DUBLIN, Calif. — For months, inmates and staff at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif., say their calls for help were ignored.
And in this aging prison of deep despair — a place where sexual abuse has been rampant and authorities acted with utter indifference — the cries for help had been many and varied.
An Associated Press investigation revealed a culture of abuse and cover-ups that persisted for years at the all-women prison, called the “rape club” by many who know it. Because of AP reporting, the head of the federal Bureau of Prisons had submitted his resignation in January.
Yet no one had been named to replace him, so he was still on the job. Now he was responding to the problems in Dublin — but only after an angry congresswoman had called him to complain.
So early March found the lame-duck administrator and a task force of senior agency officials arriving at the prison after flying in to meet inmates and staff in person. According to Dublin inmates, this was how he faced them as he toured the facility:
“You wanted my attention,” Michael Carvajal said, “so here I am.”
This story is based on interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the visiting task force’s work, the prison’s operations and the abuse crisis. Many spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation or because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The AP visited Dublin, about 21 miles east of Oakland, during the same time as the task force, the week of March 7. Lawmakers, disturbed by reports of abuse, traveled there shortly after. Carvajal and some task force members returned in April. In one sign of progress, the agency replaced both of the prison’s associate wardens.
FCI Dublin is one of just six women-only facilities in the U.S. federal prison system. As of April 28, Dublin had about 785 inmates, many serving sentences for drug crimes.
Since June 2021, five employees, including former warden Ray J. Garcia, have been charged with sexually abusing inmates. Two have pleaded guilty, and the investigation continues: On March 20, a food service foreman was arrested for allegedly touching an inmate’s breasts, buttocks and genitals in October 2020.
Since March, nine other workers have been placed on administrative leave. New inmate sexual abuse and staff employment discrimination complaints were filed during the task force’s visit. FBI agents searched the prison and an employee’s home in mid-April, and at least six internal affairs investigators have been on site investigating claims.
Carvajal, a Trump administration holdover, joined the task force for the first three days of its weeklong visit. But even as the task force was arriving, things did not seem to be proceeding in a positive direction.
Officials moved inmates out of the special housing unit so it wouldn’t look as full, and they lied to Carvajal about COVID-19 contamination so inmates in one unit couldn’t speak to him about abuse.
Those who managed to get to Carvajal didn’t hold back. In one emotional scene, a woman who said she was abused by prison officials tearfully confronted him in a recreation area as he and members of the task force were meeting with inmates.
