Twenty-eight female prisoners at an Indiana jail claim in two federal lawsuits that they were subjected to a night of terror after they were attacked and sexually assaulted by male inmates who had allegedly bought a key to the womens wing from one of the jailers for $1,000. In a criminal complaint filed against the prisons then-Warden Ray J. Garcia, 54, on Sept. 23 that accused him of sexual abuse of an inmate, a special agent for the FBI said in an affidavit that Garcia led Prison Rape Elimination Act training for staff in 2019 and 2020 and instructed inmates on how to report allegations. The report also noted that 20% of staff perpetrators of sexual misconduct in jails were convicted, pled guilty, sentenced or fined that's compared to 6% of staff perpetrators of such incidents in prison. Lerner-Kinglake noted that an overwhelming number of reports are still unsubstantiated, but that given the risks involved in making such a claim against correctional staff, "it just defies logic that only 5% of reports of staff sexual abuse are valid. Highhouse, wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans, spoke briefly in federal court in Oakland and apologized to the women he harmed. When reached by USA TODAY last fall, Highhouse said inmates come to him for "different reasons" but would not provide details. If B.O.P. On Tuesday, a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee released the results of a bipartisan investigation that provided the starkest picture to date of a crisis that the Justice Department has identified as a top policy priority. I was sentenced and put in prison for choices I made I was not sent to prison to be raped and abused, said Briane Moore, who was repeatedly assaulted by an official at a womens prison in West Virginia who threatened to block a transfer to a facility closer to her family if she resisted. His attorney did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Multiple female inmates sexually assaulted at Indiana jail, lawsuit alleges. Sexual victimization of adult inmates is an ongoing problem in U.S. jails and prisons, with thousands of victims of inmate-on inmate abuse and staff-on-inmate abuse during 2016 through 2018, according to a special report by the U.S. Department of Justice released Tuesday. Ca'Linda is traumatized by the abuse, but finds comfort in sharing her story . WASHINGTON The epidemic of sexual assaults against female prisoners in federal custody has prompted the Justice Department to expand the use of a program to provide early releases to women abused behind bars, according to people familiar with the situation. His trial has been scheduled for November and he faces at least nine years in prison if convicted of all three charges, according to the records. At the same time, prosecutors wrote, a prison counselor would rail about inmates snitching on employees, suggesting they instead tell Trump about it," referring to then-President Donald Trump. Last week, she ordered the closing of a troubled special detention unit in Illinois where inmate deaths, suicides and reports of sexual harassment by guards have been rampant. The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General is committed to aggressively investigating allegations of abuse, including sexual abuse, across the BOP.. All rights reserved. They characterized the rejection as temporary, although they did not say what factors would lead to an approval or offer a timetable for instituting the new system of internal reviews. Amazingly, even though there were surveillance cameras positioned in locations that showed the male detainees accessing the womens Pods, and even though the incident involved multiple mail (sic) detainees and dozens of victims over an extended period of time, not a single jail officer on duty that night came to the aid of the Plaintiffs and the other victims, the complaint states. The felony grand jury indictment, filed March 10 in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California, charges Chavez with two counts of abusive sexual contact around October 2020. The week after Chalfant filed the two lawsuits involving Chowchilla, a U.S. Senate report on federal prisons found employees had sexually abused women inmates in at least 19 of the 29 Bureau of . Do Not Sell My Personal Information. He took my ability to sleep at night and he took my ability to trust in the Church, the inmate wrote in a victim impact statement. Sentencing Commission to give inmates the right to directly request a compassionate release ruling from trial judges rather than rely on the bureau. Considers Early Release for Female Inmates Sexually Abused Behind Bars, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/us/politics/federal-prison-sexual-abuse.html. An inmate at Illinois' largest women's prison says she was raped by a transgender inmate who was transferred into her housing unit last year, and claims Illinois Department of Corrections officials conducted a "sham investigation" to help cover up the incident. Colin Akparanta William Farrington. releases or should release people who have a diagnosis of impending death, and they take an experts word on it, said Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a prisoners rights group in Washington. "I'm not an activist or someone who's normally -- who would normally use my voice like I am today," Moore told the panel. External Reporting of Inmate Sexual Abuse/Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Through the Office of Corrections Ombudsman. Let this send a clear message that the FBI will investigate and hold accountable any and every individual who commits an act like this, regardless of your title or authority.. The issue of sexual assault at the 160,000-inmate Bureau of Prisons, an agency hamstrung by labor shortages, budget shortfalls and mismanagement, has become increasingly evident in recent years. Why make the standard so high for someone who risks so much retaliation and hardship in making a complaint to begin with?. As of . Last year, Warden Ray J. Garcia was charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting an inmate, sexually harassing another and keeping nude photos of an inmate on his . Widespread corruption, abuse among workers, critical staff shortages and the rampant spread of COVID-19 among prisoners. The Pentagon has not provided any public updates or said when the formal policy will be issued. Whether committed by prison staff or by inmates, rape and other forms of sexual abuse in prison are recognized internationally as forms of torture. They believe that Ms. Chavira, who was convicted on a drug charge and is currently being held at a federal prison in Arizona, does not pose a public safety threat if freed. "For 10 minutes they beat me, ripped my clothes. According to court documents, Mikael Rivera, 45, of Kapolei, Hawaii, was a correctional officer at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu from approximately 2014 to 2018. As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and . An indictment is merely an allegation. To me the BOP is an epic fail in terms of the way they handle PREA," the inmate wrote, referring to the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. This case demonstrates that the Criminal Division will not hesitate to hold accountable any officer who preys upon vulnerable victims and violates the publics trust., Government employees entrusted with the custody of inmates are responsible for the safety of both the community as well as those inmates, said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors for the District of Hawaii. Anyone can read what you share. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency that creates guidelines for federal judges, to carry out a law that gives inmates and their lawyers the right to directly petition courts for compassionate release without having to go through the Bureau of Prisons. Bob Hood, the former chief of internal affairs for the Bureau of Prisons, said he wasn't surprised that the prison got a "stellar audit" even if staff and inmates are interviewed, especially because one of the alleged perpetrators was the warden who has all the power in a prison. The agency releases only a fraction of inmates eligible to be freed early under federal laws. Although she bravely reported her abuse to prison officials and the police, Ca'Linda was not protected from further sexual assaults. By Jonathan Dienst Published May 19, 2015 Updated on May 20, 2015 at 10:40 am. Figures could be higher, owing to the secretive nature of these abuses. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone call the confidential crisis helpline Safe to Talk on: 0800 044 334 or text 4334. Eight women have filed legal action after alleging they were sexually . The safety manager, John Russell Bellhouse, 39, has pleaded not guilty to engaging in sexual acts during 2000 with an inmate he called his "girlfriend." For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. One of them said Highhouse leered at her when she got out of the shower and had a reputation as a predator.. Rank-and-file prosecutors and prison officials play a vital role their support, or ambivalence, about an application can often be the deciding factor and many have been resistant to free anyone, even an inmate in the final stages of a terminal illness. James Theodore Highhouse was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison more than double the recommended punishment in federal sentencing guidelines. The former chaplain, James Theodore Highhouse, was sentenced toseven years in prison. Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin both did time at the Dublin prison for their involvement in thecollege admissions bribery scandal. The Bureau of Prisons opened 5,415 cases alleging sexual abuse by federal employees from 2012 to 2022. Enrique Chavez entered a plea to one count of . Other allegations against Highhouse, previously kept quiet by Dublin officials, came to light during the investigation, prosecutors said. Published by Statista Research Department , Apr 30, 1999. The report found that half of inmate-on-inmate and staff-on-inmate sexual abuse occurred in areas that weren't under video surveillance. "In connection with those investigations, the government plans to execute multiple search warrants.". Nor were her attackers held accountable. An official website of the United States government. November 15, 2019 / 7:20 AM / CBS Sacramento. As of May, 17 current or former employees at Dublin, including the former pastor, were under investigation for sexual abuse. Justice Dept. Linda De La Rosa, formerly incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, testifies during the hearing of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations, on Sexual Abuse of Female Inmates in Federal Prisons, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 13, 2022. 0:03. Widespread sexual abuse of female inmates continues to plague federal prisons and accountability measures for staff have not contained the scourge of such violence, according to a Senate investigative report released Tuesday. B.O.P. Of those incidents, eight officers were charged and arrested . And, even worse still, what does it mean that even in cases where reports are substantiated, so few staff are being held accountable?". The high-profile Dublin prison in Northern California, formerly home to well-known actorsand one of the nation's few all-female federal prisons,has come under scrutiny in recent months for alleged systemic abuse. The agency also added: "It should benoted, a vast majority of misconduct cases have been referred by the BOP. and . 2. Highhouse, who was arrested in January and pleaded guilty in February, would tell women he abused at the Bay Area lockup, that everyone in the Bible had sex and that God wanted them to be together, prosecutors said. A former Metropolitan Correctional Center officer who was found guilty of sexually assaulting prisoners earlier this year was hit with a federal suit Friday alleging he abused three more inmates The auditor saidshe found no evidence that the prison did retaliation monitoring on cases where the investigation was pending, even though monitoring should occur for at least 90 days after a report. The high-profile Dublin prison in Northern California, formerly . OAKLAND, Calif. -- One of five workers accused of sexually abusing inmates at a federal women's prison in California pleaded guilty on Thursday . "What's historic about this is that in no time since 1930 when the Bureau of Prisons opened, did we ever haveany allegation that a warden, the pillar supposedly of the institution, had any inappropriateness," said Hood. Feb. 22, 2023. Noel declined to comment Wednesday on the allegation, but his attorney Larry Wilder in a statement blamed the unforeseeable criminal actions of a rogue corrections officer., Wilder added that sheriffs detectives have interviewed women who were in the pod and these interviews have yielded information that is in direct opposition to the allegations made in the civil lawsuit.". An attorney for Chavez could not immediately be determined for comment. Later, other male inmates joined in on terrorizing the women, the suit states. "The system is flawed and broken.. Most of these perpetrators were under the age of 40 and white. Our findings are deeply disturbing and demonstrate, in my view, that the B.O.P. Cameron Lindsay, a former warden at three federal prisons and correctional consultant, said more needs to be done to review the prison's policies. This may be called Tools or use an icon like the cog. UPDATE: Ray Garcia, former @OfficialFBOP Dublin warden accused of sexually abusing 3 female inmates, . See: Arapahoe v. Avalos, U.S.D.C. ", Tami Abdollah is a USA TODAY national correspondent covering inequities in the criminal justice system. As alleged, the defendants conduct targeted vulnerable victims and undermined the dual mission of the Bureau of Prisons: to provide a safe, humane custodial environment while preparing individuals for a return to society, said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. In the case of the former warden, Garcia,such "dead spots" in video surveillance were crucial aspects of his case. Its hard to come up with the right words to describe how egregious an abuse of these victims this was, Gilliam said. But some groups do not think that goes far enough and are pushing the U.S. Between 2012 and 2015, the most recent year for which statistics were available, BJS says inmates in federal and state prisons filed nearly 28,000 allegations of staff-on-inmate abuse, but only . "This situation is intolerable," Ossoff said at Tuesday's hearing "Sexual abuse of inmates is a gross abuse of human and constitutional rights and cannot be tolerated by the United States Congress. At least two women were raped. The investigation looked at 161 reported incidents of sexual assault by a staff member on a prisoner spanning from 2015 through 2019. Klinger, 37,pleaded guilty to three counts in February. Klingeralso allegedly had sex with another inmate in a cargo container while another inmate acted as a lookout. The departments senior leaders fear provoking a backlash that will undermine the policy shift, and have moved slowly to incorporate a departmental system to investigate abuse claims on applications so that judges will not have to conduct unpredictable mini trials to determine the veracity of those accusations, according to people familiar with the situation. Staff sexual misconduct was underreported by inmates:Only about a quarter of incidents were reported by the victim and nearly 20% of the substantiated incidentswere uncovered during an investigation or monitoring. The men, who covered their faces so they could not be identified, were yelling and threatening to harm the women if they called for help or pressed the emergency call button, the complaint states. Ms. Chaviras case the first of its kind to make its way through the system is seen by prisoners rights groups as a key test of the departments commitment to use so-called compassionate release protocols for victims of abuse. Six of the accused officers . Twenty-eight female prisoners at an Indiana jail claim in two federal lawsuits that they were subjected to a "night of . The 52-year-old, who is currently transitioning, was sentenced yesterday for two counts of rape, two sexual assaults and . NBC News has reached out to Lowes lawyer for comment and to Jeremy Mull, the Clark County prosecuting attorney, to see if any of the male inmates who allegedly attacked the women have been identified and charged with crimes. The perpetrators have included male employees at every level of the prison hierarchy: warden, pastor, guard. All Rights Reserved. ", He added: "What kind of message does it send when incarcerated people are bravely speaking out, only to learn that their reports are dismissed? Peters said she has worked since her appointment to inspect prisons and transition from prior Bureau of Prisons leadership. researches product purchases and suppliers. Under federal law, any sexual contact between a prison employee and a prisoner is illegal, even if it would be considered consensual outside the system. At the same time, prosecutors wrote, a prison counselor would rail about inmates "snitching" on employees, suggesting they instead . The Office of the Corrections Ombudsman serves as an available independent external resource for both inmates and third parties to report incidents . The department is also taking other steps. Gilliams seven-year sentence matched the recommendation of probation officers who conducted Highhouses pre-sentence investigation. 0:57. The former warden of the California women's . Seven correction officers at Rikers Island raped and sexually abused female inmates over a two-year period . failed to recognize female prisoners being sexually assaulted and elderly prisoners being threatened by a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic as reasons to even consider a sentence reduction, said Kevin Ring, the president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums. Correctional employees enjoy substantial power over inmates, controlling every aspect of their lives from mealtime to lights out, and there is no scenario in which an inmate can give consent. A federal lawsuit says the women were attacked by male inmates at the Clark County Jail after a now-charged jailer allowed inmates access to keys last year. And they immediately made it clear what they were after. By Aadil Ikram Zaki Iqbal. Department officials are still exploring ways to fortify and repurpose internal administrative procedures to help verify the hundreds of sexual abuse claims filed by prisoners each year, according to a draft letter of a proposal to a judicial policy panel outlining possible changes. They seek damages but do not name a specific dollar amount. Former inmate and survivor Briane Moore testified before the subcommittee on Tuesday, recounting how she was raped by an officer while she was imprisoned at a federal facility in West Virginia. And about half of their victims were also white. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Departments Criminal Division. identifies important training information, interacts with each other and He also insisted he was coerced and assaulted into making a false confession about selling them the keys. I havent had p--- in two years!. As soon as Xavier shifted to the jail, the news of his offence was spread among his fellow inmates. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS In many cases, the perpetrators are prison staff, the very people responsible for keeping inmates safe. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and no required minimum sentence. Sexual abuse in prisoni is a global human rights crisis. Prosecutors refused to pursue almost half of those cases. The former warden, Ray J. Garcia, was arraigned Wednesday on a superseding indictment charging him with abusing two additional inmates, for a total of seven counts involving three victims. James B. Wills, the bureaus counsel, acknowledged that Ms. Chaviras assertions of being groped and forced to disrobe by male staff members were extremely concerning, but described her documentation of those claims as insufficient. I was sentenced and put in prison for choices I made I was not sent to prison to be raped and abused, Briane Moore testified at a congressional hearing on Tuesday. If you sweep it under the rug, she said, nothing will change.. But committee investigators documented a culture that contributed to an environment in which male prison officials knew that what they were doing was illegal, but believed they would never be held accountable. In recent weeks, the deputy attorney general, Lisa O. Monaco, has pressed top officials at the Bureau of Prisons, a division of the department, to encourage inmates who have been assaulted by prison employees, and might qualify for the departments underused compassionate release program, to apply. Thereport, however, only looked at "substantiated" incidents, which means that the incidentwas investigated and found to have occurred based on a preponderance of evidence. None of these six officers was ever prosecuted.. The inmate said that she attempted to report the abuse but that when she did, a prison officer shrugged and reminded her that she would soon be transferring out of Dublin. Former inmate and survivor Briane Moore testified before the subcommittee on Tuesday . John Russell Bellhouse, 39, a prison safety administrator, is scheduled to be arraigned this month on charges he sexually abused an inmate he called his "girlfriend" from February to December 2020. More than 3 percent of female . Anyone can read what you share. Since 2000, the Texas prison system has referred nearly 400 cases of staff sex crimes against inmates to prosecutors. He . Enrique Chavez isthe fifth Bureau of Prisons employee at the high-profileNorthern California prison in Dublin to be indicted at the facility since spring 2021. It was filed on behalf of eight of the women, all identified as Jane Doe, against Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel, now-former corrections officer David Lowe, and several unknown officers at the jail in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Of 126 prison . The committees report sharply criticized the Justice Departments leaders for failing to bring charges against many of those accused of abusing inmates at the now-shuttered womens unit at Coleman. Little has been done by government or prison wards to stop rapists inside of prisons. IE 11 is not supported. the bureaus new director, Colette S. Peters. Struggles to Carry Out Early Release Program for Abused Inmates, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/us/politics/federal-prisons-inmate-abuse.html. Published: June 8, 2015 5:52 PM IST. Earlier this year, Ossoff led a Senate panel exposing corruption and misconduct at a federal penitentiary in Georgia. The other woman who was raped became pregnant and later miscarried, William McCall, one of the two lawyers representing the 20 women who filed the first federal lawsuit, told The Washington Post. Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters, who was appointed in July, appeared at the hearing and was asked by Ossoff why the bureau hasn't made systemic changes to prevent abuse, given the volume of alleged and corroborated complaints. government has been ordered . The former warden, Ray J. Garcia, was arraigned Wednesday on a superseding indictment charging him with abusing two additional inmates, for a total of seven counts involving three victims. But the auditor said she did not find evidence of retaliation, and found that the acting warden, associate warden, SIS lieutenant, and all security, psychology, medical, and other facility staff were extremely concerned about allegations of sexual misconduct and were taking all possible actions to discover and respond to such behavior, including protecting inmate victims..

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