Tag Archives: dublin

How Bad is Sex Abuse? That Depends on Who’s Doing It… – Update for September 6, 2022

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

‘SKY PILOT’ GROUNDED IN CALIFORNIA EVEN AS TEXAS ALLEGATIONS UNFOLD

In maybe the most reprehensible of the sex abuse charges coming out of the FCI Dublin scandal, former Bureau of Prisons chaplain James Highhouse was sentenced last week to 84 months in prison — more than double his laughably short 24-30 month Guidelines range – for sexually abusing a female inmate and lying to authorities.

skypilot220906The Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case said Highhouse engaged in predatory conduct with at least six women from 2014 to 2019. The government said he would tell women he abused at Dublin that everyone in the Bible had sex and that God wanted them to be together. An Army veteran, Highhouse pressured one inmate into sex on Veterans Day by telling her she needed to serve her country and on Thanksgiving by telling her she needed to show her gratitude for him, prosecutors said.

Highhouse warned his inmate victims not to report him, telling one of them “no one will believe you because you’re an inmate, and I’m a chaplain,” the AUSA said in a sentencing memorandum. “The staff members at FCI-Dublin solidified [the inmate’s] concerns about not being believed. One counselor was particularly vocal about inmates “snitching” on corrections officers, advising them to instead “tell Trump about it.” When [the inmate] inquired about the procedure for reporting sexual assault, a different corrections officer told her that she would be sent to the Segregated Housing Unit (SHU) if she did so. Although the purpose of doing so is for protection of the victims, the SHU is disciplinary housing, and as result, inmates lose privileges and are in essence –even if not in purpose – treated like they did something wrong.”

“Today’s sentencing sends a clear message to BOP employees that abusing their position of trust will result in serious consequences,” Dept of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz said last Wednesday.

Swetnoodle220906erious consequences? Really? Ohio State Law Professor Doug Berman observed in his Sentencing Law and Policy Blog yesterday that the Guidelines sentencing range Highhouse faced for raping female inmates (24-30 months) was risibly short, especially when compared to other Guidelines ranges for other federal offenses:

There are many disconcerting and notable aspects of this story, but I am still struck that a prison official/chaplain can sexually abuse a prisoner repeatedly and yet only face a guideline sentencing range of 24 to 30 months.  That range is, generally speaking, well below the guideline ranges typically facing lower-level drug offenders and lower-level fraudsters.

Meanwhile, a BOP spokesman said Director Collette Peters – who now has been on the job for a month –is “fully committed” to fixing Dublin’s problems and is working with new Warden Thahesha Jusino to make improvements.

DOJ and the BOP may soon get a chance to prove their commitment to rooting out abuse if a Texas congressman gets his way. Last Wednesday, Marc Veasey (D-TX) called for an investigation into FMC Carswell after the Ft Worth Star-Telegram reported allegations of systemic sexual abuse and cover-up at the women’s facility. “These claims must be investigated swiftly,” Veasey said in a tweet, “and as your member of Congress, I will do everything in my power to ensure there is justice for these victims and that institutional change will take place.”

sexualassault211014The week before, the Star-Telegram published the result of a months-long investigation into Carswell. A dozen women currently or previously incarcerated at the prison described sexual assaults and rapes by staff members, the paper reported, while a former staff member and union president said reports of misconduct are ignored or covered up.

Last Friday, the Star-Telegram decried the sexual assaults, noting that, “equally alarming, the facility showed a systemic history of covering misconduct up and creating an atmosphere of secrecy and retaliation, making it difficult for these women to report alleged abuse. All of this means that the problem is likely much larger than the reports of abuse indicate.”

Associated Press, Chaplain who sexually abused inmates gets 7 years in prison (August 31, 2022)

Dept of Justice, Federal Prison Chaplain Sentenced for Sexual Assault and Lying to Federal Agents (August 31, 2022)

US Attorney, Sentencing Memorandum (Case No 22-cr-000016, ND Cal, August 24, 2022)

Sentencing Law & Policy, Noticing surprisingly low federal guideline range for sexual abuse of prisoners (September 5, 2022)

Dublin Independent, New BOP Director Collette Peters Vows To Improve Conditions at Federal Correctional Institute Dublin (August 31, 2022)

Star-Telegram, Congressman ‘deeply disturbed’ by Star-Telegram report on Fort Worth prison rapes (August 31, 2022)

Star-Telegram, Report on Fort Worth’s women’s federal prison is devastating. Reform must happen now (September 2, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

Outgoing Director Carvajal Beaten Up by Gang of Senators – Update for August 1, 2022

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

FORMER BOP DIRECTOR GETS SENATORIAL KICK IN THE PANTS ON HIS WAY OUT THE DOOR

Widespread drug abuse, substandard health care, violence and horrific sanitary conditions are rampant at USP Atlanta, according to a Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee investigation revealed last week.

riot170727The dysfunction at USP Atlanta is so notorious within the BOP that “its culture of indifference and mismanagement is derisively known among bureau employees as ‘the Atlanta way’,” the New York Times reported last week. Witnesses at the Subcommittee hearing last week “describe[ed] dozens of violent episodes — and the systematic effort to downplay and cover up the crisis — over the past few years,” The Times reported.

The prison’s conditions reflect wider problems in the BOP’s network of 122 facilities housing about 158,000 inmates, The Times said. The system has suffered from chronic overcrowding, staffing shortages, corruption, sexual violence and a culture that often encourages senior officials to minimize the extent of the problems.

The Associated Press reported that outgoing BOP Director Michael Carvajal, who testified under a Subcommittee subpoena, “faced a bipartisan onslaught Tuesday as he refused to accept responsibility for a culture of corruption and misconduct that has plagued his agency for years.”

schultz220801Carvajal argued that “he had been shielded from problems by his underlings — even though he’d been copied on emails, and some of the troubles were detailed in reports generated by the agency’s headquarters.” He blamed the size and structure of the BOP for his ignorance on issues such as inmate suicides, sexual abuse, and the free flow of drugs, weapons and other contraband that has roiled some of the BOP’s 122 facilities. His attempts to deflect responsibility for his leadership failings sat well with neither Subcommittee chairman Sen Jon Ossoff (D-GA) nor its ranking member, Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI).

Colette S. Peters, the longtime head of Oregon prisons, assumes the BOP director’s post on Tuesday. Carvajal finally will get the retirement he announced seven months ago, but not before the Subcommittee made it clear that it was fed up with his blandishments.

“Inmates hanging themselves in federal prisons, addicted to and high on drugs that flow into the facilities virtually openly,” Ossoff told Carvajal, “and as they hang and suffocate in the custody of the US government, there’s no urgent response from members of the staff, year after year after year… It’s a disgrace. And for the answer to be ‘other people deal with that. I got the report. I don’t remember’. It’s completely unacceptable.”

“It’s almost willful ignorance, and that’s what I find disturbing,” Johnson said. “‘Don’t want to know what’s happening below me. Don’t want to hear about rapes. Don’t want to hear about suicides’.”

rapeclub220801In one of the hearing’s most heated moments, Ossoff pressed Carvajal on rampant sexual abuse at FCI Dublin, a federal women’s prison in California’s Bay Area known to staff and inmates as the “rape club.” Among the Dublin employees charged criminally so far is the prison’s former warden.

“Is the Bureau of Prisons able to keep female detainees safe from sexual abuse by staff?” Ossoff asked. “Yes or no?”

“Yes, we are,” Carvajal replied. “In those cases when things happen, we hold people appropriately accountable.”

“You are the director at a time when one of your prisons is known to staff and inmates as a ’rape club,” Ossoff shot back. Carvajal had no response.

Rebecca Shepard, a staff attorney for the Federal Defender Program Inc., said USP Atlanta subjects inmates to inhumane and substandard conditions:

I have seen clients routinely locked down and allowed out of their cells for extremely limited periods of time, such as only 15 to 30 minutes, three to four times a week, or only an hour each day. And these lockdowns persist for months. Clients are treated as though they are in solitary confinement, not because of their behavior, but because of their misfortune and being placed at USP Atlanta.

The problems were “stunning failures of federal prison administration,” Ossoff said. But despite “unequivocal internal reports of abuse and misconduct, the situation continued to deteriorate.”

sexualassault211014Attorney General Merrick Garland appears to be moving more decisively, especially on the issue of sexual violence against female inmates and staff members. On July 14, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced a task force to establish a policy aimed at “rooting out and preventing sexual misconduct” by prison employees over the next 90 days. Ms. Monaco said she was also instructing frontline prosecutors to make all misconduct cases at facilities a top priority, The New York Times said.

Last week, Forbes reported that Peters will take over an agency in disarray:

Relations between management and labor is at an all-time low, the agency is failing at implementing the First Step Act and COVID-19 continues to ravage its institutions. A recent survey by Partnership for Public Service, which ranks best places to work within the US government, ranked the BOP near last among 432 federal agencies. It ranked dead last in Effective Leadership category. This comes at a time when the BOP is trying to recruit new workers to make up for many veteran BOP employees who are leaving the agency.

Dumpster220718Hyperbole?  Well, just last week:

•      An independent arbitrator found the management at the Bureau of Prisons Federal Correctional Center Yazoo City in Mississippi guilty of violating the civil rights of the American Federation of Government Employees’ (AFGE) local President Cyndee Price at the facility, as well as retaliating against her in violation of the union contract.

     In 2020, Price was the first Black woman elected to serve as the local union president at any Federal Correctional Complex in the nation. But after that, the arbitrator ruled, prison wardens prohibited Price from using 100% official time to perform her union work, although previous Local President Vincent Kirksey had been granted 100% official time for the past seven years, and male local presidents at other BOP facilities also are on 100% official time.

     Bankston ordered the agency to pay Price overtime pay for the 1,080 hours of union work she performed on her own time that should have been performed during duty hours under the approved contract and past practice. Price was also awarded $300,000 in compensatory damages, as well as attorney’s fees and expenses.

•    A former BOP employee from FMC Lexington was sentenced last Friday to 80 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to committing five counts of sexual abuse of a ward. The employee, Hosea Lee, was a correctional officer serving as a drug treatment specialist. Between August and December 2019, Lee engaged in sexual acts with four separate female inmates who were in his drug classes.

•    A Mississippi woman, Tarshuana Thomas, was arrested Monday after being indicted by a federal grand jury for alleged fraud involving federal COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program loans. The US Attorney said Thomas, who worked as a CO at FCC Yazoo City at the time of the alleged fraud, devised a scheme to obtain PPP funds by filing fraudulent loan applications.

The Atlanta Voice, Senator Ossoff grills Federal prison officials over deplorable conditions at Atlanta Penitentiary (July 28, 2022)

The New York Times, Prison Personnel Describe Horrific Conditions, and Cover-Up, at Atlanta Prison (July 26, 2022)

Forbes, Outgoing Federal Bureau Of Prisons Director Carvajal Subpoenaed By Senate Subcommittee (Jul 19)

WRDW-TV, Ossoff leads hearing on troubled Georgia federal prison (July 26, 2022)

WJTV, Arbitrator finds Yazoo County federal prison guilty of violating civil rights (July 26, 2022)

Dept of Justice, Former BOP Employee Sentenced to 80 Months in Prison for Sexual Abuse of a Ward (July 29, 2022)

Mageenews.com, Former BOP Correctional Officer Charged with COVID-Relief Fraud (July 29, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

‘Disheartened’ BOP Director Tells Staff ‘Don’t Be Evil’ – Update for April 5, 2022

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

MANPOWER AND CORRUPTION WOES CONTINUE TO PLAGUE BOP
Carvajal advises BOP staff...
Carvajal advises BOP staff…

The indictment of a fifth Bureau of Prisons employee in connection with the ongoing sexual abuse scandal at FCI Dublin (California) has caused ‘disheartened’ outgoing BOP Director Michael Carvajal to remind all 36,000-plus BOP staff “that we ALL have a responsibility to protect staff and inmates by reporting wrongdoing of any kind, especially misconduct, and we must have the courage to do so.”

According to the indictment unsealed last Friday, Enrique Chavez, a Cook Supervisor/Foreman at Dublin, engaged in abusive sexual contact with inmates in October 2020. Chavez joins former Warden Ray Garcia, former Chaplain James Highhouse, Safety Administrator John Bellhouse, and recycling technician Ross Klinger as defendants in the unfolding FCI Dublin sex abuse scandal.

Chavez’s arrest came only weeks after eight members of Congress, including Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) (whose district includes Dublin), demanded an investigation into allegations of abuse and misconduct at the prison.

Writing in Forbes last week, Walter Pavlo said, “The BOP has a substantive history of corruption, staff shortages and, recently, delays in implementation of The First Step Act… Tens of thousands of prisoners who believe they have earned credits are awaiting a backlogged BOP to determine when they will be released.”

paperwork171019Pavlo said, “I spoke with Mary Melek, a case manager at FDC Miami who had 364 prisoners on her caseload until a recent hire cut that in half, still over the recommended 150:1 ration. Melek expressed her frustration, ‘There are 5 augmented openings on a shift, openings where the BOP has planned augmentation, and that has pulled me away from my work’. The augmentation not only applies to case managers, but other workers, including health services where FDC Miami is at 56% of its staffing rate.”

Help could be on the way to the BOP in the form of money. The recently-passed FY2022 omnibus spending bill included $7.865 billion for BOP salaries and expenses, a $200 million dollar increase over the agency’s requested funding. According to a press release from AFGE National Council President Shane Fausey, the BOP is “expected to hire additional full-time correctional officers in order to reduce the reliance on augmentation and improve staffing beyond mission-critical levels in custodial and all other departments, including medical, counseling, and educational positions.”

President Biden’s proposed budget for next year, released last week, asks for even more: $8.18 billion “to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of incarcerated individuals and correctional staff; fully implement the First Step Act and ease barriers to successful reentry,” according to the DOJ.

bullshit220330The money, of course, does not address the recent spate of corruption. Carvajal said in last week’s internal communication to BOP staff that “the recent media attention regarding misconduct in the BOP as being characterized using phrases such as “cover-ups,” “sign of a larger problem” and “toxic culture of sexual abuse.” These phrases are not true characterizations of the vast majority of the staff who work in our facilities across the Nation.”

Of course not. That is, unless you read the inmate email I get. Walter Pavlo seems to feel the same, writing that “Carvajal could have noted that since his rising to the agency’s highest position” a House subcommittee investigation found that BOP “discipline and accountability is not equitably applied … For high ranking officers, bad behavior is ignored or covered up on a regular basis, and certain officials who should be investigated can avoid discipline.”

DOJ, Correctional Officer At FCI Dublin Charged For Abusive Sexual Contact With Female Inmate (March 23, 2022)

Pleasanton Weekly, Another guard at Dublin prison charged with sex abuse of inmate (March 28, 2022)

Forbes, ‘Disheartened’ Director Of Bureau Of Prisons Calls On Staff To Out Corruption (March 31, 2022)

DOJ, Department of Justice Fiscal Year 2023 Funding Request (March 28, 2022)

Forbes, Bureau Of Prisons Is Overworking Its Most Critical Staff Positions During First Step Act Implementation (March 31, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

Senate Takes on BOP, and Other Short Rockets – Update for February 18, 2022

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

rocket-312767

Some short takes to end the week:

Mike Carvajal’s Legacy: The Associated Press yesterday reported that a bipartisan group of senators, led by Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) and Mike Braun (R-Indiana) has launched a working group “aimed at developing policies and proposals to strengthen oversight of the beleaguered federal prison system and improve communication between the Bureau of Prisons and Congress.”

prisoncorruption2310825Giving itself a well-deserved victory lap, the AP says the task force – which calls itself the Senate Bipartisan Prison Policy Working Group – formed “following reporting by The Associated Press that uncovered widespread corruption and abuse in federal prisons.”

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) also will be part of the group. I’m hoping to see Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)

AP called the federal prison system “a hotbed of corruption and misconduct… [that] has been plagued by myriad crises in recent years, including widespread criminal activity among employees, systemic sexual abuse at a federal women’s prison in California, critically low staffing levels that have hampered responses to emergencies, the rapid spread of COVID-19, a failed response to the pandemic and dozens of escapes.”

Advocates from across the spectrum lauded the announcement. “The COVID-19 pandemic exposed serious weaknesses in our federal prison system, but also provided a blueprint for reform. Congress should take an active role in ensuring that BOP builds on the lessons of the pandemic to ensure the safety of incarcerated persons and the community, promote rehabilitation and reentry, and maximize alternatives to incarceration,” Kyle O’Dowd, Associate Executive Director for National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said. “The Prison Policy Working Group can open a bipartisan dialogue on these issues and lead the way in creating a more humane and rational prison system.”

David Safavian, General Counsel, American Conservative Union, said, “It is high time that Congress addresses issues facing both federal prisoners and correctional officers alike. The newly created Senate Prison Policy Working Group must help develop policies that strengthen public safety, advance human dignity, and ensure that the prison bureaucracy is held accountable for the results it delivers to the taxpayers.”

More BOP accountability… Ironically, that may be BOP Director Mike Carvajal’s legacy.

Associated Press, Senate launches group to examine embattled US prison system (February 17, 2022)

Senator Jon Ossoff, Sens. Ossoff, Braun Launch Bipartisan Working Group to Examine U.S. Prison Conditions, Promote Transparency (February 17, 2022)

And This is Kind of What the Senators Are Talking About: A BOP employee pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he sexually abused at least two inmates at FCI Dublin, the first conviction in a wave of arrests resulting from what prisoners at the women’s facility and employees called “the rape club.”

sexualassault211014The latest, a recycling technician, is one of four employees, including the warden and chaplain, who’ve been arrested for sexually abusing Dublin inmates. The Associated Press said last week that several other Dublin workers are under investigation.

The employee pled guilty to three counts of sexual abuse of a ward. Sentencing guidelines in similar cases have ranged from three months to two years, the AP said. The employee, on administrative leave since last April, remains “currently employed with the Bureau of Prisons,” the agency said last Friday. He had been allowed to transfer to another BOP facility while under investigation.

The AP published results of its investigation of FCI Dublin a week ago, saying it had found “a permissive and toxic culture at the Bay Area lockup, enabling years of sexual misconduct by predatory employees and cover-ups that have largely kept the abuse out of the public eye.” Inmates told AP they had been subjected to years of “rampant sexual abuse by correctional officers and even the warden, and were often threatened or punished when they tried to speak up.”

Federal News Network, Worker pleads guilty to abusing inmates at US women’s prison (February 11, 2022)

Associated Press, AP investigation: Women’s prison fostered culture of abuse (February 6, 2022)

Violent Offender Recidivism: The US Sentencing Commission last week released a study suggesting that violent federal offenders committed new crimes at double the rate of nonviolent offenders.

welcomeback181003Over an 8-year period, 64% of violent offenders released in 2010 were rearrested, compared to 38% of non-violent offenders. The median time to rearrest was 16 months for violent offenders and 22 months for non-violent offenders. What’s more, while recidivism dropped with age, in all categories violent offender committed new crime at a higher rate than nonviolent. For ages 60+, violent offenders’ recidivism rate was 25%, compared to 12% for nonviolent.

Violent offenses were defined based on the sentencing guidelines applied. By the definitions used, 9% of federal prisoners are serving time for violent crimes and 34% have prior violent-crime convictions.

US Sentencing Commission, Recidivism of Violent Federal Offenders Released in 2010 (February 10, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

BOP’s PREA Compliance Questioned… Maybe for Good Reason – Update for October 14, 2021

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

SENATOR RUBIO DEMANDS MORE BOP SEXUAL ASSAULT INVESTIGATION

No sexual abuse problems here…

sexualassault211014The warden of FCI Dublin, a Bureau of Prisons female facility, has been charged with sexually abusing inmates in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California late last month. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney, Ray J. Garcia asked two female inmates to strip naked for him, groped one of the inmates, and took and saved pictures of a naked inmate being held in a cell.

The Warden, who – ironically enough, was in charge of training BOP personnel on compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act is also accused of trying to stop a victim from reporting the sexual abuse by telling her “that he was ‘close friends’ with the individual responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by inmates and that he could not be fired.”

He was wrong. Warden Ray was placed on administrative leave in July, and arrested on September 29. He is currently released on bond, something that would be very unlikely to have happened were he merely Peter Pervert living in his mom’s basement.

PREAAudit211014I bring this up to note the effectiveness of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The last PREA Audit for FCI Dublin to be posted online is dated 2017. The inspector conducting the audit found that “[t]he inmates interviewed acknowledged that they received information about the facility’s Zero Tolerance policy against sexual abuse/sexual harassment immediately upon their arrival to the facility, that staff were respectful, and that they felt safe at the facility.”

Right. I’m sure they feel completely secure. Like, say the inmate known in Warden Ray’s Complaint as “Victim 1.” Here’s a tidbit from the complaint, as recounted by FBI Special Agent Kathleen Barkley:

Victim 1 reported that a fourth incident occurred when the “PREA people” were visiting. I understand Victim 1’s reference to “PREA people,” to be a reference to PREA staff who visited FCI Dublin to assess FCI’s Dublin’s compliance with PREA and to make recommendations regarding their policies and procedures.11 During this incident, and while the PREA staff members were on site, GARCIA told Victim 1 he needed to touch her, took her into one of the changing stalls designed for PREA compliant searches, grabbed her breasts, and briefly grabbed her vagina.

Rather graphic, but it illustrates the high regard in which the BOP staff hold PREA Audits. To be fair, Ray Garcia appears to be an aberration, but then, he’s not the first BOP staffer at Dublin to sexually abuse female inmates. Just ask Ross Klinger, a former BOP correctional officer at Dublin. That is, if his lawyer will let him say anything in advance of his trial…

The foregoing puts an exclamation mark on the letter Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent to BOP Director Michael Carjaval last week, demanding that the BOP conduct further investigations into allegations of sexual assault at the women’s facility – since closed – at FCI Coleman.

PREA211014Rubio wants to know why female inmates were not interviewed as part of the most recent Prison Rape Elimination Act audit, conducted just two days after all female prisoners were moved to other prisons. That’s right. All of the female inmates were packed out on buses to other facilities two days before the audit, which – among other things – was intended to address the climate of sexual abuse that had permeated the Coleman women’s facility.

“This is deeply concerning,” Rubio said, “because it was female inmates who made the allegations of sexual abuse. Female inmates were housed at the facility during the time period from 2018 to 2021 covered by the PREA audit. The allegations made by inmates at FCI Coleman raise serious questions as to the facility’s compliance with PREA and the conduct of its officers.”

Latin Times, Federal Prison Warden In California Charged With Sexually Abusing Inmate (October 1, 2021)

Complaint, United States v. GarciaCase No. 4:21-mj-71517 (filed September 24, 2021)

Press release, Rubio: Bureau of Prisons Must Continue to Investigate Allegations of Sexual Assault at FCI Coleman (Ocober 8, 2021)

– Thomas L. Root