The National Council's official statement on the BOP announcement to close FCI Dublin

THE CLOSING OF FCI DUBLIN WILL CAUSE MORE HARM UNLESS THE BOP SENDS WOMEN HOME

BOSTON, April 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls understands the BOP has decided to close FCI Dublin. The only humane and ethical way to atone for the atrocities perpetrated there is to let the women who suffered go home. At the very least, the BOP should file compassionate release for everyone who has been sexually abused; they are eligible under the new guidelines from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. BOP policy 5050.50 allows it to seek the release of women home who are elderly and/or seriously ill. The BOP must seek release for mothers of young children at Dublin like Sara Gallegos, who is doing 20 years for sending two money orders in a drug conspiracy.  Michelle West should go home after serving more than 30 years for a murder committed by her then-boyfriend, who did not spend a day in prison for the offense.

We are alarmed, however, at the BOP's plan of moving the entire incarcerated population to other prisons. "This is an incredible opportunity that the BOP is using to create more, rather than less, harm," said Andrea James, the Executive Director of The National Council. "Being uprooted and sent to a new prison hundreds of miles away will only add to the trauma these women have already suffered."  This movement will separate women from their families who live in proximity to the prison, destroy bonds that women have forged over years of shared suffering that enable them to survive, as well as complicate the lawsuits seeking compensation for the victims. The mass movement will cause women to lose their possessions, have programming interrupted, and delay necessary medical care.

According to Danielle Metz, the National Council's Director of Clemency, "President Biden should immediately grant clemency to any woman who was sexually abused at FCI Dublin. It is unconscionable that the BOP's 'solution' to the Dublin scandal is to make incarcerated women suffer more."

The National Council calls upon the BOP to work with advocates to develop a strategy to close the prison in an orderly, fair way that uses decarceration as a primary tool. The BOP will continue to compound harm at FCI Dublin until it listens to the expertise of formerly incarcerated women.

For media inquiries, contact:
The National Council
Ari Goode
[email protected]

About The National Council: 

The National Council is a 501c3 organization founded in 2010 by a group of women incarcerated in the federal prison in Danbury, CT. Most were mothers, separated from their children. The mission of The National Council is to end incarceration of women and girls and create the infrastructure for the systems in support of building healthy, thriving people and communities. The National Council also organizes against the incarceration of women globally through its International Network.

SOURCE The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls