California prison officials failed to protect female inmates from sexual abuse and harassment by staff at two state prisons, with misconduct dating back to 2000 and continuing to the present, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday.
The department said it has reasonable cause to believe the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and two women’s prisons are violating prisoners’ constitutional rights.
The investigation focused on the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino.
The DOJ report stated the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division conducted an investigation into allegations of repeated sexual assaults and similar misconduct by the staff at the two women’s prisons against prisoners, dating as far back as the year 2000.
“As a result, the Section found an unbroken pattern of often violent, sexual misconduct by staff against prisoners from 2000 through 2024, continuing to the present,” the DOJ report stated.
Prisoners made more than 375 allegations of staff sexual misconduct at the two women’s prisons between January 2023 and June 2025. There were 320 private lawsuits filed against the two prisons and the CDCR, mostly by former prisoners, and the DOJ investigative team reviewed more than 350 allegations by prisoners of sexual misconduct by staff.
Former correctional officer Greg Rodriguez was found guilty in 2025 by a jury in Madera County on 64 counts of sexual assault of nine female inmates at the Central California Women’s Facility, according to the Madera County District Attorney’s Office.
The DOJ report said that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation received information about some of the allegations against Rodriguez in 2014 but appears to have started its investigation of him in 2022, eight years later.
CDCR didn’t respond to an email seeking comment by time of publication.
Investigators found what the DOJ described as a longstanding pattern of staff sexual misconduct, inadequate safeguards, failures in confidential reporting, improper investigative practices, and insufficient accountability.
The department said the problems violate prisoners’ rights under the Eighth and 14th Amendments. It also found that the state and the two prisons have failed to adequately implement the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.
“Female prisoners have the constitutional right to be free from sexual assault and harassment by prison staff,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.
Dhillon said the investigation found that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation knew of repeated incidents of sexual assault and harassment but failed to protect female prisoners.
The DOJ directed California to take remedial measures that include expanding camera coverage, improving confidential reporting channels, strengthening investigative procedures, improving staff training and monitoring, and implementing safeguards that comply with the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
If California officials do not satisfactorily address the concerns within 49 days, the U.S. attorney general may file a lawsuit under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act.
