Eight inmates at a federal San Francisco Bay Area women’s prison referred to as a “rape club” by both prisoners and workers filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the federal Bureau of Prisons alleging rampant sexual abuse at the prison, according to The Associated Press.
The lawsuit filed by attorneys representing the inmates and women’s prison rights group California Coalition for Women Prisoners in Oakland names the current warden and 12 current or former prison guards and alleges that the Federal Bureau of Prisons has done nothing to curtail the abuse despite prior allegations, according to the AP. A previous investigation revealed a culture of abuse of prisoners that went back to the 1990s, which resulted in questions from Congress and the federal Bureau of Prisons. (RELATED: ‘I’m Really Proud Of That Law’: California State Senator Defends Law Allowing Biological Males Into Women’s Prisons)“
An aerial view of a prison in California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“Individual prisoners have had to endure rape, groping, voyeurism, forced stripping, sexually explicit comments on an everyday basis and so much more,” Amaris Montes, an attorney at Rights Behind Bars, who represents the plaintiffs, told the AP.
The former warden was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for sexually abusing women inmates and forcing them to pose naked for photos in their cells, according to the AP.
“We went to visit the prison yesterday and we heard additional stories of recent sexual abuse within this last week,” Montes said.
The plaintiffs are seeking a third party that can oversee the prison and ensure inmates are able to report abuses confidentially, according to the AP.
They also want the case to be classified as a class action lawsuit and want a compassionate release, and for prisoners not living in the country to be released on a special visa for victims of crime called a “U visa.”
The federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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