US to payout nearly $116M to victims of sexual abuse at Calif. prison

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons agreed on Tuesday, Dec. 17, to a historic payout of nearly $116 million to more than 100 survivors of sexual abuse at a California women’s prison. The now-shuttered prison facility, internally dubbed “the rape club,” was plagued by rampant accusations of sexual abuse of prisoners by staff.

Eight former prison employees, including the former warden, have been convicted of sex crimes. Additionally, more than 20 workers were placed on leave and under investigation.

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Officials announced the permanent closure of the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, in December 2024.

Tuesday’s settlement is reportedly the largest single payout in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons history. Under the agreement, each of the 103 women will be paid around $1.1 million.

One of the sexual abuse victims told the Associated Press that she hopes the settlement will help the healing process, but warned that “money will not repair” the harm done to them “or free survivors who continue to suffer in prison.”

The payout is a breakthrough for advocates fighting to end sexual abuse across the U.S. federal prison system.

A U.S. Senate inquiry in 2022 found that sexual abuse by staff against inmates happened at two-thirds of federal prisons in the United States over the past decade.

The settlement on Tuesday follows a separate class-action lawsuit last week in which the U.S. Bureau of Prisons agreed have some of its facilities court-monitored and publicly acknowledged rampant sexual abuse at FCI Dublin.