U.S. BUREAU OF PRISONS SEXUAL ASSAULT SUIT
On Tuesday, March 3, 1998, in San Francisco, U.S. District Court Judge Thelton E. Henderson was presented with a settlement of a civil rights suit against the United States Bureau of Prisons brought by three women prisoners who were victims of sexual assaults and rape while housed in the J-2 Segregated Housing Unit of the otherwise all male Federal Detention Center in Dublin, California.
The attacks took place in the fall of 1995. Michael Bien and Geri Lynn Green have represented the plaintiffs since November 1995. "We are incarcerating people at alarming rates," said Green, "The prison systems are not set up to handle the huge increases. Even in women's prisons, men staff the units. They read the prisoners' mail and listen to all phone calls. There exists no safe and secure method of reporting abuse. At the same time there has been a steady erosion of prisoners' access to the courts, legal representation, and the press.
These attacks and the resulting retaliation occurred because we have a prison system that is accountable to no one. The prison system thrives on cover-ups and retaliation, breeding malfeasance by prison personnel without redress. Green explained: "Each of these women, at great personal risk, not only reported the sexual assaults but also extensively cooperated with the FBI, the Office of Inspector General, and the United States Attorney's Office. Each jeopardized her life to come forward in the hopes of helping others by securing a criminal prosecution against the staff and inmate perpetrators.
"The settlement," said Bien, "achieves plaintiffs' major goals: The BOP has agreed to remedy the serious deficiencies in its policies and procedures, not only at FCI Dublin, but for the thousands of other women housed at BOP prisons throughout the country. . . . In addition, BOP has agreed to stop housing women in the J-2 Unit, where these attacks took place, and the women will share $500,000 in damages to be paid by the United States."
Plaintiffs Valerie Mercadel, Raquel Douthit, and Robin Lucas were three of the women housed in J-2 during August and September of 1995. The complaint sets forth a pattern of sexual abuse, retaliation, and cover-up. While held in J-2, these women were repeatedly attacked and sexually assaulted. These attacks occurred late at night when a correctional officer opened their cell doors giving access to male inmates. Mercadel and Douthit got word out to the Regional Director requesting help. They received no response. Lucas made a statement under oath to senior officials at the prison identifying the correctional officer responsible and one of her attackers. She pleaded with officials to move her to one of the women's facilities. BOP officials refused to move her and her reports were leaked to her attackers.
Three weeks later, her cell door was again opened. Three men entered. She was handcuffed, brutally beaten and sexually assaulted. Her attackers made clear that these horrors were retribution for her reports to authorities. Despite the fact that counsel for the three women submitted them to polygraph examinations, confirming the validity of their claims, the U.S. Attorney's Office refused to put the evidence before an impartial grand jury and closed the criminal case after sitting on it for 2 years. No criminal or disciplinary charges were ever brought against the correctional officer or anyone else for the violent attacks, the cover-up and acts of retaliation or the obstruction of justice.
"In 1996, a new federal law was passed which greatly restricts the power of the federal courts to protect prisoners from serious violations of their Constitutional rights such as the rape and sexual assault of my clients," said Bien. "Because of this law, plaintiffs will not be able to enforce the settlement of this case by seeking relief from Judge Henderson. There is no reason that the operation of the federal prison system should be beyond the scrutiny of the federal courts. The law is bad policy and is unconstitutional."
"We must be able to monitor what goes on behind the prisons' concrete and steel veil of secrecy," added Green. "What happened in this case is precisely the danger posed by a prison system without accountability and independent investigations."
CONTACTS: Michael Bien, (415) 433-6830; mbien@rbalaw.com, Geri Lynn Green, (415) 575-3235; gerig@mail.hooked.net
--From The Journey, by Cesar Cruz, a weekly journal of culture, politics, and self-transformation that details important events, demonstrations, and cultural gatherings taking place throughout the nation.
THE JOURNEY: Subscription rates: $1 per issue, 4 issues per month, 2 months - 8 issues $8, 4 months - 16 issues $16.
There are three versions of the journey, (1) Southern California, (2) Northern California, (3) Nationwide. To subscribe to the JOURNEY send an e-mail to CesarACruz@juno.com, stating which JOURNEY you'd like to receive.
To order a print copy of THE JOURNEY send a self-addressed #10 envelope and a check or money order made out to Cesar A. Cruz c/o THE JOURNEY, 13419 Esmond Ave., Norwalk, CA. 90650.