New California law triggers surge of lawsuits by alleged victims of prison sexual assault

A California law allowing victims of sexual assault by law enforcement officers more time to seek redress in the courts against their assailants has prompted a spate of lawsuits across the state.

One Beverly Hills law firm has filed 135 suits totaling 147 plaintiffs in San Bernardino, Sacramento and Madera counties since the law took effect on Jan. 1. 2022, and expects to file at least 100 more cases on behalf of former prisoners at the California Institution for Women in Chino, the California Central Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, and the Folsom Women’s Facility.

AB 1455

The lawsuits were prompted by Assembly Bill 1455, authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October 2021.

AB 1455 gives victims of sexual assault by police and correctional officers two options: One is to sue in civil court up to 10 years after their assailants have been convicted of sexual assault or a crime in which sexual assault was initially alleged. The second is to sue up to 10 years after their assailants left the law enforcement agency they were working at when the assault occurred.

“This gives a voice and an opportunity to the most vulnerable to come forward and have an opportunity to be heard and an opportunity to get some sense of justice for being abused,”  said James Lewis, an attorney at the law firm Slater Slater Schulman, which is representing the former prisoners. “The ones abusing their power should be held accountable.”

Prison assaults

All of the lawsuits are similar in nature and accuse various named or unidentified prison guards of sexually assaulting female inmates dating as far back as 10 years. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation also is named as a defendant in each lawsuit.

“The complaints describe numerous instances of sexual assault committed on plaintiffs while they were incarcerated in a California women’s detention facilities [sic] under control and supervision by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,” according to a court petition filed in March seeking to get all the cases heard in Sacramento County Superior Court because it has a complex litigation department.

Among the more recent cases include three lawsuits filed on May 10 in San Bernardino Superior Court by former inmates at the California Institution for Women.

One plaintiff alleges a guard raped her on multiple occasions in a utility room, and threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone. Another alleges a corrections officer ordered her to perform oral sex on him in his office and forcefully grabbed her hand and placed it on his genitals, telling her, “I know you want it,” according to the lawsuit.

Another plaintiff who worked at a prison fire training camp in Temecula and went to the Chino prison regularly for medical checkups alleges a guard, on multiple occasions, fondled her private area during strip searches conducted upon her entering and leaving the prison.

All the lawsuits allege the CDCR failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the assaults.

Criminal case

The law firm also is representing alleged victims of former CDCR corrections officer Gregory Rodriguez, accused of sexually assaulting at least 13 inmates since 2014 at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.

In May, the Madera County District Attorney’s Office charged Rodriguez, 54, with 96 felony counts, including rape, sodomy, sexual battery and rape under color of authority. He faces more than 300 years in prison if convicted.

Terri Hardy, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, could not comment on the civil litigation. She said the arrest and charges against Rodriguez, also a former guard at the California Institution for Women, followed a CDCR investigation.

“As stated when we brought this case to light, the department resolutely condemns any staff member — especially a peace officer who is entrusted to enforce the law — who violates their oath and shatters the trust of the public,” Hardy said in an email.

She said the CDCR investigates all allegations of sexual abuse, staff sexual misconduct, and sexual harassment pursuant to its zero-tolerance policy and as mandated by the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.

“CDCR’s PREA policy also provides guidelines for the prevention, detection, response, investigation and tracking of allegations against incarcerated people,” Hardy said.

Startling statistics

In a letter sent to Newsom by Assemblymember Wicks on Sept. 9, 2021, she noted a 2019 investigation by a statewide coalition of news organizations, including the Southern California News Group, that revealed more than 600 California peace officers had been convicted of a crime within the prior decade. More than 70 of those cases were related to sexual assault, and more than 50 were related to forcible sex offenses.

“Each case underscores the power dynamics at play when it comes to victims reporting or seeking damages from their attacker,” Wicks said in the letter pushing for passage of AB 1455.

Wicks noted in her letter that the state did not ensure safety measures for victims of sexual assault at the hands of law enforcement despite documented incidents of officers using their power to stalk, arrest, threaten and retaliate against their victims.

“In turn, survivors of these heinous abuses of authority often face great intimidation and barriers to reporting,” Wicks said in the letter.

Adam Slater, a partner at Slater Slater Schulman, said the new law allows both the perpetrators and the institutions that employed them to be held accountable to a “forgotten and neglected group of individuals who have been allowed to be preyed on sexually by prison guards without any checks and balances.”

“The systemic nature of abuse in our prison system has got to be corrected,” he said.

Woman’s nightmare

One woman alleges in a lawsuit filed on March 29 that while incarcerated at the Chino prison from 2009 through 2013, she was sexually assaulted by six guards on various occasions.

While in protective custody after reporting one of her alleged assailants, the woman said she used powdered Kool-Aid to form a paste, then used it to write that her assailant was a sexual predator on the wall of her cell.

“It was a nightmare. I had a breakdown and I tried to kill myself,” said the woman, now 44. The Southern California News Group does not publish the names of victims or alleged victims of sexual assault.

She said she earned her associate degree while incarcerated and then went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in psychology after she was released from prison in April 2013.

The woman now works as a caregiver, but said she is still haunted by the memories of what happened to her in prison. She decided to come forward after seeing something on the news earlier this year about a corrections officer accused of sexually assaulting a female inmate at a California prison.

“I have a voice,” she said. “If I can help other people, that’s why I’m stepping forward.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.