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"content": "\u003cp>A former correctional officer at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California’s\u003c/a> largest women’s prison, was found guilty of 59 felony counts of sexual abuse in Madera County Superior Court on Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gregory Rodriguez, who worked for the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, was convicted of rape, rape under color of authority, oral copulation, sexual penetration and sodomy, acts perpetrated on nine women. He was also convicted of five misdemeanor counts of sexual battery, raising the total of guilty verdicts to 64.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case received widespread attention after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12003230/feds-investigate-california-prisons-where-women-say-culture-of-impunity-surrounded-abuse\">launch of a federal investigation\u003c/a> into abuse allegations inside the state’s prisons. Rodriguez was charged with 97 counts in one of California’s most explosive prison abuse scandals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR has been plagued by misconduct for years. In December, the Bureau of Prisons \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017117/east-bay-federal-prison-plagued-sex-abuse-scandal-close-permanently\">permanently \u003c/a>shut down the troubled East Bay federal women’s prison \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> following years of sexual abuse by prison workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez, 56, was present as the guilty verdicts were read. The four-month trial included testimony from 13 current- and formerly incarcerated women who were targeted and abused by Rodriguez. He pleaded not guilty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11936442\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11936442\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility.jpeg\" alt=\"An aerial view of a prison facility surrounded by green fields.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1536\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility-800x640.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility-1020x816.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility-160x128.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility-1536x1229.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial photo from Aug. 25, 2010, of the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, where former correctional officer Gregory Rodriguez is accused of having engaged in sexual misconduct against at least 22 women incarcerated there. \u003ccite>(Wikipedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While relieved that Rodriguez, a 27-year veteran of California’s prison system, would be held accountable, survivors and advocates expressed mixed emotions about the trial. Amika Mota, executive director of Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for incarcerated women and trans people, noted a discrepancy in how some women were treated during their testimonies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She wondered why some survivors were believed and not others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not letting go of the truths that were told by those survivors, even if there was a not guilty verdict,” Mota said. “We believe them. We listen to them. We support them. And we are committed to exposing other officers that are inside currently harming folks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez worked at the CCWF from 2010-2022. Reports of Rodriguez abusing incarcerated women were first reported in 2014, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/25/gregory-rodriguez-california-correctional-officer-accused-sexual-assault-womens-prison\">a 2023 investigation\u003c/a> by \u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em>. Instead of reprimanding Rodriguez, the prison punished his victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em>, Rodriguez went on to commit dozens more assaults until CDCR began an investigation in July 2022. Rodriguez retired a month later after CDCR approached him about the investigation. CDCR turned the case over to the Madera County District Attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12018828 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240408-FCIDublin-009-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2022, survivors began to file civil lawsuits against Rodriguez. In one filed by six female incarcerees, Rodriguez allegedly lured them into a parole board hearing room where there were no cameras before sexually assaulting them, the \u003cem>Guardian\u003c/em> reported. The lawsuit was settled in October 2023 for $3.7 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been rampant allegations of abuse by prison officials at facilities in California. In January 2023, former CCWF Warden Mike Pallares was \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article271879907.html\">moved to another prison\u003c/a> after being implicated in sexual harassment and abuse cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Survivors who testified against Rodriguez said they were put through a grueling process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had to tell my story in detail while facing my abuser,” one anonymous witness said in a statement shared by the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. “It was awful and humiliating. His attorney tried to paint us as liars despite all kinds of evidence against him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s misconduct appears to extend beyond the allegations outlined by CDCR’s investigators. CDCR identified \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/news/2022/12/28/cdcr-refers-internal-investigation-into-former-correctional-officer-to-district-attorney-for-charges-of-sexual-misconduct-of-incarcerated-women/\">more than 22 women\u003c/a> who said Rodriguez victimized them. Advocates believe there are more, as some victims may not have come forward because they feared retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September 2024, the Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation at CCWF — directly referencing the charges against Rodriguez — and at the California Institution for Women in Chino. The ongoing investigation is evaluating whether the state protects incarcerated residents from sexual abuse by correctional employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates interviewed by KQED recognized the importance of the Rodriguez verdict, but they emphasized that there were many more perpetrators flying under the radar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t want one individual facing these convictions to draw attention away from the systemic crisis,” said Colby Lenz of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. “We will continue to push for systemic change and to hold the system accountable for permitting and often enabling this kind of abuse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a one-officer problem,” said another survivor, who testified against Rodriguez and asked not to be identified by KQED. “From my experience, Rodriguez is one bad apple on a tree that’s rotten to its core.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR said that the verdict was validation of the agency’s decision to hand the case to the Madera County District Attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The department resolutely condemns any staff member — especially a peace officer who is entrusted to enforce the law — who violates their oath and shatters public trust,” Terri Hardy, a CDCR press secretary, said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez faces 75 years in prison at his sentencing, according to the Madera County District Attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mbolanos\">\u003cem>Madi Bolaños\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR has been plagued by misconduct for years. In December, the Bureau of Prisons \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017117/east-bay-federal-prison-plagued-sex-abuse-scandal-close-permanently\">permanently \u003c/a>shut down the troubled East Bay federal women’s prison \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> following years of sexual abuse by prison workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez, 56, was present as the guilty verdicts were read. The four-month trial included testimony from 13 current- and formerly incarcerated women who were targeted and abused by Rodriguez. He pleaded not guilty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11936442\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11936442\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility.jpeg\" alt=\"An aerial view of a prison facility surrounded by green fields.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1536\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility-800x640.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility-1020x816.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility-160x128.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/12/1920px-CentralCaliforniaWomensFacility-1536x1229.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial photo from Aug. 25, 2010, of the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, where former correctional officer Gregory Rodriguez is accused of having engaged in sexual misconduct against at least 22 women incarcerated there. \u003ccite>(Wikipedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While relieved that Rodriguez, a 27-year veteran of California’s prison system, would be held accountable, survivors and advocates expressed mixed emotions about the trial. Amika Mota, executive director of Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for incarcerated women and trans people, noted a discrepancy in how some women were treated during their testimonies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She wondered why some survivors were believed and not others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not letting go of the truths that were told by those survivors, even if there was a not guilty verdict,” Mota said. “We believe them. We listen to them. We support them. And we are committed to exposing other officers that are inside currently harming folks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez worked at the CCWF from 2010-2022. Reports of Rodriguez abusing incarcerated women were first reported in 2014, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/25/gregory-rodriguez-california-correctional-officer-accused-sexual-assault-womens-prison\">a 2023 investigation\u003c/a> by \u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em>. Instead of reprimanding Rodriguez, the prison punished his victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em>, Rodriguez went on to commit dozens more assaults until CDCR began an investigation in July 2022. Rodriguez retired a month later after CDCR approached him about the investigation. CDCR turned the case over to the Madera County District Attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2022, survivors began to file civil lawsuits against Rodriguez. In one filed by six female incarcerees, Rodriguez allegedly lured them into a parole board hearing room where there were no cameras before sexually assaulting them, the \u003cem>Guardian\u003c/em> reported. The lawsuit was settled in October 2023 for $3.7 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been rampant allegations of abuse by prison officials at facilities in California. In January 2023, former CCWF Warden Mike Pallares was \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article271879907.html\">moved to another prison\u003c/a> after being implicated in sexual harassment and abuse cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Survivors who testified against Rodriguez said they were put through a grueling process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had to tell my story in detail while facing my abuser,” one anonymous witness said in a statement shared by the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. “It was awful and humiliating. His attorney tried to paint us as liars despite all kinds of evidence against him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s misconduct appears to extend beyond the allegations outlined by CDCR’s investigators. CDCR identified \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/news/2022/12/28/cdcr-refers-internal-investigation-into-former-correctional-officer-to-district-attorney-for-charges-of-sexual-misconduct-of-incarcerated-women/\">more than 22 women\u003c/a> who said Rodriguez victimized them. Advocates believe there are more, as some victims may not have come forward because they feared retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September 2024, the Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation at CCWF — directly referencing the charges against Rodriguez — and at the California Institution for Women in Chino. The ongoing investigation is evaluating whether the state protects incarcerated residents from sexual abuse by correctional employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates interviewed by KQED recognized the importance of the Rodriguez verdict, but they emphasized that there were many more perpetrators flying under the radar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t want one individual facing these convictions to draw attention away from the systemic crisis,” said Colby Lenz of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. “We will continue to push for systemic change and to hold the system accountable for permitting and often enabling this kind of abuse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a one-officer problem,” said another survivor, who testified against Rodriguez and asked not to be identified by KQED. “From my experience, Rodriguez is one bad apple on a tree that’s rotten to its core.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDCR said that the verdict was validation of the agency’s decision to hand the case to the Madera County District Attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The department resolutely condemns any staff member — especially a peace officer who is entrusted to enforce the law — who violates their oath and shatters public trust,” Terri Hardy, a CDCR press secretary, said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez faces 75 years in prison at his sentencing, according to the Madera County District Attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mbolanos\">\u003cem>Madi Bolaños\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'You’ll Go to Hell if You Tell Anyone': Survivors Recount Childhood Sexual Abuse at Oakland Diocese",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Warning: This story includes descriptions of child sexual abuse.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A man, identified as Speaker 7, choked back tears as he recounted being molested about four decades ago, when he was just 5 or 6 years old, by Father George J. Francis of St. Bede Catholic Church in Hayward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He would tell the best stories, and I would sit in his lap while he was wearing just a robe,” the man said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day, while Father Francis was reading him a story at the priest’s home, they suddenly started what he thought was playful wrestling, and the priest held him down, Speaker 7 said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a pain in my bottom. I didn’t understand why he was hurting me. I didn’t understand I was being molested,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over two hours at federal bankruptcy court in Oakland last Friday, eight male and female survivors of alleged childhood sexual abuse at the hands of priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland delivered emotional statements on how their lives had been forever changed by their abusers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statements are part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957801/east-bay-priests-accused-of-abuse-still-active\">ongoing bankruptcy proceedings\u003c/a> for the diocese, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2023 following a state law extending the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse lawsuits filed in California. That change precipitated a wave of over 300 lawsuits against the Oakland Diocese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys for the survivors said this was a rare moment in bankruptcy court, which typically only deals in assets and funds, as it allowed survivors to give statements without being cross-examined or having the information used against them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an opportunity for survivors to tell their truth and to share their lived experiences so that the court and the parties in the case are aware of the facts that underlie the bankruptcy and the reason there are so many claimants who have come forward,” said Jennifer Stein, an attorney with Jeff Anderson and Associates, which represents over 100 Diocese of Oakland abuse survivors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statements, made to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William J. Lafferty III, detailed abuse that allegedly happened over multiple decades, from roughly the 1960s to the 1990s, in Catholic churches and schools across the East Bay, from Union City to Concord to Pinole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of the priests named in Friday’s statements have been faced with multiple sexual assault allegations, and at least one — Father Stephen M. Kiesle — is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/kiesle-stephen-m-1972/\">registered sex offender\u003c/a>, convicted of multiple sexual abuse crimes involving minors. Two others have previously been sued, and one settled. Two are dead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the accused have yet been found liable in the civil lawsuits related to the bankruptcy proceedings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Survivors spoke about the power church leaders had over the children in their charge and their exclusive access to them.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"oakland-diocese\"]Speaker 2 said that as a child, Monsignor John T. McCracken, on several occasions, locked him in the library of St. Mary’s Church in Walnut Creek and molested him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He gave me something to drink, pulled my pants down, and I felt a stabbing pain from behind,” he said. “He told me, ‘You’ll go to hell if you tell anyone.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all the speakers on Friday said they were raised by devout Catholic families who worked hard and saved money to send their children to Catholic schools, partly because they thought they would be safer there. And they all described the ongoing harm they suffer because of the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I chose not to have children, even though my husband wanted one,” Speaker 3 said. “I couldn’t be touched by men. I will always mourn the children I could have had.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She went on to say that she is currently battling breast cancer, which she said was not detected early because she had avoided having hands-on medical checkups as a result of the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others detailed ongoing problems with substance use, broken marriages, intimacy, weight and self-confidence linked to the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I started using and selling hard drugs in 8th grade,” Speaker 7 said, “I was hypersexualized. I’ve had nightmares my entire life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, the diocese proposed paying 345 abuse claimants between $464,492 and $574,637, with a total payment between $160.25 million and $198.25 million. That $38 million variance hinges on the diocese’s sale of property in Livermore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the committee representing the survivors filed an objection to the payment plan, calling it “inadequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ The Diocese of Oakland needs to look honestly at its financials and its ability to pay and to compensate people that they hurt,” said Stein, the attorney representing some of the survivors. “That amount needs to show that they understand that they made mistakes and want to take ownership and accountability for what happened, not just pay them enough to go away while they continue on with business as usual.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, Judge Lafferty heard objections from the survivors’ committee but ultimately allowed the diocese’s repayment plan to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, he also required the diocese to make revisions to its proposed payment plan based on further scrutiny of its financial disclosures — including a roughly $106 million transfer of funds that it made about 30 days before declaring bankruptcy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The court is going to allow the parties to be able to look into their different perspectives and for some of that information to be added to the disclosure statement so that it is better explained to the people who will be voting on the proposed plan,” Stein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement last week, Oakland Bishop Michael C. Barber said: “We recognize that no amount of money can satisfactorily compensate survivors for the abuse they suffered. Bearing that in mind, we believe the plan compensates survivors in a fair and equitable way and allows the Diocese of Oakland to set a path forward to continue to spread the Gospel, serving the faithful and the poor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In court last Friday, many of the survivors directly appealed to Barber at the end of their statements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s imperative that the diocese do the right thing and provide just compensation,” Speaker 2 said, facing Barber. “I ask you, ‘What would Jesus do?’”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all eight survivors spoke, Barber asked to make a statement of his own, eliciting audible groans and prompting many of the survivors to walk out of the courtroom. Jennifer Stein, the attorney, said some survivors viewed it as “too little, too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Insincere, opportunistic and inauthentic,” she said. “The words don’t match the actions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sin of abuse is diametrically opposed to the will of God and must be utterly rejected by those who aspire to follow Christ and serve the members of his body,” Barber said. “For the suffering of each person who has been abused, I offer our deepest unconditional apology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside court, Cathy Pickard, an abuse survivor who had spoken about her experience in a previous court appearance, said she has carried the trauma of her abuse throughout her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ You find ways to live your life, but you live a lie. Every minute of my life is a lie,” she said. “Until I was able to say what I said, that’s the only time that the truth of who I am comes out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Alex Hall contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Warning: This story includes descriptions of child sexual abuse.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A man, identified as Speaker 7, choked back tears as he recounted being molested about four decades ago, when he was just 5 or 6 years old, by Father George J. Francis of St. Bede Catholic Church in Hayward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He would tell the best stories, and I would sit in his lap while he was wearing just a robe,” the man said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day, while Father Francis was reading him a story at the priest’s home, they suddenly started what he thought was playful wrestling, and the priest held him down, Speaker 7 said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a pain in my bottom. I didn’t understand why he was hurting me. I didn’t understand I was being molested,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over two hours at federal bankruptcy court in Oakland last Friday, eight male and female survivors of alleged childhood sexual abuse at the hands of priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland delivered emotional statements on how their lives had been forever changed by their abusers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statements are part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957801/east-bay-priests-accused-of-abuse-still-active\">ongoing bankruptcy proceedings\u003c/a> for the diocese, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2023 following a state law extending the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse lawsuits filed in California. That change precipitated a wave of over 300 lawsuits against the Oakland Diocese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys for the survivors said this was a rare moment in bankruptcy court, which typically only deals in assets and funds, as it allowed survivors to give statements without being cross-examined or having the information used against them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an opportunity for survivors to tell their truth and to share their lived experiences so that the court and the parties in the case are aware of the facts that underlie the bankruptcy and the reason there are so many claimants who have come forward,” said Jennifer Stein, an attorney with Jeff Anderson and Associates, which represents over 100 Diocese of Oakland abuse survivors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statements, made to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William J. Lafferty III, detailed abuse that allegedly happened over multiple decades, from roughly the 1960s to the 1990s, in Catholic churches and schools across the East Bay, from Union City to Concord to Pinole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of the priests named in Friday’s statements have been faced with multiple sexual assault allegations, and at least one — Father Stephen M. Kiesle — is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/kiesle-stephen-m-1972/\">registered sex offender\u003c/a>, convicted of multiple sexual abuse crimes involving minors. Two others have previously been sued, and one settled. Two are dead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the accused have yet been found liable in the civil lawsuits related to the bankruptcy proceedings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Survivors spoke about the power church leaders had over the children in their charge and their exclusive access to them.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Speaker 2 said that as a child, Monsignor John T. McCracken, on several occasions, locked him in the library of St. Mary’s Church in Walnut Creek and molested him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He gave me something to drink, pulled my pants down, and I felt a stabbing pain from behind,” he said. “He told me, ‘You’ll go to hell if you tell anyone.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all the speakers on Friday said they were raised by devout Catholic families who worked hard and saved money to send their children to Catholic schools, partly because they thought they would be safer there. And they all described the ongoing harm they suffer because of the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I chose not to have children, even though my husband wanted one,” Speaker 3 said. “I couldn’t be touched by men. I will always mourn the children I could have had.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She went on to say that she is currently battling breast cancer, which she said was not detected early because she had avoided having hands-on medical checkups as a result of the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others detailed ongoing problems with substance use, broken marriages, intimacy, weight and self-confidence linked to the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I started using and selling hard drugs in 8th grade,” Speaker 7 said, “I was hypersexualized. I’ve had nightmares my entire life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, the diocese proposed paying 345 abuse claimants between $464,492 and $574,637, with a total payment between $160.25 million and $198.25 million. That $38 million variance hinges on the diocese’s sale of property in Livermore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the committee representing the survivors filed an objection to the payment plan, calling it “inadequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ The Diocese of Oakland needs to look honestly at its financials and its ability to pay and to compensate people that they hurt,” said Stein, the attorney representing some of the survivors. “That amount needs to show that they understand that they made mistakes and want to take ownership and accountability for what happened, not just pay them enough to go away while they continue on with business as usual.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, Judge Lafferty heard objections from the survivors’ committee but ultimately allowed the diocese’s repayment plan to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, he also required the diocese to make revisions to its proposed payment plan based on further scrutiny of its financial disclosures — including a roughly $106 million transfer of funds that it made about 30 days before declaring bankruptcy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The court is going to allow the parties to be able to look into their different perspectives and for some of that information to be added to the disclosure statement so that it is better explained to the people who will be voting on the proposed plan,” Stein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement last week, Oakland Bishop Michael C. Barber said: “We recognize that no amount of money can satisfactorily compensate survivors for the abuse they suffered. Bearing that in mind, we believe the plan compensates survivors in a fair and equitable way and allows the Diocese of Oakland to set a path forward to continue to spread the Gospel, serving the faithful and the poor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In court last Friday, many of the survivors directly appealed to Barber at the end of their statements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s imperative that the diocese do the right thing and provide just compensation,” Speaker 2 said, facing Barber. “I ask you, ‘What would Jesus do?’”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all eight survivors spoke, Barber asked to make a statement of his own, eliciting audible groans and prompting many of the survivors to walk out of the courtroom. Jennifer Stein, the attorney, said some survivors viewed it as “too little, too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Insincere, opportunistic and inauthentic,” she said. “The words don’t match the actions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sin of abuse is diametrically opposed to the will of God and must be utterly rejected by those who aspire to follow Christ and serve the members of his body,” Barber said. “For the suffering of each person who has been abused, I offer our deepest unconditional apology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside court, Cathy Pickard, an abuse survivor who had spoken about her experience in a previous court appearance, said she has carried the trauma of her abuse throughout her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ You find ways to live your life, but you live a lie. Every minute of my life is a lie,” she said. “Until I was able to say what I said, that’s the only time that the truth of who I am comes out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Alex Hall contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Darlene Baker entered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> in April 2022, she had heard about the sexual abuse allegations that plagued the prison. The month before she arrived, the Bureau of Prisons had been there promising to improve reporting protocol, and the warden and a chaplain were facing criminal charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Baker said that after she was forced into a back room of the medical building and assaulted by an officer who was supposed to be administering care, she discovered just how pervasive the culture of sexual misconduct, retaliation and cover-up at the East Bay facility was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a cultural rot,” Baker, 60, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the federal government acknowledged the damage done at FCI Dublin, granting a $116 million settlement — the largest for sexual assault survivors in U.S. prison history — to 103 women, including Baker, who were formerly incarcerated at the now-shuttered facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For much of her 11 months in the prison, Baker faced retaliation for reporting her abuser. She was denied visits with her family; her phone and commissary access were cut off; she was barred from speaking with her lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was also forced to return to the medical office and interact with the officer who she said had assaulted her to receive necessary care or medications. She said the final words he spoke to her, the day before she was scheduled for early release, were: “he knew where I lived, and he would be up to have a drink with me at some point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My release was canceled the next morning,” Baker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100 women have come forward with experiences like Baker’s since a 2021 \u003cem>Associated Press\u003c/em> investigation revealed that the facility, dubbed the “rape club” by workers and women imprisoned there, had a long history of enabling sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an affirmation that sexual abuse of female prisoners will not be tolerated in this society,” attorney Jessica Pride, who represents plaintiffs in the case, said of this week’s settlement. “The Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice now have 116 million reasons why they will make sure that prisoners will not be sexually abused under their watch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, the Bureau of Prisons said it condemns all sexually abusive behavior and “takes seriously its duty to protect the individuals in [its] custody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau “remains committed to rooting out criminal behavior and holding accountable those who violate their oath of office,” the statement continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The global settlement was divided among the women based on in-depth interviews with two former judges, who listened to their accounts of abuse and reviewed their treatment records. Individuals received $500,000 to $1.6 million each, Pride said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement is the latest legal victory for women who were incarcerated at FCI Dublin, which the Bureau of Prisons said this month \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017117/east-bay-federal-prison-plagued-sex-abuse-scandal-close-permanently\">will close permanently\u003c/a> after it was abruptly cleared out and shuttered in April. The women are also in the process of settling a class-action lawsuit aimed at protecting women who remain incarcerated elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958364\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958364\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses speaks into a microphone in an outdoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jane Courant speaks in front of the federal courthouse in Oakland as part of the announcement of a class-action lawsuit over sexual abuse by guards at FCI Dublin on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eight former FCI Dublin employees, including the warden and chaplain, have been charged with sex crimes since 2021; seven have already been sentenced, and the eighth is set to go to trial in March on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12002790/fci-dublin-officer-pleads-not-guilty-after-facing-new-sex-abuse-charges\">15 charges that could carry a potential life sentence\u003c/a>. More than 20 others who have been accused of sexual misconduct and retaliation, including the medical officer Baker said assaulted her, are being investigated, according to Pride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just was top-down, from the warden, the chaplain, safety officers, recycling officers. It just was a pervasive culture,” Baker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many women did not come forward for fear of retaliation. Those who did were often sent to the solitary housing unit or lost privileges, like those taken from Baker. Without adequate mental health care, they struggled to recover from the trauma of their assault.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Officers carry keys all the time. If you heard the keys coming, there would be your heart — that kind of a heart attack feeling — and just fear because you’re not safe,” Baker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April, shortly after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978878/fbi-raids-dublin-womens-prison-plagued-by-sexual-abuse\">FBI raided the prison\u003c/a>, the BOP \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982014/judge-chooses-top-pick-for-special-master-to-oversee-womens-prison-following-rampant-abuse\">appointed a special master\u003c/a> to oversee \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11998682/special-master-slams-conditions-at-fci-dublin-in-report\">operational changes\u003c/a>. Just over a week later, the facility was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">ordered to close\u003c/a>, and more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985645/closure-of-california-federal-prison-was-poorly-planned-judge-says-ordering-further-monitoring\">600 inmates were transferred\u003c/a> to a handful of other federal institutions, many far from their families and legal teams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12017652 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/IMG_0850.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, the BOP announced it would make FCI Dublin’s closure \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017117/east-bay-federal-prison-plagued-sex-abuse-scandal-close-permanently\">permanent\u003c/a>, saying a staffing shortage, crumbling infrastructure and limited budgetary resources made reopening it unfeasible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the attorneys representing those who say they were abused at FCI Dublin are committed to ensuring that there’s meaningful change at the remaining federal women’s prisons. There have been reports that some of the women transferred have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11990979/biden-administration-seeks-to-dismiss-lawsuit-over-bay-area-womens-prison-abuses\">faced similar abuse\u003c/a>, and many aren’t receiving the resources they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to have a safe place to try to begin to heal, and inside the confines of a prison like that, you’re not safe,” Baker told KQED. “The women who went to other prisons when the facility was closed in April, they’re still suffering sexual trauma, and they don’t have a safe place to try to heal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that the settlement agreement reached last week on behalf of nearly 500 incarcerated women who were transferred from FCI Dublin in April includes a two-year consent decree meant to protect and oversee their care. That will be subject to approval by a judge in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, attorney Pride expects that 50 to 100 more civil cases will be filed against the BOP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bottom line is that when we’ve accepted responsibility for our crimes, accepted plea agreements, the punishment does not include rape and sexual assault within the prison confines,” Baker said. “We weren’t sentenced to that particular punishment, and nobody should have to experience that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dcronin\">\u003cem>Dana Cronin\u003c/em>\u003c/a> \u003cem>contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Darlene Baker entered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fci-dublin\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a> in April 2022, she had heard about the sexual abuse allegations that plagued the prison. The month before she arrived, the Bureau of Prisons had been there promising to improve reporting protocol, and the warden and a chaplain were facing criminal charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Baker said that after she was forced into a back room of the medical building and assaulted by an officer who was supposed to be administering care, she discovered just how pervasive the culture of sexual misconduct, retaliation and cover-up at the East Bay facility was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a cultural rot,” Baker, 60, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the federal government acknowledged the damage done at FCI Dublin, granting a $116 million settlement — the largest for sexual assault survivors in U.S. prison history — to 103 women, including Baker, who were formerly incarcerated at the now-shuttered facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For much of her 11 months in the prison, Baker faced retaliation for reporting her abuser. She was denied visits with her family; her phone and commissary access were cut off; she was barred from speaking with her lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was also forced to return to the medical office and interact with the officer who she said had assaulted her to receive necessary care or medications. She said the final words he spoke to her, the day before she was scheduled for early release, were: “he knew where I lived, and he would be up to have a drink with me at some point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My release was canceled the next morning,” Baker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100 women have come forward with experiences like Baker’s since a 2021 \u003cem>Associated Press\u003c/em> investigation revealed that the facility, dubbed the “rape club” by workers and women imprisoned there, had a long history of enabling sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an affirmation that sexual abuse of female prisoners will not be tolerated in this society,” attorney Jessica Pride, who represents plaintiffs in the case, said of this week’s settlement. “The Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice now have 116 million reasons why they will make sure that prisoners will not be sexually abused under their watch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, the Bureau of Prisons said it condemns all sexually abusive behavior and “takes seriously its duty to protect the individuals in [its] custody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau “remains committed to rooting out criminal behavior and holding accountable those who violate their oath of office,” the statement continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The global settlement was divided among the women based on in-depth interviews with two former judges, who listened to their accounts of abuse and reviewed their treatment records. Individuals received $500,000 to $1.6 million each, Pride said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement is the latest legal victory for women who were incarcerated at FCI Dublin, which the Bureau of Prisons said this month \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017117/east-bay-federal-prison-plagued-sex-abuse-scandal-close-permanently\">will close permanently\u003c/a> after it was abruptly cleared out and shuttered in April. The women are also in the process of settling a class-action lawsuit aimed at protecting women who remain incarcerated elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958364\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958364\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses speaks into a microphone in an outdoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jane Courant speaks in front of the federal courthouse in Oakland as part of the announcement of a class-action lawsuit over sexual abuse by guards at FCI Dublin on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eight former FCI Dublin employees, including the warden and chaplain, have been charged with sex crimes since 2021; seven have already been sentenced, and the eighth is set to go to trial in March on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12002790/fci-dublin-officer-pleads-not-guilty-after-facing-new-sex-abuse-charges\">15 charges that could carry a potential life sentence\u003c/a>. More than 20 others who have been accused of sexual misconduct and retaliation, including the medical officer Baker said assaulted her, are being investigated, according to Pride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just was top-down, from the warden, the chaplain, safety officers, recycling officers. It just was a pervasive culture,” Baker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many women did not come forward for fear of retaliation. Those who did were often sent to the solitary housing unit or lost privileges, like those taken from Baker. Without adequate mental health care, they struggled to recover from the trauma of their assault.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Officers carry keys all the time. If you heard the keys coming, there would be your heart — that kind of a heart attack feeling — and just fear because you’re not safe,” Baker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April, shortly after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978878/fbi-raids-dublin-womens-prison-plagued-by-sexual-abuse\">FBI raided the prison\u003c/a>, the BOP \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982014/judge-chooses-top-pick-for-special-master-to-oversee-womens-prison-following-rampant-abuse\">appointed a special master\u003c/a> to oversee \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11998682/special-master-slams-conditions-at-fci-dublin-in-report\">operational changes\u003c/a>. Just over a week later, the facility was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">ordered to close\u003c/a>, and more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985645/closure-of-california-federal-prison-was-poorly-planned-judge-says-ordering-further-monitoring\">600 inmates were transferred\u003c/a> to a handful of other federal institutions, many far from their families and legal teams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, the BOP announced it would make FCI Dublin’s closure \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017117/east-bay-federal-prison-plagued-sex-abuse-scandal-close-permanently\">permanent\u003c/a>, saying a staffing shortage, crumbling infrastructure and limited budgetary resources made reopening it unfeasible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the attorneys representing those who say they were abused at FCI Dublin are committed to ensuring that there’s meaningful change at the remaining federal women’s prisons. There have been reports that some of the women transferred have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11990979/biden-administration-seeks-to-dismiss-lawsuit-over-bay-area-womens-prison-abuses\">faced similar abuse\u003c/a>, and many aren’t receiving the resources they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to have a safe place to try to begin to heal, and inside the confines of a prison like that, you’re not safe,” Baker told KQED. “The women who went to other prisons when the facility was closed in April, they’re still suffering sexual trauma, and they don’t have a safe place to try to heal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that the settlement agreement reached last week on behalf of nearly 500 incarcerated women who were transferred from FCI Dublin in April includes a two-year consent decree meant to protect and oversee their care. That will be subject to approval by a judge in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, attorney Pride expects that 50 to 100 more civil cases will be filed against the BOP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bottom line is that when we’ve accepted responsibility for our crimes, accepted plea agreements, the punishment does not include rape and sexual assault within the prison confines,” Baker said. “We weren’t sentenced to that particular punishment, and nobody should have to experience that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dcronin\">\u003cem>Dana Cronin\u003c/em>\u003c/a> \u003cem>contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Reader advisory: Some accounts of sexual assault in this story contain explicit details and strong language that some may find upsetting or objectionable.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11882683/jugo-con-la-mente-de-la-gente-un-sacerdote-de-fresno-dejo-un-rastro-de-acusaciones-de-abuso-sexual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Leer en español\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, Dec. 6, 2024\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since this story first published in 2020, Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna pleaded no contest to nine counts of sexual battery and one count of attempt to dissuade a witness. The rest of the charges were dropped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a hearing in Fresno County Superior Court in April, he apologized to the survivors and the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I ask that they forgive me for what I did,” Castañeda said through a translator. “I did not know of the impact that it was to them, because of everything that I caused them, emotionally, humanly and as a Christian.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A judge had ordered the priest be sent to prison for up to 90 days for an evaluation to determine whether he should be given probation or serve prison time, a process that considers public safety as well as what’s best for the defendant when recommending an ultimate sentence to the court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the prosecution, officials at Wasco State Prison wrote that Castañeda displayed poor judgment, had impulse control issues and had made poor choices leading to recurring problematic behavior over several years. They unanimously recommended that he go to prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, he was sentenced to 365 days in the Fresno County Jail and five years of probation. With credit for time served, he is expected to be released in late December after serving a total of six months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Normally when you have multiple victims over a long period of time and an abuse of authority and power, I would say probation is a rarity,” said Fresno County Senior Deputy District Attorney Kelly Smith, who prosecuted the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith said he was surprised when the judge indicated he might give a sentence of probation. But when asked, the survivors in this case said they were OK with the resolution. The important thing was that Castañeda took responsibility, and that the case was finally coming to an end, they said, according to Smith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To see that he’s not above the law, he can also go to jail. I felt like there was justice,” said Maria Estevez, one of Castañeda’s former followers who said she was glad that he won’t be able to serve as a priest while he’s on probation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“God will deal with him,” she said. “We don’t even think we have the power or the ability to say this is what should happen to him.”\u003cbr>\nEstevez, who recently rejoined the church, said Castañeda rarely comes up in conversations with other parishioners. People just want to move on, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the survivors had said they wanted Castañeda to go to prison, Smith said he believes there would have likely been a different outcome in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think ultimately that’s what swayed the court,” he said. “Ultimately these particular survivors gave the mercy to Mr. Serna that he didn’t give them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, July 23, 2021\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since this story was first published, several former parishioners who spoke to KQED filed a lawsuit against Fresno priest Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna and the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, alleging Castañeda had sexually assaulted them. That lawsuit was settled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ten more people filed \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21012428-20210602094804722\">another lawsuit\u003c/a> against the priest and his former employer in April 2021, alleging the priest sexually assaulted them, or attempted to. One of them says she was a minor at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda continues to preach to followers in Fresno, either via Facebook Live or in person at private events, former church members said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of late June, he still belonged to the World Communion of Christian Celtic Convergence Churches, an organization with headquarters in the United Kingdom that accepted him as a priest in January 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fr. Antonio’s status remains unchanged. We await the conclusion of due process in this case,” Bruce Taylor, the group’s archbishop of North America, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda remains out on bond, awaiting a trial scheduled for March 2022. His defense attorney, Ralph Torres, declined to comment on the lawsuit filed earlier this year. Further attempts to reach Castañeda were unsuccessful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nLuis said he couldn’t tell the doctor what had really happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It had been several days since he first noticed the blood in his urine and the bruising around his groin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 40-year-old native of Jalisco, Mexico, had been meeting with a popular local priest in Fresno, Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, who went by the name Father Antonio. His family had introduced him to Father Antonio in hope of the priest helping Luis, who had struggled with an addiction to meth, get back on his feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people would come looking for him,” said Luis, which is not his real name. KQED is not using the real names of alleged sexual assault survivors in this story. “They said it was something … like a gift from God he had.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Father Antonio was lead pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Spanish-language congregation of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin. The priest’s charismatic leadership drew in hundreds from Fresno’s Latino community and his rumored healing abilities had earned him the nickname “el padrecito que hace milagros” — the priest who performs miracles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During sessions in Father Antonio’s office that Luis said took place over the course of several years, he would lie down on a bench or massage table wearing only his boxers, while Father Antonio prayed and rubbed oil onto his skin. The intensity of the massage was so forceful that the priest often left bruises, Luis later testified.[pullquote]A KQED investigation found Castañeda had been accused before and has moved from the Catholic Church to the Anglican Church and then to another religious group without undergoing complete background checks — or any at all.[/pullquote]He had told his mom and girlfriend that he had been hurt at his construction job. It seemed easier that way, he said. And now, at the medical clinic, the doctor asked more questions — questions that Luis said he didn’t feel comfortable answering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t tell [the doctor] that someone had touched me,” Luis told KQED in November 2019. “It’s difficult. A man touches another adult … what was I going to say — he touched me? It’s a little ridiculous. Because people wouldn’t have believed me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luis eventually told authorities that it was during these massages — which the priest said he needed to expel a curse from his body — that Father Antonio sexually assaulted him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11826082\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11826082 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Luis was one of at least two men who told Anglican church officials that Father Antonio Castañeda had sexually assaulted them for years during healing rituals involving prayer and massage that the priest said could heal them of their sexual sins. (Luis is a pseudonym. KQED is not using the real names of alleged sexual assault survivors in this story.)\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis was one of at least 2 men who told Anglican church officials that Father Antonio Castañeda had sexually assaulted them for years during healing rituals involving prayer and massage that the priest said could heal them of their sexual sins. (Luis is a pseudonym. KQED is not using the real names of alleged sexual assault survivors in this story.) \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A cure for curses and sexual sins\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2017, several men came forward with allegations that Castañeda had sexually abused parishioners during massages that he said could heal them physically or spiritually, said Bishop Eric Menees of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of the victims that I met with at the beginning were undocumented men and so going to the police was a scary prospect,” Menees said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, in early 2018, Luis and another man agreed to be interviewed by detectives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other alleged victim told police that Castañeda instructed him to masturbate in front of him on multiple occasions, according to a declaration by a Fresno police investigator to support an arrest warrant. He said the priest told him that he needed to see his semen to determine the exact curse or illness afflicting him. In one instance, the man said, Castañeda hugged him and told him he loved him “as a man loves a woman.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was arrested in February 2019 and released the next day on bond. Over 40 parishioners told church officials that they, or someone they knew, had been abused by Castañeda, Menees told KQED in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, nine people — eight men, including Luis, and one woman — have been listed as alleged victims in the criminal case, according to court testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda faces \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6951672-AC-UPDATED-COMPLAINT.html\">22 counts\u003c/a> of battery, sexual battery, attempted sexual battery and attempting to dissuade a witness. His case, which was expected to go to trial this year, has been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A KQED investigation found Castañeda had been accused before and has moved from the Catholic Church to the Anglican Church and then to another religious group without undergoing complete background checks — or any at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he awaits trial, Castañeda has opened a new church where he continues to lead services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda has denied all charges through his attorney, Ralph Torres, who said the priest’s accusers have misinterpreted an accepted form of traditional healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a cultural thing,” Torres said. “This type of healing massage happens all over Latin America, Mexico and in the United States. Nothing unusual about that. You may have a misunderstanding, something that wasn’t appreciated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres said his client never sexually abused parishioners and that “the truth will come out at trial.” Torres declined KQED’s request to interview his client.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Witnesses who testified at a fall 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11781717/fresno-priest-accused-of-sexual-abuse-of-immigrant-parishioners-to-stand-trial\">preliminary hearing\u003c/a> said the priest told them they were cursed, rubbed oil on their genitals or convinced them they had to masturbate in front of him to be healed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11825816\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"One of the alleged victims in the criminal case testified that he came to this office with his ex-wife to receive counseling from Father Antonio Castañeda and was taken to a conference room and abused by the priest.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the alleged victims in the criminal case testified that he came to this office in Fresno with his ex-wife to receive counseling from Father Antonio Castañeda and was taken to a conference room and abused by the priest. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some said they sought Castañeda’s guidance in times of difficulty in their lives: the end of a relationship, addiction to alcohol or drugs, and in one case, the death of a child, according to court testimony. Often ashamed and confused about the sessions in his office, but hopeful he could help them, some parishioners said they went back to Castañeda over and over for years. Others kept the alleged abuse hidden from their own family members who, they later discovered, were also alleged victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case raises questions about the vulnerability of adults, including undocumented immigrants, to sexual abuse in the church, and reveals how religious institutions are struggling to respond — decades after the systemic cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church first came to light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You feel like — am I still a man? Or am I even man enough?” one alleged victim in the case told KQED. “I let another guy touch me. You feel like they stole your identity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘Where can I find the priest who performs miracles?’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Former parishioners told KQED that they believed Castañeda truly healed people, which is why many have struggled to accept the allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda came to Fresno around 2007 and began preparing to become an Anglican priest. Parishioners said he subscribed to healing practices that included laying hands on the body to cure illnesses and performed cleansing rituals involving white candles, sheets and rubbing oil and salt on the body.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Rosalina Rodriguez, former parishioner of Our Lady of Guadalupe\"]‘He played with people’s minds. He would say, ‘You have cancer,’ or ‘You have this illness, you have this or that.’ And he was always putting illnesses on people, so that he could then cure them.’[/pullquote]Under Castañeda’s leadership, parishioners of Our Lady said they witnessed phenomena they still can’t explain: There was the story of the dying patient he brought back from life support, the man who parishioners said levitated off the floor while they prayed for him in an apparent exorcism led by the priest, and the woman whose cancer Castañeda said he had cured — purportedly removing a mass from her body — in front of the whole congregation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At healing masses, Castañeda would place his hands above a parishioner’s head and they would fall to the ground, or “rest in the spirit” — having been overtaken by the Holy Spirit, former parishioners said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People would form these huge lines for him to massage them and for him to cure them. Because he cured everything,” Rosa Reynaga, one of Castañeda’s former assistants, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once, at a church yard sale, former parishioner Rosalina Rodriguez said she remembered overhearing a woman ask, “Where can I find the priest who performs miracles?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said she heard Castañeda reply, “There is no priest here who performs miracles. It’s God.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a parishioner needed healing, Castañeda would meet with them privately in his office, several past congregants said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reynaga said she and other parishioners would often accompany Castañeda to people’s homes so he could pray for them. She said the priest told her some men needed healing because a former wife or girlfriend had cursed them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’d say that their intimate parts were ‘tied’ so he had to massage them,” said Reynaga, adding that the priest would ask her to leave the room at a certain point during the prayer. She said she never saw him improperly touch anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825818\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11825818\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Rosa Reynaga, a former assistant to Father Antonio Castañeda said she and other parishioners would often accompany him to people’s homes so he could pray for them. The priest would ask her to leave the room at a certain point during the prayer. She said she never saw him improperly touch anyone.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosa Reynaga, a former assistant to Father Antonio Castañeda, said she and other parishioners would often accompany him to people’s homes so he could pray for them. The priest would ask her to leave the room at a certain point during the prayer. She said she never saw him improperly touch anyone. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some alleged victims said that Castañeda would have another person in the room assisting him during the so-called prayer massages. Witnesses to Castañeda’s healing rituals said the priest would claim to pull out yellow or black substances from people’s bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parishioners said Castañeda also told them he was a licensed psychologist. Attempts to find any record of Castañeda being licensed to practice psychology were unsuccessful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He played with people’s minds,” Rodriguez said. “He would say, ‘You have cancer,’ or ‘You have this illness, you have this or that.’ And he was always putting illnesses on people, so that he could then cure them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Court records show one former parishioner, José Magaña, told police that in 2015, Castañeda asked him to accompany the priest as he prayed for a young man suffering from drug addiction. Magaña said he witnessed Castañeda reach his hand up one of the leg holes of the man’s boxers and pull on his genitals as the man screamed. Magaña told police he left feeling confused and spiritually injured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Magaña said he later told fellow parishioners about the incident. “I told them, you know, this happened. [They said] ‘Oh yeah, don’t worry. Yes, he does it. But it’s part of the prayer,’” Magaña said. “And I said, ‘But it’s not necessary.’”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Prof. Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Chair of Catholic Studies, University of Iowa\"]‘Folks might say, well, it’s a problem with just the Catholic Church. I would say that it’s a problem of concentration of power and lack of oversight.’[/pullquote]In the Pentecostal and charismatic Catholic traditions, it is common for a faith leader to advertise himself as an instrument of God, said professor Kristy Nabhan-Warren, chair of Catholic studies at the University of Iowa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wherever you have an intense patriarchy or intense concentration of power in any institution — Penn State, Michigan State, gymnastics with [Larry] Nassar — you will have abuse,” she said. “Folks might say, well, it’s a problem with just the Catholic Church. I would say that it’s a problem of concentration of power and lack of oversight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An earlier accusation\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Years before anyone came forward in Fresno, the Catholic Church in Washington state had grappled with an accusation of misconduct against Castañeda. Records obtained by KQED show a former church volunteer claimed Castañeda had touched him inappropriately when Castañeda was pastor of St. Juan Diego parish, in Cowiche, a 20-minute drive northwest of Yakima, Washington, from 2003 to 2005.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, when the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin was considering hiring Castañeda, they contracted Oxford Document Management Company to perform a background check.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company sent a questionnaire to the Catholic Diocese of Yakima, Castañeda’s former employer, asking questions including whether he had ever had sexual contact in a professional context.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla of the Yakima Diocese \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6957627-Diocese-Corr-AC-May-24-2007-Re-AC-Questionaire.html\">replied\u003c/a>, saying he could not complete the questionnaire, but that Castañeda had been dismissed from the clerical state in the Catholic Church for “substantive and grave reasons.” A \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6957642-Fax-and-Memo.html\">follow-up letter\u003c/a> gave additional detail: Castañeda had been accused of violating the seal of confession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was ordained by the Anglican Diocese anyway in 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv style=\"width: 100%\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1vqpvIacwxNDmaJ6fl5gOk9zZmuTLtN_vOABkQHUNxE0&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650\" width=\"100%\" height=\"650\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>The Catholic Diocese eventually looked into the former church volunteer’s allegation, according to an internal memo obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6952052-Yakima-Investigator-Memo-4.html\">document\u003c/a>, which is heavily redacted, summarizes a phone conversation between a private investigator and the man, who said he feared Castañeda because he “had a bad experience” with him. He told the investigator that Castañeda “abused his power” and would sometimes try to be “sexually aggressive” with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The man said that Castañeda had asked to examine him after he informed the priest that he had discovered a tumor in his testicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Victim told him that he had already been to a doctor at which point Fr. Castañeda stated, ‘I’m a doctor and I am responsible for your health. You must let me see it,’” the document states. “Victim stated that, ‘Fr. Castañeda started touching me and telling me to let him check my testicles.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the investigator asked whether Castañeda touched the man’s penis, he stated, “Yes, there and all over my testicles and then he said that everything looked okay,” according to the document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The man said he became very upset with Castañeda, and “asked him if he was happy now,” the document states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the investigator’s interview with the former church volunteer, the Catholic Diocese in Yakima \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6929503-Informing-of-Allegation.html\">notified\u003c/a> the Anglican Diocese in Fresno in August 2009 of the allegation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Anglican bishop at the time, John-David Schofield, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6954448-Corr-W-Anglicans-Re-AC-July-Sept-2009-4.html\">responded\u003c/a> by saying he had interviewed Castañeda and that, “to the best of my ability, it appears to me Fr. Antonio has been wrongly accused.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is unclear if diocesan officials in Fresno ever told parishioners of Our Lady of Guadalupe about the allegation. Fifteen current and former parishioners — out of the 23 interviewed for this story — said they were never informed a past allegation was lodged against Castañeda. The remaining eight parishioners didn’t respond to follow-up calls about whether they had been informed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked whether parishioners were notified of the allegation, the diocese’s current bishop, Menees, said in an email, “Due to the pending criminal and civil proceedings, I have been advised by counsel to make no comment.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Luis (Luis is a pseudonym. KQED is not using the real names of alleged sexual assault survivors in this story.)\"]‘I started realizing that, well, this wasn’t OK. I had no idea how many people were going through the same thing as me.’[/pullquote]Three people have also filed a lawsuit against Castañeda and the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin. They allege Castañeda sexually assaulted them and that the priest and the church violated their trust. The lawsuit claims the church was negligent in hiring and supervising Castañeda, resulting in infliction of emotional distress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, when the Yakima Diocese released its \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6774404-Yakima-Diocese-Abuse-Disclosure-List-07-09-19.html\">list of credibly accused priests\u003c/a>, Castañeda was not on it. Msgr. Robert Siler explained that’s because Castañeda was never accused of abusing a minor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think our legal system recognizes that adults have more capacity to say, ‘No,’ and to make reports and to come forward,” he said. “Now, we’re very concerned that culturally in the Hispanic community that there is a bigger problem in people’s reluctance to come forward or their inability to say ‘No.’ Certainly we need to pay attention to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Siler said the responsibility to not reoffend lies with Castañeda — not a church that previously employed him — and that “we did the best we could” to warn the Anglican Diocese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t imagine the Diocese of Yakima having the resources to follow him around with a sign for example saying, ‘Don’t go near this man,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘I wanted to be OK, so I went back’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back in Fresno, Luis thought he was finally earning his family’s trust back by staying involved with the church and going to Castañeda’s office for the prayer massages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luis said the priest told him that because he had been with so many women, he was cursed. To figure out how he needed to be healed, he said, Castañeda told him he needed to see his semen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He said, ‘I have to see it, my boy. I have to cure whatever it is you have.’ … And I said, ‘No,’” Luis said, adding that the priest began requesting he remove his boxers for the sessions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During one massage, Luis testified, Castañeda placed a towel over his lap and reached under the cloth — abruptly yanking hard on his penis. Luis said he abruptly doubled over in pain and tried to grab at Castañeda, but couldn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told Castañeda not to touch him there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Luis left the office, he said, his boxers were stained with blood. Luis said he felt that Castañeda manipulated him and other parishioners who were “anxious to be OK in our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11826162\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11826162\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis had struggled with meth addiction and hoped he could earn back his family’s trust by staying involved with the church and going to Father Antonio Castañeda’s office for prayer massages. Luis said the priest told him that because he had been with so many women, he was cursed. To figure out how he needed to be healed, he said the priest told him he needed to see his semen. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Luis would later testify the sessions with Castañeda took place over the course of several years, beginning in approximately 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had this gut feeling that I’m bad and I’m falling into the same things again. And I didn’t want that. I wanted to be OK,” Luis said. “So I went back again to his sessions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But being off drugs had given Luis a sense of clarity, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I started realizing that, well, this wasn’t OK,” he said. “I had no idea how many people were going through the same thing as me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Defrocked again\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After parishioners of Our Lady of Guadalupe told Bishop Menees about Castañeda’s healing ministry in fall 2017, he said he confronted the priest about the allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His immediate response was to say, ‘Yes, I learned this healing ministry in India,’” Menees said in a June 2019 interview before he declined to comment further. “And I just said, ‘No, you didn’t.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Menees said priests often anoint parishioners by making the sign of the cross on the forehead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Touching anywhere else — and certainly disrobing — would always be absolutely forbidden,” he added.[aside tag=\"catholic-church-sexual-abuse\" label=\"related coverage\"]While it is common in some Latin American countries and in immigrant communities in the U.S. to consult a traditional healer who uses massage, the contact is more about helping with tense muscles or a sprain, and never involves touching genitals, said Mario Gonzalez, deputy director of Centro la Familia, a nonprofit working with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office to assist victims of crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t see a reason why a [healer] would make contact with that private area,” Gonzalez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because there isn’t one, said UCLA psychology professor Paul R. Abramson, who works as an expert witness in civil and criminal sex abuse cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it’s on the genitals, the intent is sexual. He’s targeting people who won’t go to the police,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the men came forward, the Anglican Diocese immediately suspended Castañeda from priestly duties. Menees said Castañeda signed a statement admitting to some of what was alleged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Court records show another priest with the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin told police that Castañeda agreed to make an announcement taking responsibility for his actions at an upcoming Sunday mass, but didn’t show up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was permanently removed from the Anglican Church shortly thereafter, Menees said, adding that Castañeda later retracted his statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fresno police investigated Castañeda for over a year and arrested him in February 2019. The following day, police and prosecutors held a press conference urging more victims to come forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The victims that have been contacted thus far [are] Spanish-speaking for the most part, and they are undocumented,” said Jerry Dyer, Fresno’s police chief at the time. “That seems to be who he is preying upon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the press conference, Dyer said detectives believed Castañeda had sexually abused hundreds of people. Officers came up with the estimate by looking at the number of people who had come forward so far, times the number of years Castañeda had been an active priest in California and Washington, Dyer said later in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parishioner Magaña said he spoke with several men who revealed they were abused after allegations against Castañeda were made public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I asked them, how did you allow it?” Magaña said. “They wanted to heal. They were sick and they wanted to heal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825821\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11825821\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Luis is one of at least nine people who have been listed as alleged victims in the criminal case against Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, or Father Antonio Castañeda. Castañeda faces 22 counts of battery, sexual battery, attempted sexual battery and attempt to dissuade a witness.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis is one of at least 9 people who have been listed as alleged victims in the criminal case against Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, or Father Antonio Castañeda. Castañeda faces 22 counts of battery, sexual battery, attempted sexual battery and attempt to dissuade a witness. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The reinvented priest\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Several months after Castañeda was bailed out of jail, he held Sunday mass inside a rented space in Fresno at his new church, Iglesia del Espíritu Santo, or Holy Spirit Church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being defrocked by the Catholic and Anglican churches, he had been ordained a minister by the World Communion of Christian Celtic Convergence Churches, headquartered in the United Kingdom. The organization’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.celticconvergencechurch.org/\">website\u003c/a> says it’s open to ordain bishops, priests and deacons who “have failed previously in church leadership,” regardless of their “history, status and damage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Menees said many former members of Our Lady followed Castañeda to his new church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He never touched anybody,” said Flor Hernandez, who along with her husband, Javier Hernandez, left the Anglican church to follow him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez, who has collected letters of support for the priest, said she was in the room once or twice when Castañeda met one-on-one with parishioners and never witnessed abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When he held mass, it was overcrowded,” she said while showing a photo of a church filled to capacity and Castañeda holding his hands over a woman’s head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the priest’s preliminary court hearing in fall 2019, his supporters attended and audibly chuckled, scoffed and shook their heads during witness testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, all of this that happened was because of jealousy,” parishioner Imelda Cruz said after one of Castañeda’s Sunday services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s supporters have repeatedly pointed out that some accusers were once the priest’s closest allies and helped him with his healing ministry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bruce Taylor, the North America archbishop of Castañeda’s current church, said the organization did not run a background check on Castañeda before hiring him because he had already been ordained and screened by two other dioceses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taylor said Castañeda underwent a psychological evaluation, and he required that the priest be interviewed by three women who he said had been sexually abused as children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Women who have that kind of history have a sixth sense,” Taylor said. “They called me back and said, ‘No, he’s not like that. No, he couldn’t have done this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taylor suggested that the priest’s accusers could be making false allegations to obtain legal status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Illegal immigrants can become legal if a crime is committed against them. This could be a factor motivating false accusations being made against Fr. Antonio,” Taylor told KQED in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s attorney Torres, has also asked witnesses in court whether they applied to change their immigration status in exchange for testifying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is unclear how many of the alleged victims have applied for U visas — for victims of crimes who cooperate with law enforcement in investigating or prosecuting a criminal case. But community advocates and police have pushed back, saying coming forward puts accusers under even more scrutiny by federal officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Who would make up such a lie just to get a document? Who would expose themselves to court cases, to criminal background checks, to the discretion of USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services)?” said Gonzalez of Centro la Familia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Castañeda’s parishioners continue to flock to his services. Since California’s stay-at-home order brought a temporary halt to in-person religious services, the priest has delivered sermons to parishioners who attend both in person and virtually via Facebook Live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have faith that the truth is going to come out,” said Flor Hernandez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Do you have information or story tips you would like to share?\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Email the reporter: \u003ca href=\"mailto:ahall@kqed.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ahall@kqed.org\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Twitter \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/chalexhall\">@chalexhall\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Reader advisory: Some accounts of sexual assault in this story contain explicit details and strong language that some may find upsetting or objectionable.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11882683/jugo-con-la-mente-de-la-gente-un-sacerdote-de-fresno-dejo-un-rastro-de-acusaciones-de-abuso-sexual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Leer en español\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, Dec. 6, 2024\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since this story first published in 2020, Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna pleaded no contest to nine counts of sexual battery and one count of attempt to dissuade a witness. The rest of the charges were dropped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a hearing in Fresno County Superior Court in April, he apologized to the survivors and the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I ask that they forgive me for what I did,” Castañeda said through a translator. “I did not know of the impact that it was to them, because of everything that I caused them, emotionally, humanly and as a Christian.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A judge had ordered the priest be sent to prison for up to 90 days for an evaluation to determine whether he should be given probation or serve prison time, a process that considers public safety as well as what’s best for the defendant when recommending an ultimate sentence to the court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the prosecution, officials at Wasco State Prison wrote that Castañeda displayed poor judgment, had impulse control issues and had made poor choices leading to recurring problematic behavior over several years. They unanimously recommended that he go to prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, he was sentenced to 365 days in the Fresno County Jail and five years of probation. With credit for time served, he is expected to be released in late December after serving a total of six months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Normally when you have multiple victims over a long period of time and an abuse of authority and power, I would say probation is a rarity,” said Fresno County Senior Deputy District Attorney Kelly Smith, who prosecuted the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith said he was surprised when the judge indicated he might give a sentence of probation. But when asked, the survivors in this case said they were OK with the resolution. The important thing was that Castañeda took responsibility, and that the case was finally coming to an end, they said, according to Smith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To see that he’s not above the law, he can also go to jail. I felt like there was justice,” said Maria Estevez, one of Castañeda’s former followers who said she was glad that he won’t be able to serve as a priest while he’s on probation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“God will deal with him,” she said. “We don’t even think we have the power or the ability to say this is what should happen to him.”\u003cbr>\nEstevez, who recently rejoined the church, said Castañeda rarely comes up in conversations with other parishioners. People just want to move on, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the survivors had said they wanted Castañeda to go to prison, Smith said he believes there would have likely been a different outcome in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think ultimately that’s what swayed the court,” he said. “Ultimately these particular survivors gave the mercy to Mr. Serna that he didn’t give them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, July 23, 2021\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since this story was first published, several former parishioners who spoke to KQED filed a lawsuit against Fresno priest Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna and the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, alleging Castañeda had sexually assaulted them. That lawsuit was settled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ten more people filed \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21012428-20210602094804722\">another lawsuit\u003c/a> against the priest and his former employer in April 2021, alleging the priest sexually assaulted them, or attempted to. One of them says she was a minor at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda continues to preach to followers in Fresno, either via Facebook Live or in person at private events, former church members said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of late June, he still belonged to the World Communion of Christian Celtic Convergence Churches, an organization with headquarters in the United Kingdom that accepted him as a priest in January 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fr. Antonio’s status remains unchanged. We await the conclusion of due process in this case,” Bruce Taylor, the group’s archbishop of North America, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda remains out on bond, awaiting a trial scheduled for March 2022. His defense attorney, Ralph Torres, declined to comment on the lawsuit filed earlier this year. Further attempts to reach Castañeda were unsuccessful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nLuis said he couldn’t tell the doctor what had really happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It had been several days since he first noticed the blood in his urine and the bruising around his groin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 40-year-old native of Jalisco, Mexico, had been meeting with a popular local priest in Fresno, Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, who went by the name Father Antonio. His family had introduced him to Father Antonio in hope of the priest helping Luis, who had struggled with an addiction to meth, get back on his feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people would come looking for him,” said Luis, which is not his real name. KQED is not using the real names of alleged sexual assault survivors in this story. “They said it was something … like a gift from God he had.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Father Antonio was lead pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Spanish-language congregation of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin. The priest’s charismatic leadership drew in hundreds from Fresno’s Latino community and his rumored healing abilities had earned him the nickname “el padrecito que hace milagros” — the priest who performs miracles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During sessions in Father Antonio’s office that Luis said took place over the course of several years, he would lie down on a bench or massage table wearing only his boxers, while Father Antonio prayed and rubbed oil onto his skin. The intensity of the massage was so forceful that the priest often left bruises, Luis later testified.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "A KQED investigation found Castañeda had been accused before and has moved from the Catholic Church to the Anglican Church and then to another religious group without undergoing complete background checks — or any at all.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He had told his mom and girlfriend that he had been hurt at his construction job. It seemed easier that way, he said. And now, at the medical clinic, the doctor asked more questions — questions that Luis said he didn’t feel comfortable answering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t tell [the doctor] that someone had touched me,” Luis told KQED in November 2019. “It’s difficult. A man touches another adult … what was I going to say — he touched me? It’s a little ridiculous. Because people wouldn’t have believed me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luis eventually told authorities that it was during these massages — which the priest said he needed to expel a curse from his body — that Father Antonio sexually assaulted him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11826082\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11826082 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Luis was one of at least two men who told Anglican church officials that Father Antonio Castañeda had sexually assaulted them for years during healing rituals involving prayer and massage that the priest said could heal them of their sexual sins. (Luis is a pseudonym. KQED is not using the real names of alleged sexual assault survivors in this story.)\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS41170_IMG_6437-qut_v2.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis was one of at least 2 men who told Anglican church officials that Father Antonio Castañeda had sexually assaulted them for years during healing rituals involving prayer and massage that the priest said could heal them of their sexual sins. (Luis is a pseudonym. KQED is not using the real names of alleged sexual assault survivors in this story.) \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A cure for curses and sexual sins\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2017, several men came forward with allegations that Castañeda had sexually abused parishioners during massages that he said could heal them physically or spiritually, said Bishop Eric Menees of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of the victims that I met with at the beginning were undocumented men and so going to the police was a scary prospect,” Menees said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, in early 2018, Luis and another man agreed to be interviewed by detectives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other alleged victim told police that Castañeda instructed him to masturbate in front of him on multiple occasions, according to a declaration by a Fresno police investigator to support an arrest warrant. He said the priest told him that he needed to see his semen to determine the exact curse or illness afflicting him. In one instance, the man said, Castañeda hugged him and told him he loved him “as a man loves a woman.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was arrested in February 2019 and released the next day on bond. Over 40 parishioners told church officials that they, or someone they knew, had been abused by Castañeda, Menees told KQED in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, nine people — eight men, including Luis, and one woman — have been listed as alleged victims in the criminal case, according to court testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda faces \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6951672-AC-UPDATED-COMPLAINT.html\">22 counts\u003c/a> of battery, sexual battery, attempted sexual battery and attempting to dissuade a witness. His case, which was expected to go to trial this year, has been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A KQED investigation found Castañeda had been accused before and has moved from the Catholic Church to the Anglican Church and then to another religious group without undergoing complete background checks — or any at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he awaits trial, Castañeda has opened a new church where he continues to lead services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda has denied all charges through his attorney, Ralph Torres, who said the priest’s accusers have misinterpreted an accepted form of traditional healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a cultural thing,” Torres said. “This type of healing massage happens all over Latin America, Mexico and in the United States. Nothing unusual about that. You may have a misunderstanding, something that wasn’t appreciated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres said his client never sexually abused parishioners and that “the truth will come out at trial.” Torres declined KQED’s request to interview his client.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Witnesses who testified at a fall 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11781717/fresno-priest-accused-of-sexual-abuse-of-immigrant-parishioners-to-stand-trial\">preliminary hearing\u003c/a> said the priest told them they were cursed, rubbed oil on their genitals or convinced them they had to masturbate in front of him to be healed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11825816\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"One of the alleged victims in the criminal case testified that he came to this office with his ex-wife to receive counseling from Father Antonio Castañeda and was taken to a conference room and abused by the priest.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/016_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the alleged victims in the criminal case testified that he came to this office in Fresno with his ex-wife to receive counseling from Father Antonio Castañeda and was taken to a conference room and abused by the priest. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some said they sought Castañeda’s guidance in times of difficulty in their lives: the end of a relationship, addiction to alcohol or drugs, and in one case, the death of a child, according to court testimony. Often ashamed and confused about the sessions in his office, but hopeful he could help them, some parishioners said they went back to Castañeda over and over for years. Others kept the alleged abuse hidden from their own family members who, they later discovered, were also alleged victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case raises questions about the vulnerability of adults, including undocumented immigrants, to sexual abuse in the church, and reveals how religious institutions are struggling to respond — decades after the systemic cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church first came to light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You feel like — am I still a man? Or am I even man enough?” one alleged victim in the case told KQED. “I let another guy touch me. You feel like they stole your identity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘Where can I find the priest who performs miracles?’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Former parishioners told KQED that they believed Castañeda truly healed people, which is why many have struggled to accept the allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda came to Fresno around 2007 and began preparing to become an Anglican priest. Parishioners said he subscribed to healing practices that included laying hands on the body to cure illnesses and performed cleansing rituals involving white candles, sheets and rubbing oil and salt on the body.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘He played with people’s minds. He would say, ‘You have cancer,’ or ‘You have this illness, you have this or that.’ And he was always putting illnesses on people, so that he could then cure them.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Under Castañeda’s leadership, parishioners of Our Lady said they witnessed phenomena they still can’t explain: There was the story of the dying patient he brought back from life support, the man who parishioners said levitated off the floor while they prayed for him in an apparent exorcism led by the priest, and the woman whose cancer Castañeda said he had cured — purportedly removing a mass from her body — in front of the whole congregation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At healing masses, Castañeda would place his hands above a parishioner’s head and they would fall to the ground, or “rest in the spirit” — having been overtaken by the Holy Spirit, former parishioners said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People would form these huge lines for him to massage them and for him to cure them. Because he cured everything,” Rosa Reynaga, one of Castañeda’s former assistants, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once, at a church yard sale, former parishioner Rosalina Rodriguez said she remembered overhearing a woman ask, “Where can I find the priest who performs miracles?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said she heard Castañeda reply, “There is no priest here who performs miracles. It’s God.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a parishioner needed healing, Castañeda would meet with them privately in his office, several past congregants said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reynaga said she and other parishioners would often accompany Castañeda to people’s homes so he could pray for them. She said the priest told her some men needed healing because a former wife or girlfriend had cursed them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’d say that their intimate parts were ‘tied’ so he had to massage them,” said Reynaga, adding that the priest would ask her to leave the room at a certain point during the prayer. She said she never saw him improperly touch anyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825818\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11825818\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Rosa Reynaga, a former assistant to Father Antonio Castañeda said she and other parishioners would often accompany him to people’s homes so he could pray for them. The priest would ask her to leave the room at a certain point during the prayer. She said she never saw him improperly touch anyone.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/025_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosa Reynaga, a former assistant to Father Antonio Castañeda, said she and other parishioners would often accompany him to people’s homes so he could pray for them. The priest would ask her to leave the room at a certain point during the prayer. She said she never saw him improperly touch anyone. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some alleged victims said that Castañeda would have another person in the room assisting him during the so-called prayer massages. Witnesses to Castañeda’s healing rituals said the priest would claim to pull out yellow or black substances from people’s bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parishioners said Castañeda also told them he was a licensed psychologist. Attempts to find any record of Castañeda being licensed to practice psychology were unsuccessful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He played with people’s minds,” Rodriguez said. “He would say, ‘You have cancer,’ or ‘You have this illness, you have this or that.’ And he was always putting illnesses on people, so that he could then cure them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Court records show one former parishioner, José Magaña, told police that in 2015, Castañeda asked him to accompany the priest as he prayed for a young man suffering from drug addiction. Magaña said he witnessed Castañeda reach his hand up one of the leg holes of the man’s boxers and pull on his genitals as the man screamed. Magaña told police he left feeling confused and spiritually injured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Magaña said he later told fellow parishioners about the incident. “I told them, you know, this happened. [They said] ‘Oh yeah, don’t worry. Yes, he does it. But it’s part of the prayer,’” Magaña said. “And I said, ‘But it’s not necessary.’”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Folks might say, well, it’s a problem with just the Catholic Church. I would say that it’s a problem of concentration of power and lack of oversight.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the Pentecostal and charismatic Catholic traditions, it is common for a faith leader to advertise himself as an instrument of God, said professor Kristy Nabhan-Warren, chair of Catholic studies at the University of Iowa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wherever you have an intense patriarchy or intense concentration of power in any institution — Penn State, Michigan State, gymnastics with [Larry] Nassar — you will have abuse,” she said. “Folks might say, well, it’s a problem with just the Catholic Church. I would say that it’s a problem of concentration of power and lack of oversight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An earlier accusation\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Years before anyone came forward in Fresno, the Catholic Church in Washington state had grappled with an accusation of misconduct against Castañeda. Records obtained by KQED show a former church volunteer claimed Castañeda had touched him inappropriately when Castañeda was pastor of St. Juan Diego parish, in Cowiche, a 20-minute drive northwest of Yakima, Washington, from 2003 to 2005.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, when the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin was considering hiring Castañeda, they contracted Oxford Document Management Company to perform a background check.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company sent a questionnaire to the Catholic Diocese of Yakima, Castañeda’s former employer, asking questions including whether he had ever had sexual contact in a professional context.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla of the Yakima Diocese \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6957627-Diocese-Corr-AC-May-24-2007-Re-AC-Questionaire.html\">replied\u003c/a>, saying he could not complete the questionnaire, but that Castañeda had been dismissed from the clerical state in the Catholic Church for “substantive and grave reasons.” A \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6957642-Fax-and-Memo.html\">follow-up letter\u003c/a> gave additional detail: Castañeda had been accused of violating the seal of confession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda was ordained by the Anglican Diocese anyway in 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv style=\"width: 100%\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1vqpvIacwxNDmaJ6fl5gOk9zZmuTLtN_vOABkQHUNxE0&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650\" width=\"100%\" height=\"650\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>The Catholic Diocese eventually looked into the former church volunteer’s allegation, according to an internal memo obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6952052-Yakima-Investigator-Memo-4.html\">document\u003c/a>, which is heavily redacted, summarizes a phone conversation between a private investigator and the man, who said he feared Castañeda because he “had a bad experience” with him. He told the investigator that Castañeda “abused his power” and would sometimes try to be “sexually aggressive” with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The man said that Castañeda had asked to examine him after he informed the priest that he had discovered a tumor in his testicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Victim told him that he had already been to a doctor at which point Fr. Castañeda stated, ‘I’m a doctor and I am responsible for your health. You must let me see it,’” the document states. “Victim stated that, ‘Fr. Castañeda started touching me and telling me to let him check my testicles.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the investigator asked whether Castañeda touched the man’s penis, he stated, “Yes, there and all over my testicles and then he said that everything looked okay,” according to the document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The man said he became very upset with Castañeda, and “asked him if he was happy now,” the document states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the investigator’s interview with the former church volunteer, the Catholic Diocese in Yakima \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6929503-Informing-of-Allegation.html\">notified\u003c/a> the Anglican Diocese in Fresno in August 2009 of the allegation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Anglican bishop at the time, John-David Schofield, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6954448-Corr-W-Anglicans-Re-AC-July-Sept-2009-4.html\">responded\u003c/a> by saying he had interviewed Castañeda and that, “to the best of my ability, it appears to me Fr. Antonio has been wrongly accused.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is unclear if diocesan officials in Fresno ever told parishioners of Our Lady of Guadalupe about the allegation. Fifteen current and former parishioners — out of the 23 interviewed for this story — said they were never informed a past allegation was lodged against Castañeda. The remaining eight parishioners didn’t respond to follow-up calls about whether they had been informed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked whether parishioners were notified of the allegation, the diocese’s current bishop, Menees, said in an email, “Due to the pending criminal and civil proceedings, I have been advised by counsel to make no comment.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I started realizing that, well, this wasn’t OK. I had no idea how many people were going through the same thing as me.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Three people have also filed a lawsuit against Castañeda and the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin. They allege Castañeda sexually assaulted them and that the priest and the church violated their trust. The lawsuit claims the church was negligent in hiring and supervising Castañeda, resulting in infliction of emotional distress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, when the Yakima Diocese released its \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6774404-Yakima-Diocese-Abuse-Disclosure-List-07-09-19.html\">list of credibly accused priests\u003c/a>, Castañeda was not on it. Msgr. Robert Siler explained that’s because Castañeda was never accused of abusing a minor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think our legal system recognizes that adults have more capacity to say, ‘No,’ and to make reports and to come forward,” he said. “Now, we’re very concerned that culturally in the Hispanic community that there is a bigger problem in people’s reluctance to come forward or their inability to say ‘No.’ Certainly we need to pay attention to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Siler said the responsibility to not reoffend lies with Castañeda — not a church that previously employed him — and that “we did the best we could” to warn the Anglican Diocese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t imagine the Diocese of Yakima having the resources to follow him around with a sign for example saying, ‘Don’t go near this man,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘I wanted to be OK, so I went back’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back in Fresno, Luis thought he was finally earning his family’s trust back by staying involved with the church and going to Castañeda’s office for the prayer massages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luis said the priest told him that because he had been with so many women, he was cursed. To figure out how he needed to be healed, he said, Castañeda told him he needed to see his semen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He said, ‘I have to see it, my boy. I have to cure whatever it is you have.’ … And I said, ‘No,’” Luis said, adding that the priest began requesting he remove his boxers for the sessions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During one massage, Luis testified, Castañeda placed a towel over his lap and reached under the cloth — abruptly yanking hard on his penis. Luis said he abruptly doubled over in pain and tried to grab at Castañeda, but couldn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told Castañeda not to touch him there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Luis left the office, he said, his boxers were stained with blood. Luis said he felt that Castañeda manipulated him and other parishioners who were “anxious to be OK in our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11826162\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11826162\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/011_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_BW_05232020.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis had struggled with meth addiction and hoped he could earn back his family’s trust by staying involved with the church and going to Father Antonio Castañeda’s office for prayer massages. Luis said the priest told him that because he had been with so many women, he was cursed. To figure out how he needed to be healed, he said the priest told him he needed to see his semen. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Luis would later testify the sessions with Castañeda took place over the course of several years, beginning in approximately 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had this gut feeling that I’m bad and I’m falling into the same things again. And I didn’t want that. I wanted to be OK,” Luis said. “So I went back again to his sessions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But being off drugs had given Luis a sense of clarity, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I started realizing that, well, this wasn’t OK,” he said. “I had no idea how many people were going through the same thing as me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Defrocked again\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After parishioners of Our Lady of Guadalupe told Bishop Menees about Castañeda’s healing ministry in fall 2017, he said he confronted the priest about the allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His immediate response was to say, ‘Yes, I learned this healing ministry in India,’” Menees said in a June 2019 interview before he declined to comment further. “And I just said, ‘No, you didn’t.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Menees said priests often anoint parishioners by making the sign of the cross on the forehead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Touching anywhere else — and certainly disrobing — would always be absolutely forbidden,” he added.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While it is common in some Latin American countries and in immigrant communities in the U.S. to consult a traditional healer who uses massage, the contact is more about helping with tense muscles or a sprain, and never involves touching genitals, said Mario Gonzalez, deputy director of Centro la Familia, a nonprofit working with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office to assist victims of crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t see a reason why a [healer] would make contact with that private area,” Gonzalez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because there isn’t one, said UCLA psychology professor Paul R. Abramson, who works as an expert witness in civil and criminal sex abuse cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it’s on the genitals, the intent is sexual. He’s targeting people who won’t go to the police,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the men came forward, the Anglican Diocese immediately suspended Castañeda from priestly duties. Menees said Castañeda signed a statement admitting to some of what was alleged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Court records show another priest with the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin told police that Castañeda agreed to make an announcement taking responsibility for his actions at an upcoming Sunday mass, but didn’t show up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was permanently removed from the Anglican Church shortly thereafter, Menees said, adding that Castañeda later retracted his statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fresno police investigated Castañeda for over a year and arrested him in February 2019. The following day, police and prosecutors held a press conference urging more victims to come forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The victims that have been contacted thus far [are] Spanish-speaking for the most part, and they are undocumented,” said Jerry Dyer, Fresno’s police chief at the time. “That seems to be who he is preying upon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the press conference, Dyer said detectives believed Castañeda had sexually abused hundreds of people. Officers came up with the estimate by looking at the number of people who had come forward so far, times the number of years Castañeda had been an active priest in California and Washington, Dyer said later in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parishioner Magaña said he spoke with several men who revealed they were abused after allegations against Castañeda were made public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I asked them, how did you allow it?” Magaña said. “They wanted to heal. They were sick and they wanted to heal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825821\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11825821\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Luis is one of at least nine people who have been listed as alleged victims in the criminal case against Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, or Father Antonio Castañeda. Castañeda faces 22 counts of battery, sexual battery, attempted sexual battery and attempt to dissuade a witness.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/060_KQED_Fresno_RestinSpirit_05232020.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis is one of at least 9 people who have been listed as alleged victims in the criminal case against Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, or Father Antonio Castañeda. Castañeda faces 22 counts of battery, sexual battery, attempted sexual battery and attempt to dissuade a witness. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The reinvented priest\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Several months after Castañeda was bailed out of jail, he held Sunday mass inside a rented space in Fresno at his new church, Iglesia del Espíritu Santo, or Holy Spirit Church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being defrocked by the Catholic and Anglican churches, he had been ordained a minister by the World Communion of Christian Celtic Convergence Churches, headquartered in the United Kingdom. The organization’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.celticconvergencechurch.org/\">website\u003c/a> says it’s open to ordain bishops, priests and deacons who “have failed previously in church leadership,” regardless of their “history, status and damage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Menees said many former members of Our Lady followed Castañeda to his new church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He never touched anybody,” said Flor Hernandez, who along with her husband, Javier Hernandez, left the Anglican church to follow him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez, who has collected letters of support for the priest, said she was in the room once or twice when Castañeda met one-on-one with parishioners and never witnessed abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When he held mass, it was overcrowded,” she said while showing a photo of a church filled to capacity and Castañeda holding his hands over a woman’s head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the priest’s preliminary court hearing in fall 2019, his supporters attended and audibly chuckled, scoffed and shook their heads during witness testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, all of this that happened was because of jealousy,” parishioner Imelda Cruz said after one of Castañeda’s Sunday services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s supporters have repeatedly pointed out that some accusers were once the priest’s closest allies and helped him with his healing ministry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bruce Taylor, the North America archbishop of Castañeda’s current church, said the organization did not run a background check on Castañeda before hiring him because he had already been ordained and screened by two other dioceses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taylor said Castañeda underwent a psychological evaluation, and he required that the priest be interviewed by three women who he said had been sexually abused as children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Women who have that kind of history have a sixth sense,” Taylor said. “They called me back and said, ‘No, he’s not like that. No, he couldn’t have done this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taylor suggested that the priest’s accusers could be making false allegations to obtain legal status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Illegal immigrants can become legal if a crime is committed against them. This could be a factor motivating false accusations being made against Fr. Antonio,” Taylor told KQED in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castañeda’s attorney Torres, has also asked witnesses in court whether they applied to change their immigration status in exchange for testifying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is unclear how many of the alleged victims have applied for U visas — for victims of crimes who cooperate with law enforcement in investigating or prosecuting a criminal case. But community advocates and police have pushed back, saying coming forward puts accusers under even more scrutiny by federal officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Who would make up such a lie just to get a document? Who would expose themselves to court cases, to criminal background checks, to the discretion of USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services)?” said Gonzalez of Centro la Familia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Castañeda’s parishioners continue to flock to his services. Since California’s stay-at-home order brought a temporary halt to in-person religious services, the priest has delivered sermons to parishioners who attend both in person and virtually via Facebook Live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have faith that the truth is going to come out,” said Flor Hernandez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Do you have information or story tips you would like to share?\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Email the reporter: \u003ca href=\"mailto:ahall@kqed.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ahall@kqed.org\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Twitter \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/chalexhall\">@chalexhall\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Following hundreds of lawsuits alleging systemic sexual abuse by correctional officers at two California state prisons, advocates for incarcerated women are hopeful a newly launched federal investigation by the Department of Justice will bring change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department said on Wednesday that it had “significant justification” to evaluate whether the state was meeting its constitutional duty to protect residents of the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino, which for years have been plagued by misconduct scandals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement references\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936438/former-california-prison-officer-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-against-multiple-inmates\"> the May arrest of \u003c/a>Gregory Rodriguez, 56, who is accused of abusing or raping 22 women in his custody at Chowchilla, the state’s largest women’s facility, for years. The former correctional officer is set to go on trial in state court this week on nearly 100 counts of sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among his accusers is Latasha Brown, a Vallejo woman who has been incarcerated at both the Chino and Chowchilla facilities over the past 21 years. She \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/29/womens-prison-guards-sexual-abuse\">testified \u003c/a>last year at a legislative hearing on sexual violence that she suffered abuse at the hands of Rodriguez and other officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not everyone employed by [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] is a predator. I’m only saying that the uniform or the suit makes a perfect camouflage for one,” Brown said in recorded remarks from prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Justice Department’s announcement of its investigation, Kristen Clarke, who leads the department’s Civil Rights Division, said, “California must ensure that the people it incarcerates are housed in conditions that protect them from sexual abuse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No woman incarcerated in a jail or prison should be subjected to sexual abuse by prison staff who are constitutionally bound to protect them,” Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation comes more than two and a half years after the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1455\">passage of a state bill\u003c/a> that extended the statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault by police and correctional officers to sue their assailants in civil court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12002790 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/240408-FCIDublin-009-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are incredibly grateful that the DOJ is stepping in,” said Amika Mota, executive director of advocacy group Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As formerly incarcerated people that have lived inside, it tends to be when the feds get involved that we see some action and shift. And unfortunately, in these last couple of years working closely with CDCR and also trying to get access to provide more trauma-informed support to people on the inside, we’ve seen reluctance to allow advocates inside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state bill, AB 1455, allows victims to sue in civil court up to 10 years after their assailants are convicted of sexual assault or a crime in which sexual assault was initially alleged. It also gives victims the option to sue up to 10 years after their assailants leave the law enforcement agency they were working at when the assault occurred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the law took effect, women have filed hundreds of lawsuits describing numerous instances of sexual assault by correctional officers overseen by CDCR, including the Chowchilla and Chino facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuits range from allegations of inappropriate searching to forcible rape, and officers at both facilities reportedly sought sexual favors in return for contraband and privileges, the DOJ said in a press release. And among the correctional officers accused of misconduct are some of the very people responsible for handling complaints of sexual abuse made by women incarcerated there, according to the DOJ.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997597\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997597\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign for the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a prison for women, in Dublin on April 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Prisons were initially built to ‘reform,’ places of ‘penance,’ but they have become places where society’s throwaways suffer a litany of abuses by the ones we hold responsible for our safety and security. Places where a culture of impunity pervades,” Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her testimony, Brown described the retribution she faced after speaking out against sexual violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since I am completely at the mercy of my captors, I have a feeling of perpetual uneasiness since I know the lengths they will go to cover up their misconduct,” she said. “I was stripped of my property, isolated, surveilled and deprived of communication with my loved ones when I came forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Nancy Skinner, who represents the East Bay, visited the Chowchilla prison with other legislators last January and spoke with women inside about the difficulties of reporting abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No person, … no matter what the actions that they took that resulted in their getting a sentence, should be subject to being assaulted or raped while they are incarcerated. Nobody,” said Skinner, chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11999317 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The joint efforts of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus and Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition to shine a light on sexual abuse were cited by the Justice Department for helping launch its investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m relieved that some of our work in the Women’s Caucus has come to the surface, and people are acknowledging the work we’ve done by having this investigation,” said Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry of East Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When people say the government doesn’t work, well, it does. Sometimes, it takes a little bit longer than we would like.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of their work, the Women’s Caucus will travel next week to visit prisons in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Aguiar-Curry added, to learn from other countries about rehabilitation and how they prepare women for reentry into society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the allegations around the Chowchilla and Chino facilities, CDCR plans to intensify staff training with a focus on misconduct and will increase cameras and surveillance at both of the facilities, according to a statement from department secretary Jeff Macomber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sexual assault is a heinous violation of fundamental human dignity that is not tolerated — under any circumstances — within California’s state prison system,” Macomber said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our department embraces transparency, and we fully welcome the U.S. Department of Justice’s independent investigation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation also comes after the closure of a federal women’s prison in the East Bay following years of sexual misconduct allegations and scandals. Seven former corrections officers at FCI Dublin have been sentenced, and the eighth is set to go to trial after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12002790/fci-dublin-officer-pleads-not-guilty-after-facing-new-sex-abuse-charges\">pleading not guilty on Tuesday\u003c/a> to 15 counts of sexual abuse of incarcerated women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mbolanos\">Madi Bolaños\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Following hundreds of lawsuits alleging systemic sexual abuse by correctional officers at two California state prisons, advocates for incarcerated women are hopeful a newly launched federal investigation by the Department of Justice will bring change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department said on Wednesday that it had “significant justification” to evaluate whether the state was meeting its constitutional duty to protect residents of the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino, which for years have been plagued by misconduct scandals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement references\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936438/former-california-prison-officer-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-against-multiple-inmates\"> the May arrest of \u003c/a>Gregory Rodriguez, 56, who is accused of abusing or raping 22 women in his custody at Chowchilla, the state’s largest women’s facility, for years. The former correctional officer is set to go on trial in state court this week on nearly 100 counts of sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among his accusers is Latasha Brown, a Vallejo woman who has been incarcerated at both the Chino and Chowchilla facilities over the past 21 years. She \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/29/womens-prison-guards-sexual-abuse\">testified \u003c/a>last year at a legislative hearing on sexual violence that she suffered abuse at the hands of Rodriguez and other officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not everyone employed by [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] is a predator. I’m only saying that the uniform or the suit makes a perfect camouflage for one,” Brown said in recorded remarks from prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Justice Department’s announcement of its investigation, Kristen Clarke, who leads the department’s Civil Rights Division, said, “California must ensure that the people it incarcerates are housed in conditions that protect them from sexual abuse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No woman incarcerated in a jail or prison should be subjected to sexual abuse by prison staff who are constitutionally bound to protect them,” Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation comes more than two and a half years after the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1455\">passage of a state bill\u003c/a> that extended the statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault by police and correctional officers to sue their assailants in civil court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are incredibly grateful that the DOJ is stepping in,” said Amika Mota, executive director of advocacy group Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As formerly incarcerated people that have lived inside, it tends to be when the feds get involved that we see some action and shift. And unfortunately, in these last couple of years working closely with CDCR and also trying to get access to provide more trauma-informed support to people on the inside, we’ve seen reluctance to allow advocates inside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state bill, AB 1455, allows victims to sue in civil court up to 10 years after their assailants are convicted of sexual assault or a crime in which sexual assault was initially alleged. It also gives victims the option to sue up to 10 years after their assailants leave the law enforcement agency they were working at when the assault occurred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the law took effect, women have filed hundreds of lawsuits describing numerous instances of sexual assault by correctional officers overseen by CDCR, including the Chowchilla and Chino facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuits range from allegations of inappropriate searching to forcible rape, and officers at both facilities reportedly sought sexual favors in return for contraband and privileges, the DOJ said in a press release. And among the correctional officers accused of misconduct are some of the very people responsible for handling complaints of sexual abuse made by women incarcerated there, according to the DOJ.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11997597\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11997597\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/240408-FCIDublin-012-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign for the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a prison for women, in Dublin on April 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Prisons were initially built to ‘reform,’ places of ‘penance,’ but they have become places where society’s throwaways suffer a litany of abuses by the ones we hold responsible for our safety and security. Places where a culture of impunity pervades,” Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her testimony, Brown described the retribution she faced after speaking out against sexual violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since I am completely at the mercy of my captors, I have a feeling of perpetual uneasiness since I know the lengths they will go to cover up their misconduct,” she said. “I was stripped of my property, isolated, surveilled and deprived of communication with my loved ones when I came forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Nancy Skinner, who represents the East Bay, visited the Chowchilla prison with other legislators last January and spoke with women inside about the difficulties of reporting abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No person, … no matter what the actions that they took that resulted in their getting a sentence, should be subject to being assaulted or raped while they are incarcerated. Nobody,” said Skinner, chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The joint efforts of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus and Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition to shine a light on sexual abuse were cited by the Justice Department for helping launch its investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m relieved that some of our work in the Women’s Caucus has come to the surface, and people are acknowledging the work we’ve done by having this investigation,” said Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry of East Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When people say the government doesn’t work, well, it does. Sometimes, it takes a little bit longer than we would like.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of their work, the Women’s Caucus will travel next week to visit prisons in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Aguiar-Curry added, to learn from other countries about rehabilitation and how they prepare women for reentry into society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the allegations around the Chowchilla and Chino facilities, CDCR plans to intensify staff training with a focus on misconduct and will increase cameras and surveillance at both of the facilities, according to a statement from department secretary Jeff Macomber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sexual assault is a heinous violation of fundamental human dignity that is not tolerated — under any circumstances — within California’s state prison system,” Macomber said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our department embraces transparency, and we fully welcome the U.S. Department of Justice’s independent investigation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation also comes after the closure of a federal women’s prison in the East Bay following years of sexual misconduct allegations and scandals. Seven former corrections officers at FCI Dublin have been sentenced, and the eighth is set to go to trial after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12002790/fci-dublin-officer-pleads-not-guilty-after-facing-new-sex-abuse-charges\">pleading not guilty on Tuesday\u003c/a> to 15 counts of sexual abuse of incarcerated women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mbolanos\">Madi Bolaños\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Documents ordered unsealed on Friday by a federal judge included a special master’s report that detailed systemic abuse and inadequate medical and mental health care at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Management’s failure to ensure staff adhered to [the Bureau of Prison] policy put the health, safety and liberty of [adults in custody] at great risk for many years,” the report from Wendy Still, who was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982014/judge-chooses-top-pick-for-special-master-to-oversee-womens-prison-following-rampant-abuse\">appointed special master in April\u003c/a>, reads. “It is unconscionable that any correctional agency could allow incarcerated individuals under their control and responsibility to be subject to the conditions that existed at FCI-Dublin for such an extended period of time without correction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered that Still’s report, along with other previously sealed documents in the class action lawsuit, be made available to the public during a hearing. The lawsuit, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11987292/trial-for-class-action-lawsuit-over-troubled-womens-prison-slated-for-june-2025\">filed in August 2023\u003c/a>, alleges that women incarcerated at FCI Dublin were subjected to a culture of abuse, retaliation, and cover-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit demanded systemic changes at the facility. It is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978712/infamous-east-bay-womens-prison-hit-with-12-additional-sexual-assault-lawsuits\">one of more than 60\u003c/a> filed since 2021 alleging sexual assault and retaliation by FCI Dublin officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Rogers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11987292/trial-for-class-action-lawsuit-over-troubled-womens-prison-slated-for-june-2025\">set a trial date\u003c/a> for June 2025 after assigning Still to oversee changes to the prison. In April, federal officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">abruptly shut down\u003c/a> the facility and transferred hundreds of people incarcerated there to other federal facilities across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still wrote in her \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25030691-fci-dublin-special-master-report\">report\u003c/a> that the facility faced staffing shortages, failed to provide timely access to mental and medical health care and created an environment where inmates feared retaliation if they filed complaints with the warden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added that she “continues to have concerns that the mistreatment, neglect and abuse” inmates experienced at the facility not be repeated where they were transferred, “as many of the conditions that existed at this facility appear to be longstanding and systemic in nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the facility shut down, the Biden Administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11990979/biden-administration-seeks-to-dismiss-lawsuit-over-bay-area-womens-prison-abuses\">requested the case be dismissed\u003c/a>, calling it “moot.” William Lonthrop, deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, wrote in a court declaration that there are no immediate plans to reopen the facility, but if overcrowding or other factors affecting federal prisons did force the facility to reopen, it would not house women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers did not rule on the government’s request. She said that there were still issues raised by women who were previously incarcerated at FCI Dublin that needed to be resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want this court to wipe its hands clean and go its merry way with respect to those hundreds of individuals that are out there?” she asked federal attorneys during the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we heard was the judge say really clearly that the issues are ongoing and that the [Bureau of Prisons] needs to be accountable for the harms that they caused,” Susan Beaty, an attorney representing the class of women incarcerated at the prison, told KQED after the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, eight former correctional officers at the prison have been criminally charged with sexual abuse of women who were incarcerated there. Seven have been sentenced. The last, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11997595/former-east-bay-prison-officer-charged-with-more-sex-crimes-against-women-in-his-custody\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a>, is set to go on trial in March on 15 charges and faces a potential life sentence if convicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers said the documents she ordered unsealed must be available to the public by Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ahall\">Alex Hall\u003c/a> and Gilare Zada contributed to this report. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Documents ordered unsealed on Friday by a federal judge included a special master’s report that detailed systemic abuse and inadequate medical and mental health care at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Management’s failure to ensure staff adhered to [the Bureau of Prison] policy put the health, safety and liberty of [adults in custody] at great risk for many years,” the report from Wendy Still, who was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982014/judge-chooses-top-pick-for-special-master-to-oversee-womens-prison-following-rampant-abuse\">appointed special master in April\u003c/a>, reads. “It is unconscionable that any correctional agency could allow incarcerated individuals under their control and responsibility to be subject to the conditions that existed at FCI-Dublin for such an extended period of time without correction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered that Still’s report, along with other previously sealed documents in the class action lawsuit, be made available to the public during a hearing. The lawsuit, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11987292/trial-for-class-action-lawsuit-over-troubled-womens-prison-slated-for-june-2025\">filed in August 2023\u003c/a>, alleges that women incarcerated at FCI Dublin were subjected to a culture of abuse, retaliation, and cover-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit demanded systemic changes at the facility. It is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978712/infamous-east-bay-womens-prison-hit-with-12-additional-sexual-assault-lawsuits\">one of more than 60\u003c/a> filed since 2021 alleging sexual assault and retaliation by FCI Dublin officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Rogers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11987292/trial-for-class-action-lawsuit-over-troubled-womens-prison-slated-for-june-2025\">set a trial date\u003c/a> for June 2025 after assigning Still to oversee changes to the prison. In April, federal officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">abruptly shut down\u003c/a> the facility and transferred hundreds of people incarcerated there to other federal facilities across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still wrote in her \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25030691-fci-dublin-special-master-report\">report\u003c/a> that the facility faced staffing shortages, failed to provide timely access to mental and medical health care and created an environment where inmates feared retaliation if they filed complaints with the warden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added that she “continues to have concerns that the mistreatment, neglect and abuse” inmates experienced at the facility not be repeated where they were transferred, “as many of the conditions that existed at this facility appear to be longstanding and systemic in nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the facility shut down, the Biden Administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11990979/biden-administration-seeks-to-dismiss-lawsuit-over-bay-area-womens-prison-abuses\">requested the case be dismissed\u003c/a>, calling it “moot.” William Lonthrop, deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, wrote in a court declaration that there are no immediate plans to reopen the facility, but if overcrowding or other factors affecting federal prisons did force the facility to reopen, it would not house women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers did not rule on the government’s request. She said that there were still issues raised by women who were previously incarcerated at FCI Dublin that needed to be resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want this court to wipe its hands clean and go its merry way with respect to those hundreds of individuals that are out there?” she asked federal attorneys during the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we heard was the judge say really clearly that the issues are ongoing and that the [Bureau of Prisons] needs to be accountable for the harms that they caused,” Susan Beaty, an attorney representing the class of women incarcerated at the prison, told KQED after the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, eight former correctional officers at the prison have been criminally charged with sexual abuse of women who were incarcerated there. Seven have been sentenced. The last, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11997595/former-east-bay-prison-officer-charged-with-more-sex-crimes-against-women-in-his-custody\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a>, is set to go on trial in March on 15 charges and faces a potential life sentence if convicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers said the documents she ordered unsealed must be available to the public by Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ahall\">Alex Hall\u003c/a> and Gilare Zada contributed to this report. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A former correctional officer charged with sexually abusing women who were incarcerated at an East Bay federal prison has been indicted on additional charges, including a civil rights violation, the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983422/another-former-fci-dublin-officer-facing-criminal-charges-is-scheduled-for-trial\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a>, 55, was first indicted last year on 12 sexual abuse charges involving three women in his custody at FCI Dublin between 2019 and 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a superseding indictment issued Thursday by a federal grand jury, Smith is accused of sexually abusing two additional women as far back as 2016. The indictment also adds a third new charge for a federal civil rights violation tied to Smith’s alleged aggravated abuse of one of the women, bringing the total charges to 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the acts were described as “brazen and violent” by Justice Department Inspector Michael Horowitz.[aside postID=news_11990979 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240408-FCIDublin-017-BL_qut-1-1020x680.jpg']“The defendant’s alleged actions are some of the most disturbing charges we’ve seen for a former federal corrections officer,” Michael Nordwall, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, said in a statement. “Sexual abuse scars everyone who survives it but can be particularly traumatizing when it’s perpetrated by someone in a position of trust or authority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FCI Dublin recently closed its doors following years of sexual misconduct scandals, criminal investigations and lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is one of eight former Dublin correctional staff to be criminally charged with sexual abuse of women incarcerated at the facility. Seven others have already been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is set to go on trial in March, and if convicted, he faces a potential life sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A former correctional officer charged with sexually abusing women who were incarcerated at an East Bay federal prison has been indicted on additional charges, including a civil rights violation, the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983422/another-former-fci-dublin-officer-facing-criminal-charges-is-scheduled-for-trial\">Darrell Wayne Smith\u003c/a>, 55, was first indicted last year on 12 sexual abuse charges involving three women in his custody at FCI Dublin between 2019 and 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a superseding indictment issued Thursday by a federal grand jury, Smith is accused of sexually abusing two additional women as far back as 2016. The indictment also adds a third new charge for a federal civil rights violation tied to Smith’s alleged aggravated abuse of one of the women, bringing the total charges to 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the acts were described as “brazen and violent” by Justice Department Inspector Michael Horowitz.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The defendant’s alleged actions are some of the most disturbing charges we’ve seen for a former federal corrections officer,” Michael Nordwall, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, said in a statement. “Sexual abuse scars everyone who survives it but can be particularly traumatizing when it’s perpetrated by someone in a position of trust or authority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FCI Dublin recently closed its doors following years of sexual misconduct scandals, criminal investigations and lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith is one of eight former Dublin correctional staff to be criminally charged with sexual abuse of women incarcerated at the facility. Seven others have already been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is set to go on trial in March, and if convicted, he faces a potential life sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "East San José School Conspired to Hide Teacher's Sexual Abuse, 11 Victims Allege in Lawsuit",
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"content": "\u003cp>Eleven victims in a \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dnj_Qu5cuOf8j9KFoUGKivATHb-nWZyk/view?ts=666ddc92&pli=1\">lawsuit\u003c/a> filed on Wednesday, June 12, allege the current interim superintendent at the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District and former staff conspired to cover up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952597/a-san-jose-teacher-is-charged-with-sexual-abuse-his-school-district-knew-of-alleged-misconduct-a-decade-ago\">sexual abuse by a former teacher.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Israel Santiago, a former music instructor at Adelante Dual Language Academy, is currently serving a prison sentence for sexual abuse. Since Santiago was charged in 2022, four lawsuits have been filed against the school district over its handling of complaints against the teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An investigation by the school district in 2014 documented multiple complaints Santiago inappropriately touched students, according to \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24512265/response-to-pra-request-w-documents-05-17-2023-1-3.pdf\">records obtained by KQED\u003c/a> in response to a Public Record Act request. Administrators determined he should be transferred to another school in the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santiago continued to teach for nearly a decade before he was charged with sexually abusing 10 students at Adelante.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest lawsuit alleges that school staff and the district’s current interim superintendent, Imee Almazan, were not only aware of Santiago’s inappropriate behavior but also chose not to notify the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Almazan declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorney for the victims, Morgan Stewart, said Santiago should have “unequivocally” been reported to authorities. All mandatory reporters are \u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/ap/childabusereportingguide.asp\">required by law\u003c/a> to report all known or suspected cases of child abuse or neglect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a clear conspiracy to cover this up, keep it quiet, not report it to the police,” Stewart said. “He’s touching females. He’s making them uncomfortable. He’s acting in a sexually inappropriate manner with 12- and 13-year-olds. And there’s a direction from the superintendent not to call the police on that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almazan was the principal at Sheppard Middle School in 2014 when she completed an investigation into complaints against Santiago. After interviewing 15 students, Almazan found “an overall discomfort and/or feeling of insecurity in Mr. Santiago’s band class among female students that were interviewed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among other allegations referenced in the investigative report by the school, Santiago was accused of physically moving a female student by holding her head and shoulders, touching a female student at her waist to move her, and asking a parent to drop off his child at his house. Almazan recommended Santiago be transferred out of Sheppard Middle School, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges former Alum Rock superintendent Stephen Fiss instructed staff not to call law enforcement in response to the complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Superintendent Fiss did not want me to contact the police regarding this matter at this time,” reads a draft for an investigative report prepared by the school included in the suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next to those instructions is a handwritten note reading, “Delete.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fiss could not be reached for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former principal at Adelante, Maria Gutierrez, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. In a statement provided by her attorney, Gutierrez argues she blew the whistle on Santiago and was terminated after doing what was necessary to protect the children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ms. Gutierrez looks forward to all of the legal claims playing out in court because the facts will demonstrate that Alum Rock has an entrenched history of doing what is politically best for them, and not what is best for students and families,” the statement reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11952597,news_11911375,news_11928350\"]Almazan, the former Sheppard Middle School principal who investigated Santiago, was appointed interim superintendent with the district in March after the previous superintendent, Hilaria Bauer, was \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/east-san-jose-alum-rock-union-school-district-board-selects-interim-leader-after-ousting-predecessor/\">abruptly fired\u003c/a>, according to the San Jose Spotlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trustee Minh Pham told \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/east-san-jose-alum-rock-union-school-district-board-selects-interim-leader-after-ousting-predecessor/\">the San José Spotlight\u003c/a> that the school board is searching for a permanent replacement, and Almazan is unlikely to apply for the position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the victims in the recent lawsuit are under 14 years old, and two are in their 20s, attorney Stewart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stewart noted that Adelante and the district are made up of largely Hispanic and lower-income families. Many families do not necessarily have the ability to speak out or go to law enforcement and trust their schools to be a safe place, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s devastating,” Stewart said. “And I don’t even know that the parents fully grasp everything that the school did to harm them all along the way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Eleven victims in a \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dnj_Qu5cuOf8j9KFoUGKivATHb-nWZyk/view?ts=666ddc92&pli=1\">lawsuit\u003c/a> filed on Wednesday, June 12, allege the current interim superintendent at the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District and former staff conspired to cover up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952597/a-san-jose-teacher-is-charged-with-sexual-abuse-his-school-district-knew-of-alleged-misconduct-a-decade-ago\">sexual abuse by a former teacher.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Israel Santiago, a former music instructor at Adelante Dual Language Academy, is currently serving a prison sentence for sexual abuse. Since Santiago was charged in 2022, four lawsuits have been filed against the school district over its handling of complaints against the teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An investigation by the school district in 2014 documented multiple complaints Santiago inappropriately touched students, according to \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24512265/response-to-pra-request-w-documents-05-17-2023-1-3.pdf\">records obtained by KQED\u003c/a> in response to a Public Record Act request. Administrators determined he should be transferred to another school in the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santiago continued to teach for nearly a decade before he was charged with sexually abusing 10 students at Adelante.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest lawsuit alleges that school staff and the district’s current interim superintendent, Imee Almazan, were not only aware of Santiago’s inappropriate behavior but also chose not to notify the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Almazan declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorney for the victims, Morgan Stewart, said Santiago should have “unequivocally” been reported to authorities. All mandatory reporters are \u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/ap/childabusereportingguide.asp\">required by law\u003c/a> to report all known or suspected cases of child abuse or neglect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a clear conspiracy to cover this up, keep it quiet, not report it to the police,” Stewart said. “He’s touching females. He’s making them uncomfortable. He’s acting in a sexually inappropriate manner with 12- and 13-year-olds. And there’s a direction from the superintendent not to call the police on that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almazan was the principal at Sheppard Middle School in 2014 when she completed an investigation into complaints against Santiago. After interviewing 15 students, Almazan found “an overall discomfort and/or feeling of insecurity in Mr. Santiago’s band class among female students that were interviewed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among other allegations referenced in the investigative report by the school, Santiago was accused of physically moving a female student by holding her head and shoulders, touching a female student at her waist to move her, and asking a parent to drop off his child at his house. Almazan recommended Santiago be transferred out of Sheppard Middle School, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges former Alum Rock superintendent Stephen Fiss instructed staff not to call law enforcement in response to the complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Superintendent Fiss did not want me to contact the police regarding this matter at this time,” reads a draft for an investigative report prepared by the school included in the suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next to those instructions is a handwritten note reading, “Delete.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fiss could not be reached for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former principal at Adelante, Maria Gutierrez, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. In a statement provided by her attorney, Gutierrez argues she blew the whistle on Santiago and was terminated after doing what was necessary to protect the children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ms. Gutierrez looks forward to all of the legal claims playing out in court because the facts will demonstrate that Alum Rock has an entrenched history of doing what is politically best for them, and not what is best for students and families,” the statement reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Almazan, the former Sheppard Middle School principal who investigated Santiago, was appointed interim superintendent with the district in March after the previous superintendent, Hilaria Bauer, was \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/east-san-jose-alum-rock-union-school-district-board-selects-interim-leader-after-ousting-predecessor/\">abruptly fired\u003c/a>, according to the San Jose Spotlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trustee Minh Pham told \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/east-san-jose-alum-rock-union-school-district-board-selects-interim-leader-after-ousting-predecessor/\">the San José Spotlight\u003c/a> that the school board is searching for a permanent replacement, and Almazan is unlikely to apply for the position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the victims in the recent lawsuit are under 14 years old, and two are in their 20s, attorney Stewart said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stewart noted that Adelante and the district are made up of largely Hispanic and lower-income families. Many families do not necessarily have the ability to speak out or go to law enforcement and trust their schools to be a safe place, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s devastating,” Stewart said. “And I don’t even know that the parents fully grasp everything that the school did to harm them all along the way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "trial-for-class-action-lawsuit-over-troubled-womens-prison-slated-for-june-2025",
"title": "Trial for Class Action Lawsuit Over Troubled Women’s Prison Slated for June 2025",
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"content": "\u003cp>The trial for a class action lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons over sexual assault and retaliation at an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978712/infamous-east-bay-womens-prison-hit-with-12-additional-sexual-assault-lawsuits\">East Bay federal women’s prison\u003c/a> is slated to start in June of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brief virtual court hearing comes during a turbulent time for the prison embattled in sexual assault charges. It is the first public hearing since federal officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">abruptly closed Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin\u003c/a>, last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, attorneys for both sides outlined the next steps and a timeline for the class action lawsuit filed on behalf of women formerly incarcerated at the prison last August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s clear coming out of the case management conference today is that the case has not and will not end with the closure of Dublin, and we will continue to fight on,” said Amaris Montes, an attorney with Rights Behind Bars, representing plaintiffs. “We know that the problems exist outside of the physical walls of Dublin, and the same things are happening at other BOP facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys for both sides discussed possible settlement solutions for the lawsuit on Tuesday; however, an offer still needs to be made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are seeking real, lasting changes in the BOP system, including medical and mental health care that’s meaningful, so we don’t plan to settle until we have these changes,” Montes said in a press conference shortly following the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allegations of sexual abuse at FCI Dublin date back decades, including a major settlement case plaintiffs won in the 1990s. The most recent series of scandals first started unraveling following an investigation by The Associated Press in 2021. It revealed a culture of abuse and cover-ups that had persisted for years at the low-security federal women’s prison, which had more than 650 inmates before shuttering.[aside postID=news_11980960 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/GettyImages-1181905632-1020x680.jpg']Eight former FCI Dublin correctional officers, including the former warden and chaplain, have been convicted and charged and seven have been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2021, formerly incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, have filed nearly 60 lawsuits alleging a range of sexual harassment violations and retaliation by officers. That includes the class action lawsuit, which started public proceedings on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982014/judge-chooses-top-pick-for-special-master-to-oversee-womens-prison-following-rampant-abuse\">ordered a special master\u003c/a> to oversee mandatory changes at the prison following years of sexual assault allegations and criminal charges against eight officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after, Wendy Still was appointed to the position; however, the Biden administration announced that the facility would shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women who were housed at the facility have since transferred across the country to a small handful of other women’s prisons. Some women have since alleged mistreatment and retaliation during the relocation process and in their new facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a recent court order, Still will continue in her position even though the prison has closed. She will report on conditions at the prison before and during the transfer process and monitor how women are doing at the facilities they were transferred to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are hearing egregious reports of abuse and neglect, conditions of housing that’s dangerous, overcrowding and understaffing and medical needs that aren’t being addressed,” said Erin Neff, an advocate with California Coalition for Women Prisoners. “I am very encouraged by Gonzalez Rogers’ decision to continue the special master’s role for the 600 individuals who are now across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez Rogers responded by calling the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985645/closure-of-california-federal-prison-was-poorly-planned-judge-says-ordering-further-monitoring\">closure and transfer process “ill-conceived”\u003c/a> and ordered close monitoring and care of women at their new facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are vulnerable to retaliation. People still face unconstitutional conditions of confinement, a lack of medical care and so much more,” Montes said. “This is clear; this is a result of not just individual officers who are committing abuses, but it’s an issue of BOP-wide policies that have continued to allow people to suffer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The trial for a class action lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons over sexual assault and retaliation at an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978712/infamous-east-bay-womens-prison-hit-with-12-additional-sexual-assault-lawsuits\">East Bay federal women’s prison\u003c/a> is slated to start in June of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brief virtual court hearing comes during a turbulent time for the prison embattled in sexual assault charges. It is the first public hearing since federal officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982973/feds-abruptly-close-east-bay-womens-prison-following-sexual-abuse-scandals\">abruptly closed Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin\u003c/a>, last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, attorneys for both sides outlined the next steps and a timeline for the class action lawsuit filed on behalf of women formerly incarcerated at the prison last August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s clear coming out of the case management conference today is that the case has not and will not end with the closure of Dublin, and we will continue to fight on,” said Amaris Montes, an attorney with Rights Behind Bars, representing plaintiffs. “We know that the problems exist outside of the physical walls of Dublin, and the same things are happening at other BOP facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys for both sides discussed possible settlement solutions for the lawsuit on Tuesday; however, an offer still needs to be made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are seeking real, lasting changes in the BOP system, including medical and mental health care that’s meaningful, so we don’t plan to settle until we have these changes,” Montes said in a press conference shortly following the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allegations of sexual abuse at FCI Dublin date back decades, including a major settlement case plaintiffs won in the 1990s. The most recent series of scandals first started unraveling following an investigation by The Associated Press in 2021. It revealed a culture of abuse and cover-ups that had persisted for years at the low-security federal women’s prison, which had more than 650 inmates before shuttering.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Eight former FCI Dublin correctional officers, including the former warden and chaplain, have been convicted and charged and seven have been sentenced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2021, formerly incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, have filed nearly 60 lawsuits alleging a range of sexual harassment violations and retaliation by officers. That includes the class action lawsuit, which started public proceedings on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982014/judge-chooses-top-pick-for-special-master-to-oversee-womens-prison-following-rampant-abuse\">ordered a special master\u003c/a> to oversee mandatory changes at the prison following years of sexual assault allegations and criminal charges against eight officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after, Wendy Still was appointed to the position; however, the Biden administration announced that the facility would shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women who were housed at the facility have since transferred across the country to a small handful of other women’s prisons. Some women have since alleged mistreatment and retaliation during the relocation process and in their new facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a recent court order, Still will continue in her position even though the prison has closed. She will report on conditions at the prison before and during the transfer process and monitor how women are doing at the facilities they were transferred to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are hearing egregious reports of abuse and neglect, conditions of housing that’s dangerous, overcrowding and understaffing and medical needs that aren’t being addressed,” said Erin Neff, an advocate with California Coalition for Women Prisoners. “I am very encouraged by Gonzalez Rogers’ decision to continue the special master’s role for the 600 individuals who are now across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez Rogers responded by calling the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11985645/closure-of-california-federal-prison-was-poorly-planned-judge-says-ordering-further-monitoring\">closure and transfer process “ill-conceived”\u003c/a> and ordered close monitoring and care of women at their new facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are vulnerable to retaliation. People still face unconstitutional conditions of confinement, a lack of medical care and so much more,” Montes said. “This is clear; this is a result of not just individual officers who are committing abuses, but it’s an issue of BOP-wide policies that have continued to allow people to suffer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Another Former FCI Dublin Officer Facing Criminal Charges Is Scheduled for Trial",
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"content": "\u003cp>Darrell Wayne Smith, a former FCI Dublin correctional officer, is going to trial. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers set Smith’s trial for March 2025 during a Thursday court hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who is Smith?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Smith, who is known as “Dirty Dick Smith” according to court records, was arrested in Florida in May 2023 and charged with five counts of sexual abuse of a ward, six counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of aggravated sexual abuse. An indictment describes 12 incidents between May 2019 and May 2021, during which Smith allegedly had sexual contact with three women in his custody at FCI Dublin, according to prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s the latest with the prison closing?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983285/federal-bureau-of-prisons-challenges-judges-decision-to-delay-inmate-transfers-from-fci-dublin\">The federal Bureau of Prisons has pushed back on Gonzalez Rogers’ order\u003c/a> requiring that casework for each incarcerated woman at the facility be updated prior to their transfer, among other guidance issued by the court since BOP announced it was closing the prison on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This updated casework is required, in part, to ensure inmates are transferred to the correct location,” Gonzalez Rogers’ order, issued within hours of the announcement, along with further details that remain under seal. “This includes whether an inmate should be released to a BOP facility, home confinement, or a halfway house, or granted a compassionate release.” The result of case reviews and transfer designations shall be reviewed by recently appointed special master Wendy Still prior to transfer, the order reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11983285,news_11979936,news_11980960\"]In a court briefing filed Tuesday, government attorneys wrote that the order, and Still’s interpretation of it, have significantly delayed the transfer of women to other facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The logistical details involved with the mass transfer of all [incarcerated people] at a particular facility cannot be changed on the fly,” the government’s brief reads. “Extensive resources and employee hours have already been invested in the move.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys also challenged the judge’s authority to dictate when people in BOP custody can be moved. “It is beyond question that transfer of inmates falls within the exclusive authority of the BOP, and it is not subject to judicial review,” the brief reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following two closed court hearings on Wednesday, Gonzalez Rogers issued another order on the transfers filed under seal. Attorneys representing incarcerated women in a class action lawsuit have not responded to requests for comment on the outcome of the hearings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BOP director Colette S. Peters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983151/infamous-womens-prison-plagued-by-sex-abuse-closes\">announced the closure on Monday\u003c/a>, saying that the prison is not meeting expected standards despite the agency providing tremendous resources to address the facility’s culture and employee misconduct. It’s unclear how many women have been transferred so far. BOP will not share the timing of transfers, citing “safety and security reasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How many officers have gone to prison?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On March 28, former correctional officer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11980960/another-dublin-womens-prison-officer-sentenced-for-sexual-abuse\">Nakie Nunley became the seventh\u003c/a> former FCI Dublin employee to be sentenced. He was handed a six-year sentence for sexually abusing five incarcerated women at FCI Dublin. Gonzalez Rogers said Nunley had left a “wake of destruction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You were cruel, you were perverse, you were predatory, and you exploited them,” she said. “A sentence has to reflect the reality of what you did. There are women you abused who have longer sentences than I will give you. One wonders if that is appropriate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What else is happening?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So far, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978712/infamous-east-bay-womens-prison-hit-with-12-additional-sexual-assault-lawsuits\">over 50 lawsuits filed by more than 70 plaintiffs\u003c/a> allege sexual harassment, retaliation and other misconduct by correctional officers and staff at FCI Dublin. The lawsuits are stayed until July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Darrell Wayne Smith, a former FCI Dublin correctional officer, is going to trial. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers set Smith’s trial for March 2025 during a Thursday court hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who is Smith?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Smith, who is known as “Dirty Dick Smith” according to court records, was arrested in Florida in May 2023 and charged with five counts of sexual abuse of a ward, six counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of aggravated sexual abuse. An indictment describes 12 incidents between May 2019 and May 2021, during which Smith allegedly had sexual contact with three women in his custody at FCI Dublin, according to prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s the latest with the prison closing?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983285/federal-bureau-of-prisons-challenges-judges-decision-to-delay-inmate-transfers-from-fci-dublin\">The federal Bureau of Prisons has pushed back on Gonzalez Rogers’ order\u003c/a> requiring that casework for each incarcerated woman at the facility be updated prior to their transfer, among other guidance issued by the court since BOP announced it was closing the prison on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This updated casework is required, in part, to ensure inmates are transferred to the correct location,” Gonzalez Rogers’ order, issued within hours of the announcement, along with further details that remain under seal. “This includes whether an inmate should be released to a BOP facility, home confinement, or a halfway house, or granted a compassionate release.” The result of case reviews and transfer designations shall be reviewed by recently appointed special master Wendy Still prior to transfer, the order reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a court briefing filed Tuesday, government attorneys wrote that the order, and Still’s interpretation of it, have significantly delayed the transfer of women to other facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The logistical details involved with the mass transfer of all [incarcerated people] at a particular facility cannot be changed on the fly,” the government’s brief reads. “Extensive resources and employee hours have already been invested in the move.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys also challenged the judge’s authority to dictate when people in BOP custody can be moved. “It is beyond question that transfer of inmates falls within the exclusive authority of the BOP, and it is not subject to judicial review,” the brief reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following two closed court hearings on Wednesday, Gonzalez Rogers issued another order on the transfers filed under seal. Attorneys representing incarcerated women in a class action lawsuit have not responded to requests for comment on the outcome of the hearings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BOP director Colette S. Peters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983151/infamous-womens-prison-plagued-by-sex-abuse-closes\">announced the closure on Monday\u003c/a>, saying that the prison is not meeting expected standards despite the agency providing tremendous resources to address the facility’s culture and employee misconduct. It’s unclear how many women have been transferred so far. BOP will not share the timing of transfers, citing “safety and security reasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How many officers have gone to prison?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On March 28, former correctional officer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11980960/another-dublin-womens-prison-officer-sentenced-for-sexual-abuse\">Nakie Nunley became the seventh\u003c/a> former FCI Dublin employee to be sentenced. He was handed a six-year sentence for sexually abusing five incarcerated women at FCI Dublin. Gonzalez Rogers said Nunley had left a “wake of destruction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You were cruel, you were perverse, you were predatory, and you exploited them,” she said. “A sentence has to reflect the reality of what you did. There are women you abused who have longer sentences than I will give you. One wonders if that is appropriate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What else is happening?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So far, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11978712/infamous-east-bay-womens-prison-hit-with-12-additional-sexual-assault-lawsuits\">over 50 lawsuits filed by more than 70 plaintiffs\u003c/a> allege sexual harassment, retaliation and other misconduct by correctional officers and staff at FCI Dublin. The lawsuits are stayed until July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Federal Bureau of Prisons abruptly announced that it will shut down Federal Correctional Institution Dublin, the federal women’s prison infamous for an alleged culture of sexual abuse. KQED’s Alex Hall tells us why this news took many people by surprise, and what it could mean for the hundreds of women inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5784740829&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin or FCI Dublin, has faced allegations of sexual abuse for years. There are nearly 60 lawsuits against the women’s prison, including a class action lawsuit alleging sexual assault and retaliation from guards and other prison officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Speaker: \u003c/strong>I mean, I’ve personally witnessed a bunch of, like, sexual assault the officers used to cover for each other. Officers used to stand, stand, point, like, you know, stand and keep a lookout for other officers while they do whatever they do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>In recent weeks, it seemed like the feds were bent on cleaning up the place. The FBI raided the facility, and a third party was appointed to make sure the prison implemented reforms. Then suddenly, this week, the Bureau of Prisons ordered FCI Dublin to shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Newscaster: \u003c/strong>We’ve talked to a number of lawyers, attorneys who represent women inside this prison, who have been involved in some lawsuits surrounding the prison, saying they’re pretty shocked to hear the news this morning. There are about 600 inmates at the all female.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Today, the closure of FCI Dublin, and what this could mean for the hundreds of women who are incarcerated there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>So the Bureau of Prisons announced this week that they are officially closing FCI Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Alex Hall is an enterprise and accountability reporter for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>The Federal Bureau of Prisons is the government agency that oversees and operates all of the federal prisons in the United States. At the agency’s director, Collette Peters, issued a statement saying that, you know, for the past several years, the Bureau of Prisons has really taken unprecedented steps and provided a tremendous amount of resources to address the culture at FCI Dublin. But despite those steps, the prison is not meeting expected standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, was this a big surprise, this announcement, Alex?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>This has been a long time coming. There’s been waves of sexual abuse and misconduct allegations. There’s numerous lawsuits alleging harassment, retaliation, sexual assault. The question is, why now? We’re at a very specific and unprecedented moment in the timeline of FCI Dublin and all of the challenges that the facility has faced in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>It was only about a week ago that a federal judge appointed a special master to oversee a series of reforms at FCI Dublin. So the special master has full access to the prison’s records. She has a team of experts hired to support her. She is tasked with overseeing a number of immediate changes at the prison. Wendy still was appointed on April 5th\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>That’s a week ago last Friday. From what I heard, she really hit the ground running. She was at the prison at least twice last week. And then on Monday we heard, actually, the prison is shutting down. So I think a lot of people are asking the question of what was Bureau prisons leadership thinking?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What have their reactions been so far? What are you hearing, especially from inside the prison?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I spoke with Ashley Castillo. She’s an inmate at FCI Dublin. She’s been there for about six years. She says she found out Monday morning when she woke up because other inmates were saying the prison is shutting down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo: \u003c/strong>Around 830 in the in the morning. We just got woken up and it was by inmates saying, we’re on the news. We’re on the news. They’re closing Dublin down. So we were like, what?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>She told me that Monday when people were notified, they were told, 100 women are going to leave the prison per day, and that by Friday everyone would be gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo: \u003c/strong>And then they called my name and they said, oh, Castillo, you know, you need to pack your stuff if you’re one of the one that’s leaving today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>They were told, you know, what items they could bring with them, which items they couldn’t bring with them. She said they were given a green bag to to put their items in. Some women actually got on a bus, she said. And then some point they just turned around and came right back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo: \u003c/strong>Like around 230 ish, the special master, she came in and said, the judge has put a stop to our movement because we’re not medically cleared to go. So yeah, so they just made us pack our lives and then for nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>The situation sounds a little chaotic. I’ve spoken with attorneys, too, who have said Monday they were hearing from their clients that I’m going to be sent somewhere. I don’t know where. I don’t know when. Bopp wouldn’t disclose when the women were being transferred for security reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>And then within a matter of hours, I was hearing from attorneys who said, actually, now we’re being told that the transfers are on hold. So we know as much as you we’re just trying to keep up with what’s going on. One attorney told me that she couldn’t even get a hold of her clients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>We’re talking about more than 650 people incarcerated caught up in this chaos. What do we know, Alex, about what is going to happen to them? Or do we know where these women are going?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>We don’t. I mean, we heard word that women were being transferred Monday, but then the situation changed very quickly when there was a hearing that was held immediately within, you know, hours of this announcement being made. Basically, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued this order saying that Bop sHall: update casework for all of the women at FCI Dublin, and that this is required in part to ensure that they are transferred to the correct location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>That includes whether the women should be released to another Bop facility, of which, you know, there are a limited number of low security female federal women’s prisons in this country. They’re not all clustered on the West Coast, so it is possible that they could be transferred to facilities states away from their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kara Janssen: \u003c/strong>Folks may want the facility overall to close, or people may see that as a positive things. At the same time, it has some negative impacts on folks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>So I spoke with Kara Janssen, who is one of the attorneys who’s representing women who filed this class action lawsuit back in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kara Janssen: \u003c/strong>If your family is here and you’re transferred, you know, across the country to another camp, that’s going to be harder to see your family. It’s going to be harder to talk to your kids on the phone if you’re in a different time zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>Her understanding is that people were transferred on Monday before the judge really caught wind that this was happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kara Janssen: \u003c/strong>People who were supposed to get transferred or had released these coming up are worried that in that transfer process, you know, things will go wrong, you know, and folks don’t know what they’re going to face or where they’re even going to go. So there’s a lot of fear and concern in the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>We’re hearing a lot of different things right now. Some say nobody has been transferred yet. Some say some of the women were transferred on Monday and that, you know, the transfers were put on hold once the judge’s order was issued. But it’s just really hard to know for sure right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What about the staff of this prison? Alex? Will they be transferred somewhere else? Will they be fired? What’s going on with them?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I mean, BOP says that staff will not lose their jobs. There are multiple employees. We’re on administrative leave right now. The. So the facility has really struggled with staffing in recent months. For those who are still working there, it’s unclear what’s going to happen to them, but apparently they will maintain employment with the agency whether or not they are transferred to another facility and they have to move or not. It’s it’s unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And what about the actual building itself? Is it going to get torn down? What’s going to happen with with the facility?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>That’s another really big unknown. Bob, in their statement said that the closure may be temporary, which was pretty ambiguous. It’s unclear if that means that the prison is going to resume operations at some point in the future, or if the government is still working that out, we really don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, I guess besides the shock that people are feeling in the in the chaos, how would you, I guess, describe the range of reactions and emotions you’ve seen to this news so far?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I think on the one hand, people you know can see the value in the decision and that this facility has had major issues for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jenna Davidson: \u003c/strong>My first reaction is, thank God, honestly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>Jenna Davidson was formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin for a couple of years. She was recently released and she’s now living nearby with her family, but she’s in really close contact with a lot of the women inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jenna Davidson: \u003c/strong>It does suck for some of the women that are in there because they have to be transferred, but at least are not dealing with the same administration. That has been like screwing them over, you know what I mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I think on the one hand, it’s probably, you know, a relief. But on the other hand, you know, obviously these women are being abruptly uprooted and being sent to they don’t know where. And so, you know, if you’re being told you’re have to leave today or by the end of the week, get rid of all your stuff. It can just be really scary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo \u003c/strong>I’m stressed out a lot because I’m from California. I don’t want to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>Ashley told me she is stressed out. Her family is in California. She said that she hasn’t seen her son for years since he was 11 months old. She says she gave birth to him in prison and hasn’t seen him since. You know, he was almost a year old, you know? Now, at this point, depending on, you know, where she’s going, it’s most likely going to be pretty far away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo: \u003c/strong>My parents are here. They were going to just come and me for my birthday. Like I want to see my family. I haven’t seen them since Covid. Like I just want to go home so bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>You know, her attorney told me her family most likely is not going to be able to afford to fly to wherever she’s going to be next. She doesn’t know where she’s going next. She said that in her attorney said that sometimes when you are transferred in Bop custody, it takes quite a bit of time to come out on the other side. You don’t know where you’re going because bop says, you know, that’s a security breach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>You don’t want to tell the inmates exactly where they’re going, so they don’t know until they get there. She might go to some sort of detention facility before she actually reaches her final destination and might not be able to contact her attorney or her family for a couple of weeks a week. So it’s just really stressful. You know, she has no idea what’s going to happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What about all of these lawsuits that we’ve talked about in the in the beginning? Is there a chance still for these victims to get justice now that the prison is closing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>These lawsuits are seeking monetary compensation for abuse or harassment that is alleged to have happened in the past. And this doesn’t change that, right? But what it could impact is the access that women have to their attorneys. It might be harder for plaintiffs lawyers to access their clients. Most of the women have West Coast attorneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>So if they’re moved to another state like Texas, for example, that kind of complicates things. One of the attorneys I talked to said that she was scheduling a meeting with a psychological expert to evaluate her client. Now she has to find a new one. You know, there are concerns that the women will be shipped away from their support systems and their families, and that they could face similar problems in other facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>But, you know, in another sense, it might help the lawsuits and that it kind of shows the magnitude of the problems at FCI Dublin. When you have an acknowledgment directly from Bop that FCI Dublin cannot be reasonably operated any longer, that could impact the outcomes of these claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What happens from here? Like what updates could unfold over the next couple of weeks, given there’s so much we don’t know yet?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I think that we’re going to know within days what is happening with a lot of these women and where they’re going. One looming question is, will there be more indictments? The Department of Justice’s investigation into FCI Dublin is still ongoing. The FBI was just at the prison conducting a court authorized search last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>So it’s unclear whether or not there will be more criminal charges against officials at FCI Dublin. The also the outcomes of the lawsuits, the class action and the 58 other individual damages cases. I think that the special master’s presence was expected to do a lot for transparency and help us all understand what was actually happening inside of the prison. She was already at the prison last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>We don’t know exactly what she was doing, but she was expected to write reports about what she was finding out. And so I think that some of that information might still come out. It’s unclear exactly what is going to happen with the special master or where the women end up, but a lot of that, I think, will become clear in the coming days, in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, Alex, thanks so much for breaking this all down for us. I really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>Absolutely. Thanks for inviting me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Alex Hall, enterprise and accountability reporter for KQED. This 35 minute conversation with Alex was cut down and edited by senior editor Alan Montecillo. Ellie Prickett-Morgan is our intern. They scored this episode and added all the tape. Maria Esquinca is our producer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Extra production support from me. Music courtesy of Bluedot sessions. The Bay is a production of listener supported KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The Federal Bureau of Prisons announced that it will shut down Federal Correctional Institution Dublin — or FCI Dublin — the infamous federal women’s prison in Dublin plagued by sexual assault allegations, sending shockwaves through the prison. \r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Federal Bureau of Prisons abruptly announced that it will shut down Federal Correctional Institution Dublin, the federal women’s prison infamous for an alleged culture of sexual abuse. KQED’s Alex Hall tells us why this news took many people by surprise, and what it could mean for the hundreds of women inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5784740829&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin or FCI Dublin, has faced allegations of sexual abuse for years. There are nearly 60 lawsuits against the women’s prison, including a class action lawsuit alleging sexual assault and retaliation from guards and other prison officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Speaker: \u003c/strong>I mean, I’ve personally witnessed a bunch of, like, sexual assault the officers used to cover for each other. Officers used to stand, stand, point, like, you know, stand and keep a lookout for other officers while they do whatever they do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>In recent weeks, it seemed like the feds were bent on cleaning up the place. The FBI raided the facility, and a third party was appointed to make sure the prison implemented reforms. Then suddenly, this week, the Bureau of Prisons ordered FCI Dublin to shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Newscaster: \u003c/strong>We’ve talked to a number of lawyers, attorneys who represent women inside this prison, who have been involved in some lawsuits surrounding the prison, saying they’re pretty shocked to hear the news this morning. There are about 600 inmates at the all female.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Today, the closure of FCI Dublin, and what this could mean for the hundreds of women who are incarcerated there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>So the Bureau of Prisons announced this week that they are officially closing FCI Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Alex Hall is an enterprise and accountability reporter for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>The Federal Bureau of Prisons is the government agency that oversees and operates all of the federal prisons in the United States. At the agency’s director, Collette Peters, issued a statement saying that, you know, for the past several years, the Bureau of Prisons has really taken unprecedented steps and provided a tremendous amount of resources to address the culture at FCI Dublin. But despite those steps, the prison is not meeting expected standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, was this a big surprise, this announcement, Alex?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>This has been a long time coming. There’s been waves of sexual abuse and misconduct allegations. There’s numerous lawsuits alleging harassment, retaliation, sexual assault. The question is, why now? We’re at a very specific and unprecedented moment in the timeline of FCI Dublin and all of the challenges that the facility has faced in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>It was only about a week ago that a federal judge appointed a special master to oversee a series of reforms at FCI Dublin. So the special master has full access to the prison’s records. She has a team of experts hired to support her. She is tasked with overseeing a number of immediate changes at the prison. Wendy still was appointed on April 5th\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>That’s a week ago last Friday. From what I heard, she really hit the ground running. She was at the prison at least twice last week. And then on Monday we heard, actually, the prison is shutting down. So I think a lot of people are asking the question of what was Bureau prisons leadership thinking?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What have their reactions been so far? What are you hearing, especially from inside the prison?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I spoke with Ashley Castillo. She’s an inmate at FCI Dublin. She’s been there for about six years. She says she found out Monday morning when she woke up because other inmates were saying the prison is shutting down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo: \u003c/strong>Around 830 in the in the morning. We just got woken up and it was by inmates saying, we’re on the news. We’re on the news. They’re closing Dublin down. So we were like, what?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>She told me that Monday when people were notified, they were told, 100 women are going to leave the prison per day, and that by Friday everyone would be gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo: \u003c/strong>And then they called my name and they said, oh, Castillo, you know, you need to pack your stuff if you’re one of the one that’s leaving today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>They were told, you know, what items they could bring with them, which items they couldn’t bring with them. She said they were given a green bag to to put their items in. Some women actually got on a bus, she said. And then some point they just turned around and came right back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo: \u003c/strong>Like around 230 ish, the special master, she came in and said, the judge has put a stop to our movement because we’re not medically cleared to go. So yeah, so they just made us pack our lives and then for nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>The situation sounds a little chaotic. I’ve spoken with attorneys, too, who have said Monday they were hearing from their clients that I’m going to be sent somewhere. I don’t know where. I don’t know when. Bopp wouldn’t disclose when the women were being transferred for security reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>And then within a matter of hours, I was hearing from attorneys who said, actually, now we’re being told that the transfers are on hold. So we know as much as you we’re just trying to keep up with what’s going on. One attorney told me that she couldn’t even get a hold of her clients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>We’re talking about more than 650 people incarcerated caught up in this chaos. What do we know, Alex, about what is going to happen to them? Or do we know where these women are going?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>We don’t. I mean, we heard word that women were being transferred Monday, but then the situation changed very quickly when there was a hearing that was held immediately within, you know, hours of this announcement being made. Basically, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued this order saying that Bop sHall: update casework for all of the women at FCI Dublin, and that this is required in part to ensure that they are transferred to the correct location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>That includes whether the women should be released to another Bop facility, of which, you know, there are a limited number of low security female federal women’s prisons in this country. They’re not all clustered on the West Coast, so it is possible that they could be transferred to facilities states away from their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kara Janssen: \u003c/strong>Folks may want the facility overall to close, or people may see that as a positive things. At the same time, it has some negative impacts on folks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>So I spoke with Kara Janssen, who is one of the attorneys who’s representing women who filed this class action lawsuit back in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kara Janssen: \u003c/strong>If your family is here and you’re transferred, you know, across the country to another camp, that’s going to be harder to see your family. It’s going to be harder to talk to your kids on the phone if you’re in a different time zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>Her understanding is that people were transferred on Monday before the judge really caught wind that this was happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kara Janssen: \u003c/strong>People who were supposed to get transferred or had released these coming up are worried that in that transfer process, you know, things will go wrong, you know, and folks don’t know what they’re going to face or where they’re even going to go. So there’s a lot of fear and concern in the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>We’re hearing a lot of different things right now. Some say nobody has been transferred yet. Some say some of the women were transferred on Monday and that, you know, the transfers were put on hold once the judge’s order was issued. But it’s just really hard to know for sure right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What about the staff of this prison? Alex? Will they be transferred somewhere else? Will they be fired? What’s going on with them?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I mean, BOP says that staff will not lose their jobs. There are multiple employees. We’re on administrative leave right now. The. So the facility has really struggled with staffing in recent months. For those who are still working there, it’s unclear what’s going to happen to them, but apparently they will maintain employment with the agency whether or not they are transferred to another facility and they have to move or not. It’s it’s unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And what about the actual building itself? Is it going to get torn down? What’s going to happen with with the facility?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>That’s another really big unknown. Bob, in their statement said that the closure may be temporary, which was pretty ambiguous. It’s unclear if that means that the prison is going to resume operations at some point in the future, or if the government is still working that out, we really don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, I guess besides the shock that people are feeling in the in the chaos, how would you, I guess, describe the range of reactions and emotions you’ve seen to this news so far?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I think on the one hand, people you know can see the value in the decision and that this facility has had major issues for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jenna Davidson: \u003c/strong>My first reaction is, thank God, honestly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>Jenna Davidson was formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin for a couple of years. She was recently released and she’s now living nearby with her family, but she’s in really close contact with a lot of the women inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jenna Davidson: \u003c/strong>It does suck for some of the women that are in there because they have to be transferred, but at least are not dealing with the same administration. That has been like screwing them over, you know what I mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I think on the one hand, it’s probably, you know, a relief. But on the other hand, you know, obviously these women are being abruptly uprooted and being sent to they don’t know where. And so, you know, if you’re being told you’re have to leave today or by the end of the week, get rid of all your stuff. It can just be really scary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo \u003c/strong>I’m stressed out a lot because I’m from California. I don’t want to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>Ashley told me she is stressed out. Her family is in California. She said that she hasn’t seen her son for years since he was 11 months old. She says she gave birth to him in prison and hasn’t seen him since. You know, he was almost a year old, you know? Now, at this point, depending on, you know, where she’s going, it’s most likely going to be pretty far away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ashley Castillo: \u003c/strong>My parents are here. They were going to just come and me for my birthday. Like I want to see my family. I haven’t seen them since Covid. Like I just want to go home so bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>You know, her attorney told me her family most likely is not going to be able to afford to fly to wherever she’s going to be next. She doesn’t know where she’s going next. She said that in her attorney said that sometimes when you are transferred in Bop custody, it takes quite a bit of time to come out on the other side. You don’t know where you’re going because bop says, you know, that’s a security breach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>You don’t want to tell the inmates exactly where they’re going, so they don’t know until they get there. She might go to some sort of detention facility before she actually reaches her final destination and might not be able to contact her attorney or her family for a couple of weeks a week. So it’s just really stressful. You know, she has no idea what’s going to happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What about all of these lawsuits that we’ve talked about in the in the beginning? Is there a chance still for these victims to get justice now that the prison is closing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>These lawsuits are seeking monetary compensation for abuse or harassment that is alleged to have happened in the past. And this doesn’t change that, right? But what it could impact is the access that women have to their attorneys. It might be harder for plaintiffs lawyers to access their clients. Most of the women have West Coast attorneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>So if they’re moved to another state like Texas, for example, that kind of complicates things. One of the attorneys I talked to said that she was scheduling a meeting with a psychological expert to evaluate her client. Now she has to find a new one. You know, there are concerns that the women will be shipped away from their support systems and their families, and that they could face similar problems in other facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>But, you know, in another sense, it might help the lawsuits and that it kind of shows the magnitude of the problems at FCI Dublin. When you have an acknowledgment directly from Bop that FCI Dublin cannot be reasonably operated any longer, that could impact the outcomes of these claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What happens from here? Like what updates could unfold over the next couple of weeks, given there’s so much we don’t know yet?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>I think that we’re going to know within days what is happening with a lot of these women and where they’re going. One looming question is, will there be more indictments? The Department of Justice’s investigation into FCI Dublin is still ongoing. The FBI was just at the prison conducting a court authorized search last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>So it’s unclear whether or not there will be more criminal charges against officials at FCI Dublin. The also the outcomes of the lawsuits, the class action and the 58 other individual damages cases. I think that the special master’s presence was expected to do a lot for transparency and help us all understand what was actually happening inside of the prison. She was already at the prison last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>We don’t know exactly what she was doing, but she was expected to write reports about what she was finding out. And so I think that some of that information might still come out. It’s unclear exactly what is going to happen with the special master or where the women end up, but a lot of that, I think, will become clear in the coming days, in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, Alex, thanks so much for breaking this all down for us. I really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall: \u003c/strong>Absolutely. Thanks for inviting me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Alex Hall, enterprise and accountability reporter for KQED. This 35 minute conversation with Alex was cut down and edited by senior editor Alan Montecillo. Ellie Prickett-Morgan is our intern. They scored this episode and added all the tape. Maria Esquinca is our producer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Extra production support from me. Music courtesy of Bluedot sessions. The Bay is a production of listener supported KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>"
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>This story was updated on April 15, 2024 at 2:30 p.m.\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A federal women’s prison in the East Bay plagued by sexual assault allegations for years has been ordered to close, officials at the Federal Bureau of Prisons told KQED.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Scott Taylor, spokesperson, Federal Bureau of Prisons\"]‘We have determined that FCI Dublin is not meeting expected standards and that the best course of action is to close the facility.’[/pullquote]The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, is facing nearly 60 lawsuits from women incarcerated at the prison and a class-action lawsuit alleging sexual assault and retaliation for reporting incidents from guards and other prison officials. Eight former prison staff, including the former warden and chaplain, have been charged and seven have been convicted or pleaded guilty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have determined that FCI Dublin is not meeting expected standards and that the best course of action is to close the facility,” Scott Taylor, a spokesperson for the BOP, said in an email. “The closure of the institution may be temporary but certainly will result in a mission change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent series of scandals at FCI Dublin first started unraveling following an investigation by The Associated Press in 2021 that found a culture of abuse and cover-ups that had persisted for years at the low-security federal women’s prison, which has more than 650 inmates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The abrupt closure comes shortly after a federal judge ordered an independent “special master” to oversee mandatory changes at FCI Dublin. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers appointed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11982014/judge-chooses-top-pick-for-special-master-to-oversee-womens-prison-following-rampant-abuse\">Wendy Still\u003c/a>, an expert in the Prison Rape Elimination Act, to the position.[aside postID=news_11980960 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/GettyImages-1181905632-1020x680.jpg']Women currently incarcerated at FCI Dublin will be transferred to a new location. Officials, however, did not share the timing of the relocations and said planning for the facility’s deactivation is ongoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No employees are losing their jobs because of the relocation, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we determine placement, each woman will be assessed, and their programming needs will be taken into account,” Taylor said. “We will endeavor to keep them as close to their release locations as possible and ensure that they have access to counsel at their receiving institution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kara Janssen, an attorney representing plaintiffs, said concerns over how the relocations will be handled were discussed in a court hearing on Monday morning.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Kara Janssen, an attorney representing plaintiffs\"]‘It may be that FCI Dublin needs to close or should have been closed a long time ago. Right now, there are more questions than answers in terms of what is happening to the people who are still housed there.’[/pullquote]“It may be that FCI Dublin needs to close or should have been closed a long time ago. Right now, there are more questions than answers in terms of what is happening to the people who are still housed there,” Janssen told KQED, adding that they “want to make sure people are properly assessed” and “don’t just get thrown into other institutions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, the court issued a subsequent order noting that the special master will review all the cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former incarcerated person, Jennifer Davidson, told KQED on Monday she felt the closure was impending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I saw this coming; it definitely needed to be shut down,” she said. “They call us snitches; they judge us for speaking out about our experiences, and that’s wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Alex Hall contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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},
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"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
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