Official websites use .gov James Theodore Highhouse was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison more than double the recommended punishment in federal sentencing guidelines. Anyone can read what you share. Garcia was charged with abusing three inmates between December 2019 and July 2021. "As alleged, the defendant's conduct targeted vulnerable victims and undermined the dual mission of the Bureau of Prisons: to provide a safe, humane custodial environment while . 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 allegations of widespread sexual abuse at Dublin have increased pressure on the bureau, which is responsible for about 160,000 inmates around the country. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. This means that, even if survivors "muster sort of an unfathomable courage to" report staff abusers, "in the vast majority of cases, the . Human rights group Amnesty International in 2014 reported that torture and ill-treatment were still prevalent worldwide, indicating that 141 countries are practicing these systematic forms of abuse in their detention facilities. Dust Particles found in Amul Milk True or Fake?). 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 . 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. Send tips via direct message, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS I havent had p--- in two years!. Ca'Linda was sexually abused repeatedly by staff in two different Kentucky facilities. Highhouse, enabled by a toxic culture of abuse and coverups at the prison, warned victims not to report him, telling one of them no one will believe you because youre an inmate, and Im a chaplain," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. special report by the U.S. Department of Justice, faced scrutiny for repeated incidents of inmate sexual abuse, jury found the former warden Ray J. Garcia guilty of seven counts of sexual abuse, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. An elected official serving his second term as sheriff, Noel is also Clark Countys Republican Party chair and a friend of former Vice President Mike Pence, and he supported former President Donald Trump. Lindsay, the former warden and correctional expert, said he was in "total shock" by the problems at Dublin. Highhouse is among five workers charged in the last 14 months with sexually abusing inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and the first to reach the sentencing phase of his case. 0:03. The Clark County Sheriff's Office, which Noel heads, is doing the investigation because the Indiana Department of Correction "does not have oversight or investigative authority over county jails," IDOC spokeswoman Annie Goeller said in an email. Enrique Chavez, a food service foreman, is expected to plead guilty on Sept. 14. He allegedly provided the inmate with earrings, let her use his office phone and engaged in oral sex with her twice, one of those times in the safety office. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers sentenced Enrique Chavez to four more months than prosecutors recommended. 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. 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. After the AP's reporting, a task force of senior federal prison officials descended on Dublin, meeting with staff and inmates and pledging to fix problems and change the culture. "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. As alleged, the defendant abused his position of power as a correctional officer and sexually abused multiple inmates under his supervision, said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. The enlisted advisers for the five Department of Defense branches called on Congress to help them advocate for military Col. Gregory Mayer, the commander of the 5th Mission Support Group, and Maj. Jonathan Welch, the commander of the 5th VA medical patients who have gone to a non-VA emergency room since 2010 can get their out-of-pocket coinsurance costs Russia has declared that a group of saboteurs from Ukraine crossed into its territory and attacked border villages, a raid Copyright 2023 Associated Press. Reporting Sexual Abuse of Inmates. Investigators identified three other prisons where abusers targeted female inmates with relative impunity: the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, the Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn and the Federal Correctional Institution Dublin, near Oakland, Calif. A former warden at Dublin, Ray Garcia, was found guilty of seven charges of sexual abuse this month after molesting female inmates and forcing them to pose for nude photographs. By Phil Helsel, Maya Brown and Corky Siemaszko. In a federal lawsuit filed last week, a Jane Doe inmate at the Logan . Read more on Latest Viral News on India.com. His attorney did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Copyright 2023 All rights reserved. About 20 percent of female prisoners reported being abused by other inmates, compared to an average of 3.5 percent of male prisoners who reported such abuse. Federal prosecutors must use "all available tools" to hold federal corrections employees who sexually . B.O.P. 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. The former chaplain, James Theodore Highhouse, was sentenced toseven years in prison. Send tips via direct message@latamsor emailtami(at)usatoday.com, As prisons close, communities reimagine buildings, State prisons across the U.S. have been closing due to budget cuts, declining crime rates and poor treatment of prisoners. "You can pencil whip anything, on the surface you can illustrate that procedurally everything is being done in compliance with applicable policy and procedure. who have detailed pervasive misconduct during their incarceration at Dublin, four-fifths of compassionate release requests, ordered the closing of a troubled special detention unit. Horowitz said in a statement Wednesdayhis office would "continue to aggressively pursue allegations of abuse at FCI Dublin and across the BOP.". Little has been done by government or prison wards to stop rapists inside of prisons. OAKLAND, Calif. A former worker at a federal women's prison in California was sentenced Thursday to 20 months in prison for sexually abusing an inmate. The Office of the Corrections Ombudsman serves as an available independent external resource for both inmates and third parties to report incidents . On Wednesday, Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters visited Dublin for an update. All Rights Reserved. If B.O.P. Chavez pleaded guilty in October to one count of abusive sexual contact with a prisoner at the Federal Correctional Institute, Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area. 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. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has a zero tolerance policy against sexual abuse and is committed to respecting and protecting the rights of its incarcerated population. Lexipol. 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. July 28, 2022, 8:00 PM UTC. 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. Statistics regarding the number and frequency of sexual abuse in prisons vary greatly. Ms. Peters has said that addressing prisoner abuse, along with the overreliance on restrictive housing units, are among her top priorities. Life-saving measures were administered and he was taken to the Health Care Unit. Highhouse, enabled by a toxic culture of abuse and coverups at the prison, warned victims not to report him, telling one of them "no one will believe you because you're an inmate, and I'm a chaplain," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. The four other charged Dublin employees are at various stages of their cases. Gilliams seven-year sentence matched the recommendation of probation officers who conducted Highhouses pre-sentence investigation. It found that the prison met all 45 standards, but did not exceed any standards. The lettersweresent by Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, as well as Democratic Womens Caucus co-chairs Rep. Jackie Speier, Rep. Brenda L. Lawrence, Rep. Lois Frankel, and vice-chairs Reps. Veronica Escobar and Sylvia R. Garcia. An inmate's size and strength is particularly important in . 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. The push comes amid new revelations about the extent of abuse of women, and the unwillingness of many prison officials, over decades and at all levels in the system, to address a crisis that has long been an open secret in government. The slow pace of accountability for inmate sexual abuse, combined with limited resources for internal investigators, puts inmates at continued risk, the report found. Corrections1 is revolutionizing the way in which the corrections community finds relevant news, As of May, 17 current or former employees at Dublin, including the former pastor, were under investigation for sexual abuse. 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 complaint accused Garcia of penetrating a victims vagina with his finger on multiple occasions, asking inmates to strip naked for him when he did his rounds, and taking photos and saving them to his personal laptop. The perpetrators have included male employees at every level of the prison hierarchy: warden, pastor, guard. The report of that audit was released Monday. The Dublin prison has been under scrutiny by members of Congress who wrote a letter earlier this month to the Justice Departments Inspector General Michael Horowitz urging him to investigate the prison and retaliation against staff and inmates for filing complaints or helping in the investigation of complaints. Chaplain who sexually abused inmates gets 7 years in prison. 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. All sexual activity between a prison worker and an inmate is illegal. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. An Army veteran, he pressured one inmate into intercourse on Veterans Day by telling her she needed to serve her country and on Thanksgiving by telling her she needed to show her gratitude for him, prosecutors said. Garcia, who headed the Dublin, Calif. all-female prison,was the highest ranking official from the Bureau of Prisons to be convicted of such crimes. A transgender female prisoner says she repeatedly begged not to be housed with a convicted rapist, but was forced to share a bunk with him anyway and then allegedly got raped within 24 hours . 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.. Aided by Denver attorneys David Lane, Liana Orshan and Tania Valdez, Arapahoe filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the BOP and numerous employees, which eventually settled for $750,000. Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. Power, control, revenge, seem to top the "reasons" for rape. Members of Congress have urged more scrutiny and investigations into allegations of systemic sexual abuse of inmates. At least two women were raped. Child Rapist Raped, Stitched and Re-Raped By 20 Prisoners in Brazil. the bureaus new director, Colette S. Peters. Prison officials and judges have been reluctant to support compassionate releases unless an inmate is ill, dying or incapacitated by age. Our findings are deeply disturbing and demonstrate, in my view, that the B.O.P. In an interview with The Washington Post, Lowe said he made a mistake that enabled the inmates to steal the keys. Enrique Chavez entered a plea to one count of . If convicted, he faces a maximum of life in on each count of sexual abuse by threats and up to 15 years in prison on each count of sexual abuse of a ward. Unbelievable! The push comes amid new revelations about the extent of abuse of women, and the unwillingness of many prison officials to address a crisis that has long been an open secret in government. Klinger, 37,pleaded guilty to three counts in February. Without reliable internal investigations, sentencing judges are more likely to reject compassionate release requests after conducting their own fact-gathering efforts, department officials say, unless a prison official is criminally charged with abusing a particular inmate. Michael E. Horowitz, the inspector general, told the committee he was committed to streamlining and strengthening investigations, in line with the recommendations of a working group convened by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to address the problem. He denied any allegations of misconduct and said he did not "recall anyone saying anything about" the allegations that Garcia or Ross Klinger, the recycling technician,sexually abused inmates. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. November 15, 2019 / 7:20 AM / CBS Sacramento. This prosecution holds a prison guard accountable for flagrantly and repeatedly violating the law, and thereby failing to meet this responsibility.. Later, other male inmates joined in on terrorizing the women, the suit states. There are some cases they should be agreeing to immediately, if this policy is really about justice at all, said Erica Zunkel, Ms. Chaviras lawyer, who represents clients through a law clinic at the University of Chicago, where she is a professor. John Russell . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Nearly two-thirds of the abused youngsters said that the officials lured them into sexual relationships by giving them special treatment . Highhouse, wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans, spoke briefly in federal court in Oakland and apologized to the women he harmed. The former warden of the California women's . "It is taken for granted that rape is inevitable inside prison and that the people who endure this violence somehow deserve their fate," said Jesse Lerner-Kinglake, a spokesman for the Los Angeles-based organizationJust Detention International, whichseeksto end to sexual abuse in all forms of detention. Federal Correctional Complex Coleman in Florida, where numerous women have said they were abused by prison employees. 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. The department is also taking other steps. Prosecutors refused to pursue almost half of those cases. 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. WASHINGTON (AP) The former warden of a California women's prison, who is already facing federal charges alleging he sexually abused inmates and forced them to pose nude for him, was charged Tuesday with sexually abusing two other female prisoners, the Justice Department said. This review must include, but is not limited to, the identification of the common characteristics of both victims and perpetrators of prison rape, and prisons and prison systems with a high incidence of prison . 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. Select the option or tab named Internet Options (Internet Explorer), Options (Firefox), Preferences (Safari) or Settings (Chrome). For the past year, several working groups in the Justice Department have sought to determine how to fix a system long plagued by health and safety problems, corruption, staff turnover and physical and sexual abuse that has disproportionately targeted female inmates and prison workers. Published: June 8, 2015 5:52 PM IST. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? ", Tami Abdollah is a USA TODAY national correspondent covering inequities in the criminal justice system. "In connection with those investigations, the government plans to execute multiple search warrants.". 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. That included Ms. Reynolds, who received a college degree after leaving prison and now works for a construction company. 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. Attorneys for Highhouse did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During interviews, several inmates expressed concern about reporting sexual abuse, indicating that they feared the facility would retaliate against them, the auditor found. For more than a decade, the state has failed to protect inmates at Florida's largest women's prison from sexual abuse by the staff, according to a report released by federal officials on Tuesday. Enter https://www.corrections1.com/ and click OK. OAKLAND, Calif. -- One of five workers accused of sexually abusing inmates at a federal women's prison in California pleaded guilty on Thursday . The ex-prison worker was the fifth employee at the facility to be charged with sexual abuse of inmates since June 2021. The commission is expected to hold public hearings on Thursday and Friday to discuss a range of potential changes, including to the compassionate release rules. Colette S. Peters, a former Oregon state prison official tapped to lead the bureau in July, has backed the initiative. U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. said the guidelines, which call for a sentence of less than three years, seriously underestimate the seriousness" of Highhouse's conduct. He visited her at a halfway house, where they had sex and he proposed to her with a diamond ring. Two inmates said Highhouse claimed to them that he was a sex therapist, asked graphic questions about their sex lives and offered to let them have sex in his office, prosecutors said. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, from the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and . For years, prisoners rights groups have complained that Bureau of Prisons officials have been reluctant to grant compassionate discharges, even when inmates can provide evidence of a terminal illness or of abuse at the hands of an official entrusted with their welfare. Justice Dept. External Reporting of Inmate Sexual Abuse/Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Through the Office of Corrections Ombudsman. 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 . "He was a captain with total control over me. Darrin Klimek/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) The Federal Bureau of Prisons "has not been able to identify the prevalence and scope of inmate-on-staff sexual harassment," a new report released by the Justice Department's inspector general found, adding that the problem is "widespread" and affects female officers. 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 knew he had the power to prevent me from being transferred to a prison closer to my family closer to my daughter," Moore said. Whether committed by prison staff or by inmates, rape and other forms of sexual abuse in prison are recognized internationally as forms of torture. 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. 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 . The report comes as the federal prison system hasfaced scrutiny for repeated incidents of inmate sexual abuse by staff, including by a warden and chaplain at a high-profile Northern California prison. An official website of the United States government. These staffers were usually employed full-time as correctional officers or supervising staff for longer than six months. 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. 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. 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. Twenty-eight female prisoners at an Indiana jail claim in two federal lawsuits that they were subjected to a "night of . The agency releases only a fraction of inmates eligible to be freed early under federal laws. The path to early release is a complex tangle of laws and regulations intended to prevent violent criminals and repeat offenders from taking advantage of the system by falsely claiming maladies or hardships. 108-79) requires BJS to carry out an annual comprehensive statistical review and analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape. Further, the investigation seems to indicate that there was a systematic plan by individuals who were incarcerated that evening to develop the narrative that makes up the crux of the claims in the civil case, Wilder said. One of the rape victims, identified in the most recent lawsuit as Jane Doe 1, said she contracted genital herpes as a result of the sexual assault. 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. Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY 12/17/2022. 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. Inmates have the right to be safe from sexually abusive behavior. "People are waiting to see, (how)do we treat this person" as compared to the rank-and-file correctional officers. "The violence is so normalized, and so engrained in our society that prisoner rape jokes are common even now, in the post MeToo era No matter what crime a person has committed, rape is not part of the penalty.". Earlier this year, Ossoff led a Senate panel exposing corruption and misconduct at a federal penitentiary in Georgia. Dublin is a particular point of focus for the Justice Department, which is investigating a culture of abuse there. A prison officer who abused his position of power and carried out an indecent assault at a now notorious detention centre in the 1970s has escaped jail as he was too ill to stand trial. Investigators also found a large volume of sexually graphic photographs of both male and female genitalia and nude photos of Garcia on his work cellphone issued by the Bureau of Prisons. "The onion was not peeled back enough," he said. In the meantime, the delays are taking their toll. believes a woman, after talking to her, has been sexually abused, why is that not the same thing? he added. Its hard to come up with the right words to describe how egregious an abuse of these victims this was, Gilliam said.

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