by Jo Ellen Nott

Marie Washington and Laura Chaney, former prisoners at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Dublin, California, are the latest women to allege they were victims of sexual abuse by staff at the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) lockup. The two filed tort claims in June 2022 alleging guards forced them to strip naked, show them their bodies and engage in sexual acts with one another at guards’ request. 

The alleged abuse occurred between 2019 and 2021, as the women were serving their sentences, Washington for bank fraud and Chaney for a parole violation. A third woman who was Washington’s cellmate also came forward to corroborate her story, but she is not involved in the tort claim.

Washington’s abuse occurred during a COVID-19 quarantine, when a guard identified in her claim as “Officer K.” allegedly asked to see her vagina and shone his flashlight through her cell window to see her naked. He also commanded Washington to dance for him and engage in sexual activity with her cellmate, she said. Washington reported that this occurred “every single night.” The guard also allegedly questioned whether Washington’s “ass was real” while promising to “fuck the shit out of her.” 

Chaney worked in the prison’s food service area for two and a half years and said she was asked to stand by silently while guards took prisoners into the refrigerators to sexually abuse them. Chaney herself suffered harassment and abuse from a guard identified in her claim as “Foreman O.,” who allegedly rubbed his penis against her backside repeatedly despite Chaney’s pushback. The guard allegedly still works at FCI-Dublin.

Washington and Chaney said they did not report the abuse while imprisoned for fear of reprisals and retaliations. A frequent punishment for such “snitching” is placement in Special Housing Units, they said, where prisoners are isolated and deprived of opportunities for exercise or recreation.   

Once out of quarantine, the women became cellmates and were then allegedly targeted by a third guard identified in their claims as “Officer S.,” who told them they’d “look better naked” and insinuated they needn’t complain because he had “friends in high places.”

A fourth guard identified in Washington’s claim as “Officer E.” allegedly entered her room after she showered to stare at her naked body, his breath smelling of alcohol.

None of the four officers involved in these claims has been criminally charged. But five others have so far, including former Warden Ray Garcia and former guard Ross Klinger, who pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct with a ward in February 2022. [See: PLN, May 2022, p.28.]

BOP called the claimed behavior, if true, “abhorrent.” If the claims are not settled, the women can then file federal lawsuits. At least one of the women, Washington, is represented by attorneys Bruce Wagner and Laura Brown of San Diego.

Source:  KTVU

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