The Justice Department is investigating allegations of sexual abuse in California women's prisons

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it has launched an investigation into allegations that correctional officers systematically sexually abused women incarcerated at two California state prisons.

Authorities have found “substantial grounds” to investigate the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino, the Justice Department said in a press release. Both facilities are operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The Prison Service said in a statement on Wednesday that it does not tolerate sexual abuse in its prisons and welcomes the investigation.

The formal investigation was sparked by hundreds of private lawsuits filed over the past two years alleging that women incarcerated at the Chowchilla prison were raped or otherwise sexually abused, according to the press release. A single lawsuit filed on behalf of 21 women incarcerated at the Chino facility alleges that correctional officers there groped and forcibly raped the women, forced them to perform oral sex and threatened them with violence from 2014 to 2020, the press release said.

“No woman incarcerated in a prison or detention center should be sexually abused by prison staff who are constitutionally obligated to protect her,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

According to the Justice Department, correctional officers are accused of demanding sexual favors in exchange for contraband and other privileges, adding that the defendants include prison officers who are responsible for handling sexual abuse complaints at the facilities.

Jeff Macomber, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in a statement that the department welcomed the independent investigation. “Sexual harassment is an abhorrent violation of basic human dignity that will not be tolerated under any circumstances in the California prison system,” he said.

In April, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons announced the closure of a women's prison in Northern California known as the “Rape Club” after an Associated Press investigation uncovered widespread sexual abuse by correctional officers.

Chino is located about 35 miles east of Los Angeles. Chowchilla is located about 145 miles southeast of San Francisco.