‘Surge’ of sexual abuse cases in California prisons highlights slow discipline

from Nickel DuraCalMatters

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Five California correctional officers who have been accused of sexually abusing inmates over the past ten years remain employed by the state, according to a new audit by the state’s inspector general of prisons.

The auditreleased last week, is a twice-yearly summary of how the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation handles complaints against its officers. Overall, the inspector general found fault with the Department of Internal Affairs’ investigations into misconduct by prison guards.

The audit scored 86% of prison systemHome Affairs disciplinary and criminal cases as ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ – only 14% of cases handled by the Home Affairs department were rated as ‘adequate’. Inadequate means that there were significant problems with the investigation that affected its final outcome. The less serious “needs improvement” label meant the process had problems, but not serious enough to compromise the investigation.

It comes as the department faces what the report called a “surge” of lawsuits from female inmates and former inmates who allege they were sexually abused by prison officials. The audit said at least 279 women have sued the department and they have accused at least 83 prison officers of sexual misconduct.

The inspector general’s report does not include the names of the officers or even identify the prisons where they work, which is consistent with his past disciplinary audits. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment for this story.

There are two prisons in California that house mostly women. At the larger prison, the Central California Center for Women in Chowchilla, former guard Gregory Rodriguez was discovered gguilty of 64 counts of sexual assault in January, The Fresno Bee reported, and later sentenced to 224 years in prison.

13 imprisoned or former women testified against him. And 2023 an investigation by The Guardian found that women had reported Rodriguez as far back as 2014. He served time at the prison until 2022.

As Rodriguez’s case unfolded, the inspector general’s office became aware of other sexual assault cases. The inspector general’s office said in the new report that it had reviewed 68 cases and accused prison attorneys of being too slow to refer names to internal investigators who could develop disciplinary cases against officers.

The audit said it took an average of nine months for corrections department legal staff to refer cases to internal investigators. “Delayed sexual assault investigations significantly undermine the integrity and effectiveness of the investigative process,” the audit said.

The audit then described three cases involving six officers, five of whom continue to work at state prisons.

In a separate case unrelated to the “wave” of lawsuits, internal investigators took so long to review allegations of sexual assault that a lieutenant accused by a dozen women was able to retire before facing discipline, the audit said.

The inspector general’s office wrote that the employee allegedly traded gum, radios and marijuana for sex between 2021 and 2023, then lied to the prison system’s internal affairs unit when asked about it.

The internal affairs department “unnecessarily delayed the conclusion of the investigation, which prevented the department from imposing discipline on some allegations,” the audit found.

Other violations range from minor administrative gaffes, such as two guards who allegedly falsified inmate count numbers so they could use the time to eat Thanksgiving dinner instead, to allegations that a prison guard loudly, publicly and falsely indicated to other inmates that an inmate had acted as an informant.

The audit reflects a chaotic process even for routine investigations. In a January 2024 case, one of eight prison guards who broke up a fight hit an inmate with a baton, even though the inmate had already “freed himself.”

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was aware of the case in January 2024, according to the lawsuit, but did not refer it to internal affairs until June 2024, according to the audit. An investigator did not begin conducting interviews until August 2024. The case was then transferred to a second investigator, who did not begin interviews until November 2024 and attempted to close the case without interviewing the inmate, the guard who hit him, or witnesses.

The second investigator then went on extended leave, handing the case over to a third investigator, who had weeks to complete an investigation that was supposed to take months. Ultimately, the prison system was handed a case four days before the deadline for disciplinary action with a “grossly inadequate investigative report.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.