Scandal-plagued FCI Dublin women’s prison to close after years of concerns of sexual abuse, retaliation

The Federal Bureau of Prisons plans to close its troubled FCI Dublin women’s prison, the agency announced Monday, signaling the end to a facility that had been plagued for years by accusations of sexual abuse and retaliation among its guards and leaders, leading to numerous criminal convictions and near-constant staff turnover.

The federal agency gave no timeline for the closure, which comes just a month after a federal judge ordered a special master to oversee operations of the prison.

In a statement, the federal prisons bureau said the prison “is not meeting expected standards,” despite the agency having taken “unprecedented steps and provided a tremendous amount of resources to address culture, recruitment and retention, aging infrastructure – and most critical – employee misconduct.”

“This decision is being made after ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of those unprecedented steps and additional resources,” the prisons bureau’s statement said.

Still, numerous questions about the expected closure remained Monday morning. In its statement, the agency said “the closure of the institution may be temporary but certainly will result in a mission change,” raising questions about the bureau’s plans and the nature of the closure.

For years, the prison has been embroiled in allegations of a reputed “rape club” among guards that targeted inmates, along with accusations of repeated retaliation by guards against inmates who spoke up about the alleged misdeeds. At least eight staff members at all levels of the prison — from jail guards to the chaplain to the warden — were charged in recent years with sexually assaulting and harassing inmates. Most have either pled guilty or been convicted, including former Warden Ray J. Garcia, who was sentenced in early 2023 to nearly six years in prison for sexually assaulting women.

Advocates of prison inmates filed a sprawling lawsuit in August accusing prison managers of ignoring decades of warning signs, retaliating against inmates for speaking out and providing insufficient mental and physical health care. While no trial date has been set for the civil case, attorneys for both sides said Tuesday they expect to be ready by the end of the year.

In March, the FBI raided the prison and the federal prisons bureau sacked the warden after he had spent less than three months on the job. At the time, the prisons bureau called the staff shakeup “consistent with unprecedented and ongoing actions” to reform the prison’s culture,” adding that “recent developments have necessitated new executive employees be installed at the institution.”

Days later, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers called the prison “a dysfunctional mess,” adding that “the situation can no longer be tolerated,” and “the facility is in dire need of immediate change.” Her words came as she ordered a special master to assume oversight of the prison — the first time any such oversight had been ordered at a federal prison in the nation’s history.

The federal prisons bureau said that planning for the closure is “ongoing.” Women currently housed at the prison will be transferred to other facilities, the agency said, and “each woman will be assessed, and their programming needs will be taken into account.” The agency will try to send the women to places that are “as close to their release locations as possible,” its statement said.

Check back for updates to this developing story.