Despite vast sex scandal, judge unsure about need for special master at Dublin prison

A federal district court judge expressed skepticism Tuesday of the need for a special master to oversee reforms at the troubled FCI Dublin women’s prison, citing several changes to a facility that has been rocked with numerous criminal convictions over a reputed prison “rape club” run by guards and other prison employees.

District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she was “highly doubtful” that an independent monitor was warranted at the scandal-ridden prison. Her comments came at the end of a five-day hearing that included hours of testimony from both inmates who described being sexually assaulted and prison leaders hailing a culture change.

While speaking from the bench, Rogers described how the Federal Bureau of Prisons “has come in and cleaned out” leadership at the prison. She also expressed doubt that attorneys for inmates at the facility — which houses about 700 inmates and includes a minimum-security camp — had proved the staff was currently acting with “deliberate indifference,” despite testimony about retaliation against those who reported staff misconduct.

“I don’t see how you can say they don’t care, when there is a zero tolerance” toward staff misconduct, Rogers said. “I was surprised that they were automatically removing people from their job, even when allegations had not been confirmed.”

The judge’s comments came five months after a sprawling lawsuit was filed by advocates of inmates at the prison, accusing managers of ignoring decades of warning signs of a reputed “rape club” that targeted inmates for years. If approved, the appointment of a special master would have little, if any, precedent at a United States federal prison, according to attorneys seeking the arrangement.

The widespread history of abuse and assault has led to guilty pleas and convictions of at least seven staff members at all levels of the prison, from line officers to its chaplain, and criminal charges against an eighth. Warden Ray J. Garcia was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for sexually assaulting women.

Numerous similar lawsuits have been filed, and attorneys in this case are seeking class-action status for the cases, a motion the court has not yet addressed. A decision on that status has not been made.

On Tuesday, Rogers set deadlines for additional written arguments, along with orders for additional information to be exchanged between the federal prison’s system and attorneys for FCI Dublin inmates. She gave no timeline for a final decision.

Ernest Galvan, an attorney with a Bay Area law firm suing the prison, stressed that Rogers can still impose numerous other orders aimed at improving conditions at the prison — even if they don’t include a special master. Other measures sought by inmate advocates include third-party reporting options for women who spot staff misconduct.

“This case is just at the beginning,” Galvan said. “We have already prevailed in shedding light on this institution.”

He also painted a far darker picture of the prison’s current leadership — pointing to hours of testimony by inmates who felt intimidated and retaliated against for reporting misconduct. Galvan also assailed the prison’s newly-installed warden, Art Dulgov, for appearing to begin his tenure by focusing on contraband or graffiti, rather than the prison’s culture of sexual assault and harassment.

The warden — who began his tenure in late December — recalled finding a crack pipe and other contraband in multiple cells he toured during his first days on the job. He later issued a prison-wide warning about the issue — saying that the tipping point came after he discovered an apple — banned outside of the food service area — hidden in an inmate’s pocket.

The warden issued “nothing about ‘This is a new day, you will be safe, we will never let it happen again,’ ” Galvan said. “If they’re so determined to change things, how could he spend his first four days looking for apples in the pockets of people on the yard?”

A lead U.S. attorney representing the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Madison Mattioli, declined to comment after the hearing.

A dozen inmates at the prison testified during the hearing that they were bullied, intimidated and retaliated against for reporting mistreatment by staff. One after another, the women said they found it difficult to privately report sexual misconduct among the prison’s staff. Almost none of them expressed trust in the vast majority of employees at the facility, and several of them said conditions had deteriorated in recent months.

Inmates also testified about being sexually abused, including one woman who was given a note by a correctional officer that said “he knew that I was going to be his wife.” She said he groped and kissed her numerous times over the course of several months. And when the officer left the prison, he moved to the same city as the inmate’s parents and befriended them — all to the inmate’s horror.

“I’m super scared being here because I don’t know what I’m going back to when I get back to my cell today,” the woman testified last week. The Bay Area News Group is not naming the women, who were referred to only by their first names or initials in court, because they are victims of sexual crimes.

Prison officials countered that several new leaders had sought to change the culture at FCI Dublin, instituting policy changes to address staff misconduct and doubling the number of cameras at the facility to almost 400.

The prison system also appears to have hired a third-party criminal justice consulting company, The Moss Group, to help oversee operations and reforms.

It all came amid significant pushback from staff members, a deputy captain at the prison testified last week. She tearfully recalled on the stand last week the “hostility and anger” she faced from guards when she increased policy training.

“My integrity matters to me,” deputy captain Erika Quezada, said. “I love the good people I work with, and I love that I feel like I can make a difference.”