Women Inmates Receive $116M Settlement For ‘Staff-On-Inmate’ Sexual Assaults

Current and former inmates receive a small bit of justice for sexual assaults while incarcerated.

More than 100 current and former Oakland, California, inmates won a $116 million sexual assault settlement from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

According to the Associated Press, the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, was held liable for the rape and assault of 103 inmates. The settlement was approved Dec. 17. and will garner each inmate over $1.1 million.

Former inmate Aimee Chavira spoke about the abuse and the impact she hopes the settlement will make in the future.

“We were sentenced to prison, we were not sentenced to be assaulted and abused.” She continued, “I hope this settlement will help survivors, like me, as they begin to heal –- but money will not repair the harm that [the Bureau of Prisons] BOP did to us, or free survivors who continue to suffer in prison.”

Chavira and other inmates took action against what they described as an alleged “rape club” facilitated by officers.

The Bureau of Prisons made a statement that claimed that staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct is taken “seriously,” as is its mission to keep everyone in the facility safe.

The bureau “strongly condemns all forms of sexually abusive behavior and takes seriously its duty to protect the individuals in our custody as well as maintain the safety of our employees and community.”

Though the facility was shut down, the Department of Justice acknowledged concerns about targeting and retaliation against the women in the class action lawsuits. As a result, a court-appointed monitor was put in place as a condition of the settlement.

The women inmates were transferred to multiple institutions and feared for their safety. Some have reported similar abusive conditions at the new facilities, AP reported.

A second class action lawsuit stemming from the abuse at the Dublin facility was approved by a federal judge.

Former warden Ray Garcia was convicted on eight charges, including sexual assault, in 2022. During a federal investigation, Garcia was found in possession of explicit inmate photos on his government-issued phone.

Since 2021, at least eight Dublin employees have been charged with sexually abusing inmates.