The US government is closing a women's prison and other facilities after years of abuse and decay

[December 06, 2024]  By MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal Bureau of Prisons is permanently closing its “rape club” women’s prison in California and will idle six facilities in a sweeping realignment after years of abuse, decay and mismanagement, The Associated Press has learned.

The agency informed employees and Congress on Thursday that it plans to shutter the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and deactivate minimum-security prison camps in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. Staff and inmates are being moved to other facilities, the agency said.

In a document obtained by the AP, the Bureau of Prisons said it was taking “decisive and strategic action” to address “significant challenges, including a critical staffing shortage, crumbling infrastructure and limited budgetary resources.” The agency said it is not downsizing and is committed to finding positions for every affected employee.

The closures are a striking coda to the Biden administration's stewardship of the Justice Department's biggest agency. After repeatedly promising to reform FCI Dublin and other troubled facilities, Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters is pivoting to closures and consolidation, citing inadequate staffing and staggering costs to repair aging infrastructure.

The permanent shutdown of FCI Dublin seven months after a temporary closure in the wake of staff-on-inmate abuse that led to the “rape club” moniker is the clearest sign yet that the agency — which has more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates and an annual budget of about $8 billion — is unable or unwilling to rehabilitate its most problematic institutions.

The move comes three years after the agency closed its troubled New York jail in Manhattan after myriad problems came to light in the wake of Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide there, including lax security, staffing shortages and squalid, unsafe conditions such as falling concrete and busted cells.

At the same time, the agency recently committed to building a new medium-security prison facility and minimum-security camp for about 1,400 inmates in Roxana, Kentucky, citing a need for “modern facilities and infrastructure,” with $500 million earmarked by Congress for construction.

The Bureau of Prisons and the correctional workers union have repeatedly pushed for additional federal prison funding, highlighting what they say is an inadequate amount of money to address pay increases, staff retention and a multibillion-dollar repair backlog. More than half of federal prison facilities were built before 1991 and many are becoming outmoded or obsolete, the agency said.

The agency said it expects that reassigning employees to remaining facilities will boost retention and cut down on mandatory overtime and augmentation, a practice by which cooks, teachers, nurses and other prison workers are assigned to guard inmates.

In a document summarizing the closures, the Bureau of Prisons said it decided to close FCI Dublin after a security and infrastructure assessment following its temporary closure in April. At the time, it appeared the agency was set on closing the low-security prison, but officials held out the possibility that it could be repaired and reopened for a different purpose, such as housing male inmates.

The assessment identified considerable repairs necessary to reopen the FCI Dublin, the agency said. Low staffing, exacerbated by the high cost of living in the Bay Area, also contributed to the decision to close the facility, the agency said. Other facilities being

The Federal Correctional Institution stands in Dublin, Calif., Dec. 5, 2022. The federal Bureau of Prisons is permanently closing its “rape club” women’s prison in California and will idle six other facilities in a sweeping realignment after years of abuse, decay and mismanagement, the Associated Press has learned. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

“As the agency navigates a challenging budgetary and staffing environment, we must make incredibly difficult decisions. FCI Dublin will not reopen," the agency said.

FCI Dublin’s permanent closure represents an extraordinary acknowledgement by the Bureau of Prisons that it has failed to fix the facility's culture and environment in the wake of AP reporting that exposed rampant sexual abuse within its walls. Hundreds of people who were incarcerated at FCI Dublin are suing the agency, seeking reforms and monetary compensation for mistreatment at the facility.

The closures at FCI Dublin and across the federal prison system come amid an AP investigation that has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons. AP reporting has disclosed widespread criminal activity by employees, dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including assaults and suicides.

In July, President Joe Biden signed a law strengthening oversight of the agency after AP reporting spotlighted its many flaws.

In addition to closing FCI Dublin, the Bureau of Prisons is shuttering its minimum-security prison camps in Pensacola, Florida, Duluth, Minnesota, and Morgantown, West Virginia. It is also suspending operations at minimum-security satellite camps that are adjacent to federal prisons in Oxford, Wisconsin, Littleton, Colorado, and Loretto, Pennsylvania.

Such facilities, built for the lowest risk offenders with dormitory-style housing and little or no fencing, have been the site of frequent escapes and an influx of contraband.

The Bureau of Prisons said the buildings at its Pensacola camp, which are owned by the Navy, are in “significant disrepair” and will be demolished after about 500 prisoners and 100 staff members are relocated to other facilities.

The Duluth camp is also plagued by “aging and dilapidated infrastructure,” including several condemned buildings that are contaminated with asbestos and lead paint, the agency said. About 736 inmates and 90 staff members will be moved to other facilities.

The Morgantown camp is closing and about 400 inmates and 150 employees will be relocated to “maximize existing resources” at the federal prison complex in Hazelton, West Virginia, about 23 miles (37 kilometers) away.

Employees at the three idled satellite camps have been or will be moved to adjacent low-security prisons while the minimum-security inmates at the camps are moved elsewhere. The camp at FCI Oxford in Wisconsin was cleared out in June, the agency said.

The Bureau of Prisons again cited efficiencies and infrastructure concerns for the moves, including a $26 million estimate for repairs to the camp at FCI Englewood in Littleton, Colorado.
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Sisak reported from New York.

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