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DOJ found California's CDCR failed to protect women prisoners from staff sexual abuse at two facilities

On August 13, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division concluded a CRIPA investigation finding that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed to protect female prisoners at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino from a longstanding pattern of staff sexual misconduct. DOJ cited broken confidential-reporting systems, deficient investigations, and insufficient accountability, and gave California 49 days to remedy the violations before facing possible litigation.

Jurisdiction
California
Location
Chowchilla, California / Chino, California

Abuses documented

Actors

  • California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

On August 13, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys' Offices for the Eastern and Central Districts of California announced the findings of a CRIPA (Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act) investigation, opened in September 2024, into the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino. Investigators concluded that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed to protect female prisoners at both facilities from a "longstanding pattern of sustained staff sexual misconduct," citing inadequate protective safeguards, a broken confidential-reporting system, deficient investigative practices, and insufficient accountability for offending staff, including a failure to implement Prison Rape Elimination Act standards.

DOJ found that CDCR knew of repeated incidents of sexual assault and harassment by correctional staff and failed to act, concluding that the state's conduct violated prisoners' rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. "Female prisoners have the constitutional right to be free from sexual assault and harassment by prison staff," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon. "This deliberate indifference to the suffering of female prisoners at the hands of prison staff is illegal." First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said California "owes a legal and moral duty to safeguard prisoners in their custody" and that the state "must confront the persistent failure of its own employees to prevent and address sexual abuse at these facilities."

The investigation followed a 2024 lawsuit brought by more than 130 formerly incarcerated women alleging sexual abuse at the two facilities. DOJ gave California 49 days to implement minimum remedial measures, including expanded surveillance, enhanced reporting channels, strengthened investigations, improved staff training, and full PREA compliance; failure to comply may result in the Justice Department pursuing litigation under CRIPA.

Why we recorded this

Incarcerated people depend entirely on the state for their safety, and the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require a prison system to protect prisoners from foreseeable harm rather than look away from it. The Justice Department found that California's prison system knew of a longstanding pattern of staff sexual abuse at two women's facilities and failed to fix the broken reporting and investigative systems that let it continue. This archive records the finding because a state's own indifference to abuse by its employees against people in its custody is itself a constitutional violation, independent of any single incident.

Sources

  1. Justice Department Finds California Women's Prisons Fail to Protect Female Prisoners from Sexual Abuse by Staff — U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-CDCA primary accessed August 14, 2026
  2. California failed to protect female inmates from sexual abuse by staff, Justice Department report finds — ABC7 Los Angeles investigative accessed August 14, 2026

See also