On September 5, 2024 U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied the U.S. Bureau of Prisons motion to dismiss the class action brought by survivors of sexual assault at FCI Dublin. The judge’s order is here.
On August 16, 2023, eight survivors of staff sexual abuse and retaliation at Federal Correctional Institution Dublin–a federal women’s prison in Dublin, California–and the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) filed a class action lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons, FCI Dublin officials, and several individual officers. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs are represented by Rights Behind Bars (RBB), Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP (RBGG), and the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ). The complaint is here.
The judge’s latest order says in part: “According to defendant the United States of America Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”), the closure of Federal Correctional Institution Dublin and its satellite camp (collectively, “FCI Dublin”) resolved this lawsuit. The BOP asserts, in a cursory, one-page declaration, both that it does not intend to re-open FCI Dublin, at least in the short-term, and that its other facilities are now providing the FCI Dublin adults in custody (“AICs”) with adequate care. In other words, the BOP’sp osition is that all is now well, and continued intervention is unnecessary. The Court is not so easily persuaded. The notion that the constitutional injuries alleged by FCI Dublin’s AICs were comprehensively remedied by the facility’s closure strains credulity. Redressable injuries stemming from the AICs’ experiences at FCI Dublin remain to be addressed, and the BOP is well aware of this fact.”
In the light of the prison closure and BOP’s refusal to adequately address the issues raised by the class action lawsuit, CCWP organized a series of events over the weekend of September 7th for the Dublin survivors. There was a healing circle for survivors Saturday morning, a public event in downtown Oakland Saturday night, and a picnic for survivors on Sunday. Local media outlets provided coverage of the events. FCI Dublin sex assault survivors share stories of abuse at Oakland church, KTVU, 9/9/24 and Dublin prison sexual abuse survivors, including victim of prison chaplain, speak about feeling “helpless”, The Mercury News, 9/9/24