FBI Raids Dublin Women's Prison Plagued by Sexual Abuse

Federal investigators on Monday were again searching a troubled women’s prison in Dublin, seizing computers and documents in an apparent escalation of a yearslong sexual abuse investigation that led to previous charges against a former warden and other employees.

More than a dozen FBI agents were at the Federal Correctional Institution Dublin, an all-women’s low-security prison, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. The warden, an associate warden and a captain were reportedly removed from the facility, said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on the condition of anonymity.

FBI agents could be seen carrying boxes out of the prison, which has been known as the “rape club” because of years of rampant staff-on-inmate abuse. The FBI confirmed agents were there conducting “court-authorized law enforcement activity” but declined to give details.

“I can confirm we conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity at that location,” an FBI spokesperson told KQED.

Kara Janssen is an attorney with Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP and represents inmates at FCI Dublin.

“Right now, we just have a lot of questions about what is going on,” Janssen said. “Is this related to our ongoing case? We have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns about our clients who are still at this facility.”

Janssen said there are also concerns about how the prison is currently functioning.

A spokesperson with the federal Bureau of Prisons told KQED that a new interim warden has been assigned at the facility effective immediately:

“Consistent with unprecedented and ongoing actions by FBOP leadership to create a positive change in the culture at FCI Dublin, recent developments have necessitated new executive employees be installed at the institution. This new team has been charged with developing a plan for the future of the facility,” the BOP stated.

Monday’s search came days after a new wave of civil lawsuits alleging abuse at FCI Dublin and as a federal judge weighs appointing a special master to oversee the prison’s operations. The new claims filed last week bring the total number of lawsuits facing FCI Dublin to 63. It’s the latest cloud over the low-security facility about 21 miles east of Oakland.

An AP investigation in 2021 found a culture of abuse and cover-ups that had persisted for years at the prison, which has more than 650 inmates. That reporting led to increased scrutiny from Congress and pledges from the Bureau of Prisons that it would fix problems and change the culture at the prison.

At least eight employees have been charged with sexually abusing inmates. Five have pleaded guilty. Two were convicted at trial. Another case is pending.

All sexual activity between a prison worker and an inmate is illegal. Correctional employees enjoy substantial power over inmates, controlling every aspect of their lives from mealtime to lights out, and there is no scenario in which an inmate can give consent.

The scandal has been one of many troubles plaguing the BOP, which is also beset by rampant staffing shortages, suicides and security breaches.

Former Dublin warden Ray Garcia was convicted in 2022 of molesting inmates and forcing them to pose naked in their cells. Prosecutors say he tried to keep his victims quiet with promises that he’d help them get early release and told one victim he was close friends with a prison official responsible for investigating staff misconduct and couldn’t be fired.

The FBI arrested Garcia in September 2021, months after questioning him at the prison and searching his office and vehicle. He is serving a six-year prison sentence.

Testifying on his own behalf, Garcia conceded that he had made mistakes but claimed that some of his alleged wrongdoing — like taking pictures of naked inmates — was done as part of his official duties to document violations of prison policy.

Prosecutors countered by calling a prison lieutenant who said he’s never seen a case where it was appropriate for an employee to take photos of a nude inmate.

Among the other employees accused of sexual abuse were former chaplain James Theodore Highhouse, who was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to abusing an inmate in his chapel office and lying to authorities, and ex-safety administrator John Russell Bellhouse, who was convicted last June of sexually abusing two inmates.

Prosecutors said Bellhouse “began to express an interest in a particular female inmate and started calling the inmate his ‘girlfriend’” in 2020. They said he inappropriately touched the woman and that she performed oral sex on Bellhouse twice in the prison’s safety office. He was sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Since Garcia’s removal as warden, new officials have promised to turn around the scandal-ridden prison. At recent court hearings, FCI Dublin officers and government officials testified that conditions at the facility have improved.

But Janssen said the latest FBI investigation shows much has remained the same.

“It just goes to show that this has not changed,” Janssen said. “This is a larger problem in BOP, and it has not changed.”

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is handling the lawsuits filed by inmates and is considering more oversight of FCI Dublin, has set a hearing for Friday.

KQED’s Alex Hall contributed reporting to this story.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.