The women’s-only prison in California that was dubbed the “rape club” for the rampant sexual abuse inmates faced by staff will be closing, the federal Bureau of Prison announced.
Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin – where Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman served time — has already begun to move bags and carts of supplies out to buses in a parking lot in anticipation of the planned closure as all 605 inmates will eventually be shuttled off to other prisons in the country.
Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters admitted that even though the agency had “taken unprecedented steps and provided a tremendous amount of resources to address culture, recruitment and retention, aging infrastructure and — most critical — employee misconduct,” the efforts were insufficient.
Peters added FCI Dublin, which also once housed Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, is not meeting “expected standards” and the best option is to close the facility 20 miles east of Oakland.
Peters also noted Monday all employees at the prison would keep their jobs.
Trouble and illegal behavior by staff have been major issues at the prison over the last several years.
Eight FCI Dublin inmates claimed in a lawsuit against the BOP last August that the agency didn’t eradicate sexual abuse that has taken place at the prison.
The lawyer for the group, Amaris Montes, said the closure indicates “the prison knows that they are not meeting constitutional standards to keep people safe from sexual assault and sexual harassment.”
She slammed transferring hundreds of inmates to other parts of the country and possibly far from their families.
“What the women have gone through at this facility, the abuse they suffered, that was punishment,” Montes said.
“They’re all low security. Send them home, send them to supervised relief. Let them be productive members of society.”
The announcement comes days after a federal judge appointed a special master to oversee the prison.
An ex-warden of the prison, Ray Garcia, is one of two prison staffers to be convicted of sexually abusing inmates since 2021.
Another five staffers pleaded guilty with one case still pending.
Any sexual relations between inmates and guards are illegal in prisons.
A former prison chaplain, James Theodore Highhouse, was also convicted and sentenced to seven years for sexually assaulting a female inmate, the Los Angeles Times reported. He was accused of predatory behavior with at least six women between 2014 and 2019, claiming God brought them together, prosecutors said.
“There is a culture of rot at Dublin,” a federal judge said at the chaplain’s sentencing, according to the newspaper. “It’s important the world see this egregious conduct and see this serious penalty.”
With Post wires
