FRESNO, CA – Thirteen women incarcerated at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) filed a civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California last month, alleging retaliatory mistreatment and assault at the hands of prison staff.
In a press release, the women’s attorney, Richard Chalfant, explained this retaliation resulted in “serious injuries, emotional trauma, and long-term harm” to those incarcerated at CCWF.
According to the statement, 150 women endured mass punishment under Sergeant Fernando Arroyo after many filed sexual abuse complaints under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
The women’s complaint alleges the women housed in the prison’s Delta Yard were locked in the cafeteria while their belongings were illegally searched and destroyed by Arroyo, Warden Anissa de la Cruz, and other officers, known as the Delta Dogs.
Defendants named include the State of California, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Warden De La Cruz, Arroyo, and numerous members of “Delta Dogs,” a gang, according to the complaint, that “uses physical and psychological abuse to silence women and protect officers accused of sexual misconduct.”
“Instead of taking action to investigate and stop the rapists and sexual abusers employed by CDCR at CCWF, ARROYO and members of the ‘Delta Dogs’ decided they were going to send a message to all of the female inmates in housing unit 513 that PREA complaints should not be filed, by placing all of 513 on ‘First Watch’ and ‘PSR,’” the complaint alleged.
When the women questioned the searches of their belongings, they were allegedly subjected to a “brutal assault” of tear gas, rubber bullets, batons and pepper spray at the hands of Arroyo and others, their statement charged.
Citing the complaint, the statement explains the women were compliant with the officers’ orders, but were still gassed, beaten and denied medical attention.
The complaint states plaintiff Catrina Cameron has a pacemaker and experienced a life-threatening asthma attack during the assault, and another plaintiff, Christina Wind, is now legally blind due to chemical exposure during the attack.
“This case exposes a coordinated and brutal act of retaliation against women who had the courage to speak out about sexual abuse. Instead of protecting them, CDCR punished them with military-style force,” added Chalfant.
Cameron, Wind, and the11 other plaintiffs are seeking compensation and punitive damages against the officers, as well as a court injunction in order to prevent further abuse at CCWF and other prisons, according to their filing.
This lawsuit, Wind v. State of California, is part of a wider trend, as multitudes of incarcerated women and those previously incarcerated speak out against system-wide abuse in California prisons, according to the press statement.
