Female inmates in Central California prison say officers assaulted them after sexual abuse claims

William Melhado, The Sacramento Bee on Mar 17, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Correctional staff at the Central California Women’s Facility assaulted a group of incarcerated women with pepper spray and rubber bullets to retaliate after inmates filed sexual abuse claims, a recent federal lawsuit alleges.

Thirteen women who are currently serving sentences in the Chowchilla prison filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California earlier this month, asserting that the leader of a correctional officer “prison gang” led a violent assault against 159 women in one housing unit.

The complaint describes the incident, which allegedly caused some of the women to lose consciousness and have seizures, as a “war zone.”

There is an ongoing problem with staff sexual abuse in female prisons in California, said Robert Chalfant, an attorney representing the women. It’s deeply concerning, he said, that someone would attempt to stop women from filing sexual assault complaints.

“That’s their one avenue to try to get the conduct to stop, to try to get help for what’s happening to them,” Chalfant said.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into CCWF and another women’s prison, California Institution for Women, to determine if CDCR has sufficiently protected female inmates from sexual abuse by correctional staff. The DOJ has not yet publicly released a report related to the investigation. The federal agency did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

This month’s complaint alleged that Fernando Arroyo, a sergeant with CDCR, was the leader of a correctional officer prison gang known as “Delta Dogs.” Members of the group were subjects of several sexual assault claims by women in housing unit 513.

Complaint: Staff tried to silence inmates

Arroyo told one of the plaintiffs, Antoinette Yancey, who is a member of the Inmate Advisory Council, to stop the other women from submitting reports of sexual abuse against his officers, according to the complaint. If those complaints didn’t stop, Arroyo threatened to place the unit on lockdown, take away all privileges and throw away the residents’ property, the lawsuit stated.

A CDCR spokesperson said the department does not comment on pending litigation. Arroyo did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the complaint, on Aug. 2 of last year, all women in housing unit 513 were detained in the cafeteria and officers began throwing away their belongings. The 13 plaintiffs allege that while being held in the cafeteria, there was a medical emergency, which prompted the women to call for assistance.

In response, the lawsuit alleges Arroyo directed officers to surround the incarcerated group and unleash a torrent of pepper spray, tear gas grenades, rubber bullets and baton strikes, despite the women posing no threat and complying with officers’ orders.

The lawsuit describes how the assault on the women continued outside the cafeteria, with officers beating and spraying women restrained in zip-ties.

One of the plaintiffs, Yancey, was diagnosed as having a stroke earlier that morning, according to the complaint. Over the course of the assault, she said she lost consciousness three times.

Yancy stated she “saw officers fist-bumping each other and congratulating themselves for violently assaulting the female inmates,” the complaint reads.

Several women had seizures as a result of the violence, the complaint says. Medical providers concluded that one plaintiff, Christina Wind, likely suffered a stroke after she was struck with batons. She was then placed in isolation for 11 days.

Did fight lead to incident?

The department previously told KQED that officials had “identified concerning information about the handling of the Aug. 2 incident at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) and are taking swift action.” CDCR told the news organization that the incident occurred while officers were attempting to “quell” a fight between two inmates.

Chalfant asserts that CDCR knows Arroyo and his fellow officers mishandled the incident because later that month the prison hosted an event with the women in the housing unit to help them recover from the trauma of the event.

At that event, CCWF did not address the violence and told the women that they “need to stop talking about what happened as it was in the past,” the lawsuit read. Chalfant said many of the women walked out of the event, “disgusted at what they were hearing.”

The lawsuit states that CDCR has not disciplined Arroyo or other officers named as defendants in the complaint, though the sergeant and another officer were transferred to another prison.

Chalfant urged CDCR to release video footage from the day of the incident. He said he believes the video would prove the officers violently and unnecessarily attacked the inmates.

“Female inmates continue to be sexually assaulted down there by staff,” Chalfant said. “Incidents like Aug. 2 don’t give the women a feeling that they’re being protected or that anyone cares.”

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