Senate Report: Federal Prisons Failing to Protect Female Inmates
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) failed to protect female inmates from sexual abuse, according to a new report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report details scathing allegations about abuse of female inmates and the culture of abuse that involved employees in federal prisons.
Among the findings: BOP employees abused female inmates in at least two-thirds of federal prisons that have held female inmates over the past decade (19 of 29 facilities). In at least four BOP facilities, multiple women endured ongoing sexual abuse for months or years. And multiple BOP employees who admitted to abuse under sworn statement escaped prosecution, several with full retirement packages.
“Our findings are deeply disturbing and demonstrate, in my view, that the BOP is failing systemically to prevent, detect and address sexual abuse of prisoners by its own employees,” said Subcommittee Chairman Jon Ossoff (D-GA). “Let me be absolutely clear: this situation is intolerable. Sexual abuse of inmates is a gross abuse of human and Constitutional rights and cannot be tolerated by the United States Congress.”
The report was released at the same hearing where three sexual abuse survivors testified before the subcommittee about their experiences while in federal custody.
One of the victims, Linda De La Rosa, described how her life was a “living hell” while serving time at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky (FMC-Lexington). De La Rosa testified that her attacker had full access to her personal files and “used the information to gain leverage over her.”
“The system failed at every level, management from the warden on down repeatedly,” De La Rosa said. “It is not enough just to call this horrible. I believe the problem is the ‘old boys club.’”
Also testifying at the hearing were BOP Director Collette Peters and Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz.
Director Peters, who took office in August, pledged to update camera systems in prisons and said she’s looking at how wardens are selected for posts.
"Any kind of misconduct, especially sexual misconduct by bureau employees, is always unacceptable and must not be tolerated," Director Peters said.
The testimony came less than a week after Ray Garcia, the former warden of the Federal Correctional Institute in Dublin, California (FCI-Dublin), was convicted of sexually abusive conduct of three female inmates. Garcia and the prison’s former chaplain are among five employees at Dublin charged for sexual abuse. Garcia was the first of the suspects to go on trial.
The report says it was “only after the abuse at FCI Dublin came to light that BOP began to institute agency-wide changes.”
For his testimony, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz reviewed possible solutions. Those include increasing the number of BOP misconduct complaints that can be accepted to the Inspector General’s Office on an annual basis, increasing capacity to respond to requests and inquiries from stakeholders, establishing a proactive BOP inspection program, and hiring a victim-witness advocate.
The report found that BOP has not systematically analyzed complaint data under 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act. In addition, the report cited a backlog of 8,000 cases at the Office of Internal Affairs, some of those dealing with sexual assault allegations. The report said BOP “does not report case closure rates in a way that would indicate its progress in clearing the backlog. “
Director Peters testified it would take about two years to clear the backlog.
The testimony comes a month after Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa Monaco ordered the immediate implementation of some recommendations from a DOJ working group convened to study sexual abuse in federal prisons.