AP investigation: Women’s prison fostered culture of abuse

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Associated Press investigation has found a permissive and toxic culture at a Northern California federal prison for women. The prison enabled years of sexual misconduct by predatory employees and cover-ups that kept the accusations out of the public eye. The AP obtained internal Bureau of Prisons documents, statements and recordings from inmates, interviewed current and former prison employees and reviewed thousands of pages of court records. They detail how inmates’ allegations against members of the mostly male staff at FCI Dublin were ignored or set aside, how prisoners could be sent to solitary confinement for reporting abuse and how officials in charge of preventing and investigating sexual misconduct were themselves accused of abusing inmates.