Officer sexually abused ‘one prisoner after another,’ feds say. Now he’s prison-bound

A federal correctional officer began sexually abusing inmates at an all-female California prison within months of starting his job, federal prosecutors said. Now, he’s going to prison.

Andrew Jones, 36, who supervised the women working in the kitchen at Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, is the facility’s fourth prison guard to be sentenced in relation to sexual misconduct in the past three years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.

FCI Dublin’s former warden, Ray Garcia, was sentenced to 70 months in prison on March 22 for sexually abusing three female inmates, the Department of Justice announced that day, McClatchy News previously reported.

Jones “sexually abused one prisoner after another” between July 2020 and June 2021, his sentencing memorandum says.

He admitted in his plea agreement to abusing three women who worked for him near the kitchen, including inside a bathroom, a warehouse and where utensils were stored, prosecutors said.

In FCI Dublin’s kitchen, he used his supervisory position to establish “an environment of fear and intimidation,” including through insults, threats and violence. He also “groomed (inmates) with compliments and flattery,” his sentencing memo says.

Jones “remained safe in the belief that his misconduct would go unreported,” the sentencing memo also says.

Jones has now been issued the lengthiest sentence for sex abuse at the prison to date, according to prosecutors.

”Each of the women Jones abused were sent to FCI Dublin to pay their debt to society, but instead found themselves at the mercy of a guard and a boss who used the tools of coercion at his disposal to abuse them for his own sexual pleasure,” prosecutors said.

The sentence

A judge sentenced Jones, of Clovis, to eight years in federal prison on Nov. 16 for sexually abusing inmates and making false statements, the attorney’s office announced in a news release that day.

“Jones participated in a culture of sexual abuse of female inmates at FCI Dublin that included the Warden, the Chaplain, and other employees, and he like them has now been held to account for his heinous acts,” Department of Justice Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said in a statement.

McClatchy News contacted Jones’ defense attorneys for comment on Nov. 16 and didn’t receive an immediate response.

On Aug. 17, Jones pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual abuse of a ward in relation to three inmates and one count of making false statements to the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General, prosecutors said.

Ahead of his sentencing, his attorneys wrote in a memorandum on his behalf that while he “lost his way and behaved horribly” an eight-year prison sentence would be “disproportionate and unwarranted” — noting it is “significantly higher” than Garcia’s sentence.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, wrote in their sentencing memo that the “seriousness of Jones’s offenses cannot be overstated” and “one of the more remarkable aspects of (his) predation is how quickly it began” after he started working at FCI Dublin on May 24, 2020.”

About a month later, he started abusing one inmate who he locked in the kitchen’s bathroom to have her perform oral sex, according to the sentencing memo which says they had sexual intercourse over the next five months.

The woman “did not want to deny Jones” because she feared losing her job working in the kitchen and Jones “would become angry and would treat the prisoners in the kitchen poorly” if “he did not get his way,” the sentencing memo says.

Afterward, he targeted two more women for abuse, according to prosecutors.

‘Investigation is not over’

Eight FCI Dublin correctional officers have been charged in relation to sexual misconduct crimes at the facility, prosecutors said.

Seven have been convicted, including Jones, Garcia and two other officers, according to prosecutors.

Abuse at FCI Dublin has become so “pervasive” that it’s been referred to as the “rape club,” according to a federal lawsuit filed in August by a woman who served time in prison at FCI Dublin, McClatchy News previously reported.

She filed suit against the Bureau of Prisons and the federal government in relation to Garcia’s abuse of her, according to the complaint.

“To be clear, this investigation is not over,” U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey, of the Northern District of California, said in a statement of the abuse at FCI Dublin.

In response to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Nov. 17, Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Donald Murphy said the FBOP “strongly condemns all forms of sexually abusive behavior. ... We have a zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse of any kind.”

According to Murphy, several changes have been made at FCI Dublin in relation to safety and communication.

“The FBOP has entered a contract with an external consulting firm experienced in best practices and safety in facilities serving women in the justice system,” Murphy said. “These contractors have completed an assessment of FCI Dublin and is providing training to all staff at FCI Dublin on promoting a Culture of Safety.”

The “FBOP has also made changes in key leadership positions and enhanced staffing. We are fully committed to gaining the confidence of the public, the individuals in our care and custody, and the employees at FCI Dublin,” Murphy added.

Jones’ prison sentence will be followed by 10 years of supervised release, prosecutors said.

A hearing is set for Feb. 8, 2024 for any restitution he may owe, according to prosecutors.

Murphy said the FBOP continues “to fully support criminal investigations and prosecutions that hold staff accountable for sexual misconduct with incarcerated persons.”

“We believe that holding employees accountable, to the fullest extent of the law, will serve as a deterrent against future misconduct by our employees,” he added.

Clovis is about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco.

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