California to pay $1.9 million to female inmates who say guards caused ‘war zone’ violence
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reached a $1.9 million settlement this month with 13 female inmates who say they suffered “war zone” violence during the 2024 incident.
The women said they suffered medical problems including traumatic brain injury, seizures, shortness of breath and long-term vision problems following an Aug. 2, 2024, operation at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla where inmates were subjected to tear gas, according to a complaint filed in federal court against the state prison system and several of its employees.
The plaintiffs, 10 of whom are still in custody, received payouts ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 based on the extent of their injuries, according to their attorney Robert Chalfant. Lawyers have also filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all the women involved in the incident, which is scheduled to be settled in May, he said.
CDCR said in a statement that it has reviewed the situation and is making changes.
“The scope and extent of CDCR’s corrective action, which is believed to be one of the largest issued to CDCR employees in a single incident, demonstrates CDCR’s commitment to correcting policy violations,” the department said.
41 employees were found to have violated the policy and faced disciplinary action including dismissal, transfer to other positions and reduction in wages.
The incident of August 2024 started shortly after the resurrection of these women on this day. The police released more than 150 women who had been arrested from their cells and locked them in the dining hall while they searched their housing unit, the complaint said.
The plaintiffs complained that the operation was led by the leader of the gang of prison guards, Delta Dog, in retaliation for the number of complaints of misbehavior made by women to the guards.
The US Department of Justice in 2024 launched a human rights investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by staff at the Central California Women’s Facility, following years of lawsuits and complaints from incarcerated women.
The 13 complainants said they were locked in the restaurant for hours and denied water, food and medicine. The inmates became increasingly disruptive after seeing guards remove their belongings, according to the complaint.
The guards were then ordered to “use pepper spray, throw tear gas and flash bang grenades, rubber bullets, fire extinguishers, assault and beat the women, even though all the female inmates were obeying police orders and did not pose a threat to any officer,” the complaint continued.
A leaked recording of the incident reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle shows inmates, including those subpoenaed, trying to hide as tear gas surrounded the cafeteria.
One of the plaintiffs, Wisdom Muhammad, says he was told to “shut the if— up” when he asked security guards not to pepper spray him because he has asthma. He alleges that he was zip-tied and dragged out of the restaurant onto the lawn where four tear gas canisters were thrown, one of which exploded near his face and left him with a permanent scar, according to the complaint.
“Repeated assaults and violent use of force caused Muhammad to faint twice, pass out, and urinate,” the complaint said. “Muhammad finally woke up in the ambulance covered in blood, with an IV in his arm, and he could no longer see out of his left eye.”
Muhammad “hoped to die to end the pain and suffering he was experiencing,” the complaint said. Other women named in the case described similar incidents of abuse during the incident, which they said left them traumatized.
CDCR did not agree to any violations or policy changes as part of the settlement agreement.
The lawyer for these women, Chalfant, praised the courage of his clients in following legal measures, saying that filing a case puts them at risk of being sent back to prison full of allegations of sexual abuse and molestation.
He said: “It’s one problem after another. “I hope this institution will change and they have retrained the police on when they can use force so that this kind of thing doesn’t happen.”
