The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin (FCI Dublin) was a low-security United States

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...

for female inmates in

Dublin, California Dublin is a suburban city of the East Bay in California, United States. It is located within the Amador Valley of Alameda County, California, Alameda County's Tri-Valley region. It is located along the north side of Interstate 580 (California), ...

. The facility had an adjacent satellite prison camp housing minimum-security female offenders. FCI Dublin was located 20 miles southeast of

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

on the

Parks Reserve Forces Training Area Parks Reserve Forces Training Area (PRFTA), commonly known as Camp Parks, is a United States Army base located in Dublin, California, that is currently an active military and training center for U.S. Army Reserve personnel to be used in case of ...

. It was located near

Santa Rita Jail Santa Rita Jail is a county jail located in Dublin, Alameda County, California, and operated by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. With a design capacity of 3489, Santa Rita is one of the largest jails in the United States and larger than many ...

, which is operated by

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. A ...

. FCI Dublin opened in 1974. It became an exclusively female prison in 2012 and was one of five federal prisons for women in the United States. In 2021 and 2022, the facility was embroiled in a scandal over a permissive and toxic culture of rampant sexual abuse by staff at the facility. After ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'' aired a special in January 2024 titled "Agency In Crisis", the FBI raided the FCI Dublin and shortly after, the

Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all federal prisons in the country and provides for the care, custody, and control of federal prisoners ...

announced its closure on April 15, 2024.

Facility and programs

The prison's education department offers

GED Ged or GED may refer to: Places * Ged, Louisiana, an unincorporated community in the United States * Ged, a village in Bichiwara Tehsil, Dungarpur District, Rajasthan, India * Delaware Coastal Airport, in Delaware, US, callsign GED People * Ged B ...

and

ESL English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

programs, as well as courses in parenting skills. The prison also provides legal and leisure library services in addition to training in the use of various computer

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

. There are two Federal Prison Industries

UNICOR Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (FPI), doing business as UNICOR (stylized as unicor) since 1977, is a corporation wholly owned by the United States government. It was created in 1934 as a prison labor program within the Federal Bureau of Priso ...

programs at FCI Dublin: the Textiles and the

Call Center A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...

. Textiles employ approximately 150 inmates on the manufacture of custom draperies,

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

s, and disaster blankets. They also sort and repair

USPS The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal serv ...

mailbags. The Call Center employs around 250 inmates on directory assistance inquiries. It houses inmates who are serving an average sentence of 5 years. It has a design capacity of 250 inmates, but houses 1,077 as of April 11, 2013. Conditions are cramped, with three inmates sharing a

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

on the top tier and four inmates sharing a cell on the bottom tier, designed to house a single prisoner. Meals are served in shifts due to the small size of the dining facilities. Like most American prisons, FCI Dublin also contains a SHU (Secure Housing Unit), where any prisoners who are deemed to have broken prison rules are kept in segregation under a highly restrictive regime. Prisoners in the SHU spend more time locked in their cell than the general prison population, are only allowed out for limited amounts of time and must be transported to and from their cell wearing

handcuffs Handcuffs are Physical restraint, restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists in proximity to each other. They comprise two parts, linked together by a Link chain, chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each cuff has a rotating arm whi ...

. Depending on the circumstances, an inmate may spend weeks or even months in the SHU. FCI Dublin is surrounded by two separate fences with a gap of approximately between them. Measuring high, each

chain-link fence A chain-link fence (also referred to as wire netting, wire-mesh fence, chain-wire fence, cyclone fence, hurricane fence, or diamond-mesh fence) is a type of woven fence usually made from galvanized or linear low-density polyethylene-coated st ...

is reinforced with multiple coils of

razor wire Barbed tape or razor wire is a mesh of metal strips with sharp edges whose purpose is to prevent trespassing by humans or to secure facilities such as prisons where there is a risk of escape. The term "razor wire", through long usage, has gener ...

(at the top and bottom) plus electronic sensors to detect escape attempts. The institution also has an adjacent administrative detention facility housing adult males on holdover or pre-trial status, and a minimum-security satellite camp housing adult female offenders, which opened in 1990. This minimum-security camp was several old army barracks and these have been torn down. The BOP has removed a section of the FCI and placed approximately 200 female minimum security prisoners in this space. This facility is just short of an FCI. All the guards are rotated out of the FCI.

Notable incidents

On November 5, 1986, Ronald McIntosh, who had escaped during a prison transfer one month earlier, landed a stolen helicopter in the exercise yard and escaped with Samantha Lopez, who was serving a 50-year sentence for

bank robbery Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank Branch (banking), branch or Bank teller, tel ...

. Mr. McIntosh was serving a sentence for

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

when he met Ms. Lopez working in the business office of the prison and the two devised the escape plan. They were arrested by FBI Agents 10 days later and subsequently convicted of air piracy and escape. McIntosh received a 25-year sentence and Lopez had five years added to her sentence.

Sexual abuse of prisoners

A 2022 investigation by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

reported a "permissive and toxic culture... of sexual misconduct by predatory employees". The AP reported that inmates alleged "rampant sexual abuse by correctional officers", and that prisoners were allegedly "threatened or punished when they tried to speak up". The environment of sexual abuse was so notorious, the inmates and workers called the facility "the rape club." In 2022, the prison chaplain was sentenced to 7 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing an inmate and lying to federal agents about the misconduct. Former warden Ray J. Garcia was found guilty of sexual offenses against prisoners and sentenced to 70 months in prison. In 2023, 8 correctional officials from FCI Dublin have been charged and 4 have been sentenced for sexual abuse of prisoners. In February 2024, the California Coalition of Women Prisoners, filed a class-action lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons. Since the shutdown of FCI Dublin in April 2024, there are more than 65 former Dublin inmates who have filed lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Bureau of Prisons staff.

Notable inmates

†Inmates incarcerated prior to 1982 do not have an assigned register number.

References

External links

FCI Dublin - Official BOP Website
{{Coord, 37, 43, 06, N, 121, 53, 50, W, type:landmark_scale:5000_region:US-CA, display=title Buildings and structures in Dublin, California

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...