The Justice Department was ordered to pay nearly $116 million to more than 100 women who were abused at a federal correctional institution in Dublin, Californianicknamed the “rape club.”
The settlement was approved Tuesday and will average $1.1 million for each woman who sued the prison for mistreatment and sexual abuse among staff and inmates.
“We were sentenced to prison, we were not sentenced to be assaulted and abused,” plaintiff and former Dublin prisoner Aimee Chavira told The Associated Press.
“I hope this settlement helps survivors, like me, as they begin to heal, but the money will not undo the damage BOP did to us, nor will it free survivors who continue to suffer in prison, nor will it bring survivors back.” who were deported and separated from their families,” he said.
FBI SEEKS CALIFORNIA FEDERAL WOMEN’S PRISON RIDGE OF SEXUAL ABUSE
The Department of Justice will pay nearly $116 million to more than 100 women who suffered sexual abuse at a Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California. (Anda Chu/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)
The former director of the prison, Ray García, and seven other employees They are now in prison for sexually abusing inmates.
The eighth remaining corrections officer, Darrell Wayne Smith, is awaiting trial on 12 counts of sexual abuse.
This is the largest settlement ever paid to imprisoned women by the Department of Justice, according to one of the women’s lawyers, Jessica Pride.
Federal Correctional Institution Dublin (FCI Dublin) in Dublin, California, has been plagued by reports of staff sexually abusing female inmates for years. (Anda Chu/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)
Pride also said that if it were up to her, the amount would be “ten times that amount,” because “there is no amount that can be assigned to what a survivor goes through when being sexually assaulted,” according to The AP.
Victims were interviewed to assess how much each should receive from the settlement. The amount was based on the trauma suffered and how many times the women were abused, according to Pride.
The settlement, which was approved Tuesday, averages $1.1 million for each woman who filed a claim alleging she was sexually abused while an inmate at FCI Dublin. (iStock)
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The California Coalition of Women Prisoners has filed a separate class action lawsuit in which approximately 500 women housed at FCI Dublin could benefit from court-ordered reform in the future.
He Bureau of Prisons It closed the facility in April and made its closure permanent last month.
