BOP Again Seeks to Avoid Accountability for Abuses at FCI Dublin, Filing Motion Trying Dismiss Class Action Lawsuit
On Tuesday, June 18, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) filed a motion to dismiss in California Coalition for Women Prisoners et al. v. United States Bureau of Prisons et al., the historic class-action lawsuit on behalf of people who were incarcerated at FCI Dublin demanding systemic change to end rampant staff sexual abuse, retaliation, and life-threatening medical neglect.
The BOP filed their motion after Court-Appointed Special Master Wendy Still submitted her report about conditions at FCI Dublin. Judge Gonzalez Rogers appointed Still to investigate and address unconstitutional conditions at Dublin, after concluding that the facility was “a dysfunctional mess” and “in dire need of immediate change,” and that the BOP “has proceeded sluggishly with intentional disregard of the inmates’ constitutional rights despite being fully apprised of the situation for years.” Just days after Still and her team arrived on site, BOP announced the abrupt closure of the prison, and began transporting incarcerated people across the country under horrendous conditions. Still subsequently submitted a report to the Court about what her team uncovered at Dublin, but this report has not yet been released to the public.
The BOP now seeks to dismiss the case before the public can learn the full scope of the problems at FCI Dublin, in another blatant attempt to avoid accountability and transparency. Meanwhile, congressional pressure continues to mount for BOP Director Colette Peters to explain the chaotic closure and transfers and the Federal Prison Oversight Act just passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Dublin Prison Solidarity Coalition (DPSC) has worked for over two years to amplify the voices of people speaking up from inside FCI Dublin, and make public the horrific conditions they endured there.
“At every turn, the BOP has tried to silence incarcerated people and avoid public scrutiny. For years they failed to prevent rampant sexual abuse, and allowed survivors to be punished with solitary confinement simply for speaking out, said Kendra Drysdale, DPSC member formerly incarcerated at Dublin. “For months their lawyers argued in court that the problems at Dublin were due to the actions of a few bad apples, and people at the prison were safe. But days after the Special Master arrived, they closed the facility and tried to disappear the hundreds of people detained there, separating them from their families, communities, and supporters–in many cases by thousands of miles. These are not the actions of an agency interested in public safety or community accountability. They are not the actions of an agency that takes seriously learning from its mistakes and protecting the people in its custody.”
“If BOP succeeds in its plan to evade court scrutiny there will be no accountability as they continue to abuse and retaliate against people behind closed doors," said Emily Shapiro with California Coalition for Women Prisoners, organizational plaintiff on the class action lawsuit and member of DPSC. “The next person assaulted by one of their guards or punished for coming forward will know that the Biden BOP and Director Colette Peters are responsible.”
KTVU Report: FCI Dublin - Bureau of Prisons Moves to Dismiss Class Action Lawsuit
HOLD BOP ACCOUNTABLE - SIGN AND CIRCULATE THE PETITION