Incarcerated women walk the grounds at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 18, 2024, in Chowchilla (Madera County).
Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
This story was published in collaboration with the Investigative Reporting Lab at Yale.
Nearly two years after guards inside California’s largest women’s prison doused dozens of incarcerated women with pepper spray, state lawmakers are demanding answers from prison officials amid the state’s $1.9 million settlement with some of the women.
The August 2024 incident, first reported by the Chronicle after internal surveillance videos were leaked online, involved two separate use-of-force incidents at the Central California Women’s Facility, located in Chowchilla (Madera County).
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On Aug. 2, 2024, correctional officers summoned dozens of incarcerated women to the prison cafeteria, two lawsuits assert, during a property search allegedly intended as retaliation for filing sexual misconduct complaints against staff members under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, a 2003 law.
According to footage reviewed by the Chronicle as well as leaked audio interviews from the ensuing internal affairs investigation, guards fired chemical agents at women who appeared to pose no threat. They then did so again against a group of incarcerated women brought to the yard, many of whom had their hands zip-tied.
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Attorney Robert Chalfant, who represented 13 incarcerated women allegedly injured by the attacks, said the state agreed to settle a federal lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of California for $1,915,000, with plaintiffs receiving between $50,000 and $200,000 apiece.
A second federal lawsuit representing nearly 160 incarcerated women is scheduled for mediation in August.
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“You don’t lose your constitutional rights at the doors of a state prison,” Chalfant said. “The inmates should be protected if they come forward with PREA complaints, not subjected to searches and the use of force.”
The Legislature held hearings this month that raised concerns about the incident and called for reforms by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
On April 15, four people appointed to high-level CDCR positions by Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared before the Senate Rules Committee, including acting Associate Director of Region II Kathleen Ratliff, who was questioned by senators citing the Chronicle’s reporting. Region II encompasses Central California Women’s Facility and the California Institution for Women, as well as five other institutions in the Fresno area.
Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, called the Chronicle report “shocking,” describing “men standing there pepper spraying and women diving for the floor.”
In response, Ratliff called the incident “horrific” and said that staff were disciplined as a result.
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Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-Colton, referred to the Chronicle’s interviews of formerly incarcerated women who expressed fear of reporting prison abuse because they worried about being disbelieved and accused of filing false claims.
Ratliff, whose appointment was supported by advocacy organizations representing currently and formerly incarcerated people, said that individuals who report sexual misconduct are directly interviewed by CDCR managers and monitored for signs of retaliation, which she said is punished.
The committee voted to advance the appointment of Ratliff and the other CDCR officials to a confirmation vote by the full Senate.
The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Public Safety convened an informational hearing on April 20 on sexual violence and retaliation in California’s women’s prisons. A similar hearing was held last April, following high-profile cases of sexual abuse in California’s women’s prisons.
At last week’s hearing, Ratliff acknowledged that incarcerated people “do not always feel safe in reporting, particularly due to concerns of retaliation.”
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Ratliff outlined various changes that the corrections department has made since last year’s Assembly hearing. These changes include increased independent oversight, expanded use of body-worn cameras and a new position dedicated to ensuring compliance with PREA. She also highlighted partnerships with advocacy groups and investments in trauma-informed practices. Ratliff said that, this past January, the Central California women’s prison was found to be in compliance with federal standards.
While the Trump administration decreased funding to the National PREA Resource Center last April, citing lack of alignment with its priorities, PREA remains federal law and some funding is still available.
Despite the changes made by CDCR, Amika Mota, executive director of the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, an organization for formerly incarcerated women and transgender people, said that retaliation against incarcerated women remains severe.
“Since we met last year, retaliation against survivors of staff sexual abuse has escalated,” she told Assembly members. “Survivors are losing jobs and peer roles, denied privacy when reporting and facing ongoing harassment.”
Advocates also emphasized that the August 2024 incident was not isolated.
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Sandra Deanda, who spent 19 years at the Chowchilla prison and was incarcerated there in August 2024, said that “while this incident was extreme, officers used weapons and force routinely to silence people who were trying to get medical attention, mental health care or report abuse.”
Deanda said that she was sexually assaulted by an officer who threatened her and other women with solitary confinement if they didn’t perform sexual acts. She said that this officer “was able to retire” while she “stayed in constant fear of retaliation.”
Ratliff said that all staff involved in the August 2024 incident were subjected to additional training on use of force, de-escalation tactics and report writing, and that criminal referrals had been made.
She acknowledged that “trust has been broken amongst the (incarcerated) population.”
Assembly Member Nick Schultz, D-Burbank, said his trust in the corrections department had been shaken, too.
Calling video of the August 2024 incident “appalling and disturbing,” Schultz, a former state prosecutor, said he would be “watching very closely to see what is done” with the criminal referrals.
“My trust in the department is fractured based on everything that I have seen,” he said. “I would love nothing more for that trust to be repaired and restored. But as I sit here right now, results matter.”
Hannah Krenn is a fellow at the Investigative Reporting Lab at Yale.