Survivors of abuse at a shuttered federal prison known as “the rape club” are teaming up with local activists to keep ICE out of Northern California.
On March 1, 2025, Kendra Drysdale stood before a crowd of about 500 people at a street protest to rally the Dublin, California community against the potential reopening of a local federal prison as an immigrant detention center. She warned them of the harm and trauma that the reopening could cause — which she knew firsthand, because she and many incarcerated women she knew had been sexually assaulted at Federal Correctional Institution Dublin, or FCI Dublin, when it was a women’s prison.
Before it closed in April 2024, the federal prison was known as the “rape club” for rampant sexual assault and retaliation against incarcerated women who spoke out. Prisoners also reported unsafe building conditions and medical neglect. More than 200 women have sued over sexual abuse or are in the process of suing, and nine employees have been convicted of sex crimes.
However, the facility may not stay closed for long. Last February, news broke that ICE had toured FCI Dublin. In response, local residents, advocates and survivors like Drysdale formed the ICE out of Dublin Coalition and worked to inform the community about the dangers of an ICE takeover of FCI Dublin, successfully getting the Dublin City Council to pass a resolution in December opposing a reopening. Mobilization continues, as the Federal Bureau of Prisons has confirmed it is in the process of transferring the facility to the General Services Administration, which could then transfer it to ICE.
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