Justice Department Finds California Women’s Prisons Violate the Constitution by Failing to Protect Female Prisoners from Sexual Abuse by Staff

The Justice Department announced today that it has reasonable cause to believe that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, and the California Institution for Women (CIW) in Chino are violating the U.S. Constitution by failing to protect female prisoners from sexual abuse and harassment by staff.

Investigators uncovered a longstanding pattern of sustained staff sexual misconduct, inadequate safeguards, failures in confidential reporting, improper investigative practices, and insufficient accountability measures. The Department concluded that these systemic deficiencies grievously violate prisoners’ rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Further, CDCR, CCWF, and CIW fail to adequately and effectively implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).

“Female prisoners have the constitutional right to be free from sexual assault and harassment by prison staff,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice’s investigation revealed that California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation knew of repeated incidents of sexual assault and harassment against female prisoners, and failed to protect them. This deliberate indifference to the suffering of female prisoners at the hands of prison staff is illegal, and the Civil Rights Division, in partnership with the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Eastern and Central Districts of California, will end this brutal abuse.”

Read the full Press Release from the DOJ here.