Closure of women’s prison was poorly planned, judge says

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER | Associated Press

LOS ANGELES  — The plan to close a troubled prison in California where female inmates suffered sexual abuse by guards was “ill-conceived,” a judge said while ordering close monitoring and care of the incarcerated women who were moved to other federal facilities across the country.

U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in Wednesday’s order that last month’s decision by the Bureau of Prisons, or BOP, to shut down FCI Dublin “created serious concerns” for the well being of more than 600 women who were transferred out.

The prisons bureau announced April 15 that it would shutter FCI Dublin despite attempts to reform the beleaguered facility after an Associated Press investigation exposed rampant staff-on-inmate abuse. Just 10 days before the closure announcement, the judge took the unprecedented step of appointing a special master to oversee the prison near Oakland.

“Although it had as much time as needed to prepare, BOP’s operational plan for closure of FCI Dublin was ill-conceived and, like Swiss cheese, full of holes,” the judge wrote Wednesday.

Gonzalez Rogers ordered the bureau to provide a weekly status update for each transfer to the judge, the special master and attorneys for the incarcerated women who are suing the bureau.

In addition, federal officials must submit a monthly staffing report for each prison where the incarcerated women ended up, along with details of the mental health and medical health care the inmates are receiving.

Late last month, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the BOP expressing concern over claims of a chaotic transfer process during which FCI Dublin inmates on buses and planes didn’t receive proper medical care and were reportedly subjected to “mistreatment, harassment, neglect, and abuse while in transit.”

Gonzalez Rogers emphasized those concerns and said that “BOP ignored other operational issues” including the proper movement of inmates’ property.

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