Anissa De La Cruz is no longer warden of the Central California Women’s Facility as of Tuesday. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says she will become a correctional administrator at nearby Valley State Prison next month.
The move comes one month after the U.S. Department of Justice found a “unbroken pattern” of sexual assault and retaliation at the facility. The Justice Department began investigating the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino nearly two years ago after hundreds of incarcerated women filed legal claims alleging sexual exploitation by staff and an officer was arrested for sexually abusing at least 22 women.
Elizabeth Nomura is a formerly incarcerated advocate with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. She says the issue of sexual assault in prisons is bigger than one person.
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