegations against members of the mostly male staff were ignored or set aside, how prisoners could be sent to solitary confinement for reporting abuse and how officials in charge of preventing and investigating sexual misconduct were themselves accused of abusing inmates or neglecting their concerns.

(snip)

A hotbed of corruption and misconduct, the federal prison system has been plagued by myriad crises in recent years, including widespread criminal activity among employees, critically low staffing levels that have hampered responses to emergencies, the rapid spread of COVID-19, a failed response to the pandemic and dozens of escapes. Last month, the embattled director, Michael Carvajal, announced he was resigning. On Monday, two inmates were killed in a gang clash at a federal penitentiary in Texas, prompting a nationwide lockdown.

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. Thanks.

[Solly Mack]

3. You're welcome. Needs to be read.

Second time I've recommended a post about the abuse today. If someone were to start another thread, I would K&R that one, too.

Something sick about a society that simply accepts prison abuse/violence as something to be expected.

[crickets]

4. Sad to say my first reaction to the headline was "well, duh."

Women already face a power imbalance throughout much of their lives. Transfer that to a prison situation and sadly it's no surprise that the imbalance is taken advantage of. Thank goodness something finally may be done about it.

One inmate who reported a 2017 sexual assault said she was told nothing would be done about her complaint because it was a “he said-she said.” The woman, who is now suing the Bureau of Prisons over her treatment, said she was fired from her prison commissary job as retaliation. When she went to report her firing, she said a Dublin counselor took her abuser’s side, responding: “Child, do you want him to lose his job?” The woman was moved to a different prison a week later.

Child. I just can't even. No point getting into how of course he should lose his job. Rather than deal with the situation properly, they just moved her. Why does that tactic sound so familiar? That the employee union was upset, not about the abuse of inmates by some of their members, but about how it reflected on them as a whole and traumatized them, is also nauseating.

It shouldn't have taken five years and a pandemic for the women inmates to get relief. Here's hoping there are big changes, and the rotten employees responsible are appropriately charged and sentenced. Given the history of light sentences mentioned in the article... *sigh*

[uponit7771]

5. +1