“When you’re in prison, the retaliation starts. … I don’t think my judge sentenced me to go through this.” The U.S. government has agreed to pay a record-breaking amount of nearly $116 million to settle lawsuits brought by 103 people who survived sexual abuse and assault at a federal women’s prison in California. The facility, FCI Dublin, was shuttered earlier this year. Its former warden is now himself imprisoned after being convicted of sexually abusing incarcerated people under his care. Aimee Chavira, who was formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin and is part of the class-action sexual abuse lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons, says the settlement, while welcomed, “doesn’t change anything. No amount of money will change what was done to us and what did happen.” Community organizer Courtney Hanson helped advocate for survivors with the Dublin Prison Solidarity Coalition. She calls for “policy changes to ensure that this type of staff sexual abuse stops happening” in prisons across the country.
