One plaintiff in the case is cited as having to remove her clothes while officers masturbated in front of her. Another was forced to strip and dance for an officer who was “well known for trading food and basic goods with incarcerated individuals in exchange for sexual acts,” the complaint reads. Multiple plaintiffs said that officers subjected them to relentless harassment, assault and rape, or that they witnessed such behavior.
“We are someone’s mom, we are someone’s daughter. We are here to be rehabilitated, but when we are abused, we cannot be,” a plaintiff in the suit named G.M. said in a press release. “We are asking for change, and for these officers and this system to be held accountable.”
Maria, who experienced abuse while incarcerated at FCI Dublin, was sent to solitary confinement for nearly two weeks after a guard who abused her friend was exposed. Maria did not use her last name due to privacy and safety concerns.
“I was abused and I saw my friends abused by guards,” Maria told reporters through a translator on Wednesday. “They were supposed to protect us. I saw them abusing, grabbing and groping.”
Robin Lucas, who was formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin, spoke to reporters on Wednesday about the challenges of changing the violence and culture at the facility, where she also experienced sexual abuse decades ago.
In 1995, Lucas said she was assaulted while placed in the segregated housing unit for men, the facility’s maximum-security confinement. She, along with two others incarcerated at the Dublin prison, sued and reached a $500,000 settlement in 1998.