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A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 16 april 2024
Bureau of Prisons to close California women’s prison where

inmates have been subjected to sex abuse

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, MI- lin inmates sued the Bureau
CHAEL BALSAMO and of Prisons, or BOP, alleging
CHRISTOPHER WEBER the agency had failed to
Associated Press root out sexual abuse. Am-
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The aris Montes, a lawyer for the
beleaguered federal Bu- plaintiffs, had said inmates
reau of Prisons said Mon- continued to face retalia-
day it will close a women’s tion for reporting abuse, in-
prison in California known cluding being put in solitary
as the “rape club” despite confinement and having
attempts to reform the belongings confiscated.
troubled facility after an As- Montes said she and her
sociated Press investigation clients had suspected clo-
exposed rampant staff-on- sure might be a possibil-
inmate sexual abuse. ity, but the suddenness
Bureau of Prisons Direc- of the decision so quickly
tor Colette Peters said in a after the special master
statement to the AP that appointment came as a
the agency had “taken shock. “It’s a signal that the
unprecedented steps and prison knows that they are
provided a tremendous not meeting constitutional
amount of resources to ad- standards to keep people
dress culture, recruitment safe from sexual assault
and retention, aging infra- The Federal Correctional Institution stands in Dublin, Calif., Dec. 5, 2022. Associated Press and sexual harassment,”
structure and most critical Montes said Monday.
employee misconduct.” an extraordinary acknowl- precedented step of ap- total of 760 prisoners in Feb- Montes said timing on
“Despite these steps and edgement by the Bureau pointing a special master ruary 2022. the closure and transfer
resources, we have de- of Prisons that its much- to oversee the prison. The women currently of inmates was still being
termined that FCI Dublin promised efforts to im- ADVOCATES WANT PRISON- housed at the prison will worked out, but she hoped
is not meeting expected prove the culture and en- ERS FREED be transferred to other fa- it would be done in a mea-
standards and that the vironment there have not FCI Dublin, about 21 miles cilities, Peters said, and no sured way.
best course of action is to worked. Many attempts to (34 kilometers) east of Oak- employees will lose their “I think that the BOP is
close the facility,” Peters stem the problems at Dub- land, is one of six women- jobs. quick to try to transfer ac-
said. “This decision is being lin have come after the AP only federal prisons and the Advocates have called for countability and move ac-
made after ongoing evalu- investigation revealed a only one west of the Rocky inmates to be freed from countability elsewhere as
ation of the effectiveness pattern of abuse and mis- Mountains. It currently FCI Dublin, which they say is the way to remedy the is-
of those unprecedented management that crossed houses 605 inmates 504 in- not only plagued by sexual sue. And that would mean,
steps and additional re- years, even decades. mates in its main prison and abuse but also has hazard- you know, moving people
sources.” Just 10 days before the another 101 at an adjacent ous mold, asbestos and in- quickly without addressing
The announcement of closure announcement, a minimum-security camp. adequate health care. people’s needs right
Dublin’s closure represents federal judge took the un- That figure is down from a Last August, eight FCI Dub- now.” q

Supreme Court allows Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-

affirming care for transgender youth

WASHINGTON (AP) — The care. law on hold. entirety after determining tion, including the Ameri-
Supreme Court is allow- The court’s three liberal jus- A federal judge in Idaho that it was necessary to can Medical Association,
ing Idaho to enforce its tices would have kept the had blocked the law in its do so to protect the teens, the American Academy of
ban on gender-affirming who are identified under Pediatrics and the Ameri-
care for transgender youth pseudonyms in court pa- can Psychiatric Associa-
while lawsuits over the law pers. tion.
proceed, reversing lower Opponents of the law have Medical professionals de-
courts. said it will likely increase sui- fine gender dysphoria as
The justices’ order Mon- cide rates among teens. severe psychological dis-
day allows the state to put The law’s backers have tress experienced by those
in a place a 2023 law that said it is necessary to “pro- whose gender identity dif-
subjects physicians to up tect children” from medical fers from their sex assigned
to 10 years in prison if they or surgical treatments for at birth.
provide hormones, puberty gender dysphoria, though The action comes as the
blockers or other gender- there’s little indication that justices also may soon con-
affirming care to people gender-affirming surgeries sider whether to take up
under age 18. are being performed on bans in Kentucky and Ten-
Under the court’s order, the transgender youth in Idaho. nessee that an appeals
two transgender teens who Gender-affirming care for court allowed to be en-
sued to challenge the law The Supreme Court of the United States is seen in Washington, youth is supported by every forced in the midst of legal
March 26, 2024.
still will be able to obtain Associated Press major medical organiza- fights.q