By admin 
The U.S. Justice Department is exposing, what it says is, a “horrific” environment of staff misconduct and sexual abuse inside California women’s prisons.
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“The findings in this report are unacceptable; they’re unconscionable,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said.
DOJ announced Thursday the results of a years-long investigation into two California women’s prisons, concluding they failed to protect the women incarcerated from sexual abuse by prison staff.
“The Department concluded that these systemic deficiencies grievously violate prisoners’ rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments,” a DOJ statement reads.
Investigators said they uncovered:
- A longstanding pattern of sexual misconduct by staff
- Inadequate safeguards
- Failures in confidential reporting
- Improper investigative practices
- Insufficient accountability measures
“Prisoners ought to be able to report this type of staff abuse without retaliation,” Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said.
The investigation follows a lawsuit brought forward by more than 130 formerly incarcerated women who said they were sexually abused while serving time at state prisons in Chino and Chowchilla.
“It is not just the sexual abuse,” one survivor said in 2024 when the lawsuit was filed. “A lot of it is the verbal abuse, the way they put us down, the way they make sexual gestures, they mock us, sexual statements.”
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Investigators also said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation knew about the assault and harassment – and failed to act on it.
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“Female prisoners have the constitutional right to be free from sexual assault and harassment by prison staff,” Dhillon said in a statement, adding, “This deliberate indifference to the suffering of female prisoners at the hands of prison staff is illegal.”
As a result, the justice department has provided California with a list of remedial measures required to address the violations, which include in part:
- Expanded camera coverage
- Enhanced confidential reporting channels
- Strengthened investigative protocols
- Improved staff training
“California owes a legal and moral duty to safeguard prisoners in their custody,” Essayli said.
If state officials don’t adequately address these concerns within 49 days, the attorney general could initiate litigation.
“The State must confront the persistent failure of its own employees to prevent and address sexual abuse at these facilities and the systemic breakdowns that have permitted these conditions to persist,” Essayli said in a statement.
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