[Pnews] 'Like a War Zone': Prison Officers Used Unprecedented Force in August Attack, Incarcerated Women Say

[Prisoner News]

kqed.org 
<https://www.kqed.org/news/12004368/like-a-war-zone-prison-officers-used-unprecedented-force-in-august-attack-incarcerated-women-say> 



  'Like a War Zone': Prison Officers Used Unprecedented Force in August
  Attack, Incarcerated Women Say

Madi Bolaños

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sep 12, 2024

Women incarcerated at the Central California Women’s facility in 
Chowchilla say officers used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets 
on them, including while they were restrained. (Wikimedia Commons)

Incarcerated women at the Central California Women’s facility in 
Chowchilla say correctional officers used pepper spray, tear gas and 
rubber bullets on them after forcing them into a cafeteria with no food, 
water or medication for more than four hours.

Four women told KQED they were left injured, had difficulty breathing 
and were traumatized by the incident that occurred last month on Aug. 2.

Three incarcerated people had difficulty breathing and were transported 
to an offsite medical facility, according to an emailed statement from 
the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In its statement, CDCR said officials have “identified concerning 
information about the handling of the Aug. 2 incident at the Central 
California Women’s Facility (CCWF) and are taking swift action.” The 
statement adds that a fight between two inmates prompted the incident 
and that approximately 100 others became “disruptive,” requiring staff 
to “quell the incident.”

Sources told KQED that a fight had broken out earlier, well before the 
alleged use of force by officers, whose later behavior was unprovoked.

The Central California Women’s Facility is the largest female 
institution in the state. It houses over 2,000 incarcerated people at 
all security levels, according to a report 
<https://www.oig.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Warden-Mary-Lattimore-One-Year-Audit-Central-California-Womens-Facility.pdf> 
by the California Office of the Inspector General.


    ‘People were screaming for help’

On Aug. 2, correctional officers informed the women in one of the units 
that they were going to conduct a contraband search of the entire 
building, according to half a dozen formerly and currently incarcerated 
women who spoke to KQED.

Antoinette Yancey said she is a member of the Inmate Advisory Council, 
which communicates with prison staff about prisoners’ needs. She said 
everyone who was there that day complied with the order from officers to 
file into the cafeteria, also known as the chow hall.

Yancey said that after nearly four hours inside the cafeteria, the women 
had missed their state-issued lunch and others had not been given their 
medication. She said she asked to speak to Sergeant Fernando Arroyo, the 
officer she believed to be in charge that day. Meanwhile, another woman 
was seen having a seizure, according to Yancey and other witnesses. 
Yancey told KQED that a guard called a “medical code.” Moments later, 
she said, 30 to 40 officers entered the cafeteria, including Sgt. Arroyo.

“When I saw Sergeant Arroyo, I assumed that he was coming in to talk to 
us about lunches, food, water and things like that,” she said. Yancey 
said Arroyo did not address the women.

The officers then formed a skirmish line around them, according to three 
of the women. Yancey said she saw Sergeant Arroyo tap officers on the 
shoulder before officers started screaming “Get back!” at the women, 
who, she said, posed no threat. Officers began to spray pepper spray and 
tear gas at the women, according to four accounts.

“Some of the inmates ran away from the [chemical] bomb. Officers chased 
them, body slamming people who had walkers and couldn’t get down,” 
Yancey said, “Snatching shirts off people’s faces and [pepper] spraying 
them directly in the face.”

As the chaos unfolded, Elaine De Leon Guerrero, an Iraq war veteran, 
said she immediately threw herself to the ground.

“I ended up getting trampled on. People were screaming for help, crying, 
asking to please stop,” she said. “There were multiple orders being sent 
by different staff. Some were screaming at us, saying, get down. Others 
were saying, ‘Get up and file.’”

De Leon Guerrero said she saw two women have seizures.

In the statement, CDCR officials acknowledged that correctional officers 
used chemical weapons but would not provide any more details; the agency 
said no rubber bullets were used and maintained that the incident did 
not amount to excessive force. CDCR declined to specify whether other 
projectiles were used.

The agency also declined to confirm whether a Sgt. Fernando Arroyo works 
at the Chowchilla facility or was in charge that day. Public records 
show <https://openpayrolls.com/employee/fernando-arroyo-9571> that a 
Sgt. Fernando Arroyo worked at the Chowchilla facility until at least 
2023. A Chowchilla prison employee named Fernando Arroyo is listed as 
one of several defendants in an ongoing civil suit filed by 144 
plaintiffs 
<https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/roe-vs-cdcr-complaint-sacramento.pdf> 
in Sacramento County alleging sexual assault and sexual battery at the 
Chowchilla facility. Arroyo could not be reached by phone; CDCR did not 
respond to KQED’s request to make Arroyo available for an interview.


    ‘They just wouldn’t stop. It was like a war zone’

Witnesses interviewed by KQED said that eventually, officers zip-tied 
all the women’s hands and escorted them outside to the yard, where they 
were made to sit.

“We’re thinking, okay, we’re sitting, we’re defenseless, now we’re going 
to get answers,” inmate Johnnyne Ramirez said. Instead, Ramirez said the 
officers continued another round of pepper spraying and tear gas 
bombing. Yancey and De Leon Guerrero gave KQED a matching account of the 
events.

“I really thought I was going to die that day because they were 
shooting. They were throwing [tear gas] grenades. They just wouldn’t 
stop. It was like a war zone,” Ramirez said.

Witnesses told KQED that the unrest in the yard went on for another hour 
before prison staff escorted the women back to their cells.

“But they didn’t decontaminate us after using the chemical agents, which 
they’re supposed to do,” De Leon Guerrero said. “They just sent us, 
little at a time, back to the cells.”

A CDCR spokesperson declined to comment on specific allegations 
following the system’s written statement, citing an active investigation.

Staff at the facility began an immediate week-long intensive training on 
appropriate incident response, according to the statement from CDRC.


    An unprecedented use of force

When told about the incident, Deputy Director for the ACLU National 
Prison Project Corene Kendrick said she had never seen this level of 
force at a women’s prison.

“I’ve never heard of anything this severe of an overreaction, especially 
when it’s in the context of something like a property search. And the 
women were just asking ‘what’s going on? And how much longer is this 
going to take?’” she said.

She pointed to a CDCR policy that states chemical agents should not be 
used once a person is restrained.

Sara Norman, an attorney who monitors jails and prisons, said the 
alleged violence by CDCR staff is disturbing but not surprising. In 
2020, staff at the men’s correctional facility in Soledad rounded up 
incarcerated Black men and locked them in a cafeteria for hours at a time.

“They were zip-tied and they were interrogated about involvement with 
Black Lives Matter,” Norman said. “So these sorts of things tend to 
burst out in the current culture at CDCR.”


    History of alleged abuse at the Chowchilla Facility

The U.S. Department of Justice announced last week 
<https://www.kqed.org/news/12003230/feds-investigate-california-prisons-where-women-say-culture-of-impunity-surrounded-abuse> 
that it is investigating the CDCR’s handling of sexual abuse allegations 
at the state women’s prisons in Chowchilla and Chino.

In a statement 
<https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-civil-rights-investigation-correctional-staff-sexual-abuse-two>, 
the DOJ said it found significant justification to open the 
investigation, including “hundreds of private lawsuits” and reports 
alleging sexual abuse by correctional officers. Last year a correctional 
officer at the Chowchilla facility was charged with 96 criminal counts 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/25/gregory-rodriguez-california-correctional-officer-accused-sexual-assault-womens-prison>, 
including rape, sodomy and sexual battery over a 13-year period.

The DOJ’s investigation is appropriate given the charges brought against 
the correctional officer, said state Sen. Nancy Skinner, the chair of 
the Women’s Legislative Caucus.

“It’s hard to imagine that that individual was able to get away with 
that without other officials knowing. And it really puts a spotlight on 
what is happening there,” the East Bay lawmaker told KQED.

The women who were in the chow hall at the Central California Women’s 
Facility on Aug. 2 said they hope the CDCR’s investigation leads to 
transparency and accountability. All of the women said they were 
traumatized by the alleged attack.

“I don’t like being around a lot of people now, so I kind of stay 
secluded,” De Leon Guerrero said. “I cannot go into the chow hall. I’ve 
tried it. I start[ed] getting anxiety and a panic attack.”

/This story has been updated./

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