Legal advocates seek public access to court records about abuse at California women’s prison

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two advocacy groups have asked a judge to unseal court records and preserve public access to hearings in the class action lawsuit against the federal Bureau of Prisons over the sexual abuse of incarcerated women at a now-shuttered California prison. The bureau announced suddenly on April 15 that it would close FCI Dublin and transfer about 600 women despite attempts to reform the facility after an Associated Press investigation exposed rampant staff-on-inmate assaults. The legal nonprofit Public Justice and the ACLU of Northern California on Wednesday jointly filed a motion for increased transparency in the case, which is set for trial next June. The prisons bureau didn’t immediately comment.