According to the press release from the Bureau of Prisons, employees at the Loretto satellite camp will be relocated to FCI Loretto after the satellite facility is shuttered. Courtesy photo

WASHINGTON — The federal Bureau of Prisons is permanently closing its “rape club” women’s prison in California and will idle six facilities, including one in Loretto, in a sweeping realignment after years of abuse, decay and mismanagement.

The agency informed employees and Congress on Thursday that it plans to shutter the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and deactivate minimum-security prison camps in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. Staff and inmates are being moved to other facilities, the agency said.

In a document obtained by the AP, the Bureau of Prisons said it was taking “decisive and strategic action” to address “significant challenges, including a critical staffing shortage, crumbling infrastructure and limited budgetary resources.” The agency said it is not downsizing and is committed to finding positions for every affected employee.

The closures are a striking coda to the Biden administration’s stewardship of the Justice Department’s biggest agency. After repeatedly promising to reform FCI Dublin and other troubled facilities, Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters is pivoting to closures and consolidation, citing inadequate staffing and staggering costs to repair aging infrastructure.

In addition to closing FCI Dublin, the Bureau of Prisons is shuttering its minimum-security prison camps in Pensacola, Florida; Duluth, Minnesota; and Morgantown, West Virginia.

It is also suspending operations at minimum-security satellite camps that are adjacent to federal prisons in Oxford, Wisconsin; Littleton, Colorado; and Loretto, Pennsylvania.

Such facilities, built for the lowest risk offenders with dormitory-style housing and little or no fencing, have been the site of frequent escapes and an influx of contraband.

According to the press release from the Bureau of Prisons, employees at the Loretto satellite camp will be relocated to FCI Loretto.

In a statement provided to the Mirror, U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-Blair, said that Congress has been told the closure will not result in any job losses.

“We need those hardworking corrections officers to continue their work, and I am grateful that they will be able to continue to serve at FCI Loretto,” Joyce said, adding that he will continue to make sure officers have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively.

When asked about the impact of the closure on the Loretto community, Cambria County Commissioner Tom Chernisky said it was the first time he was hearing the news and was “caught off guard” by the announcement.

The permanent shutdown of FCI Dublin seven months after a temporary closure in the wake of staff-on-inmate abuse that led to the “rape club” moniker is the clearest sign yet that the agency — which has more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates and an annual budget of about $8 billion — is unable or unwilling to rehabilitate its most problematic institutions.

The move comes three years after the agency closed its troubled New York jail in Manhattan after myriad problems came to light in the wake of Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide there, including lax security, staffing shortages and squalid, unsafe conditions, such as falling concrete and busted cells.

At the same time, the agency recently committed to building a new medium-security prison facility and minimum-security camp for about 1,400 inmates in Roxana, Kentucky, citing a need for “modern facilities and infrastructure,” with $500 million earmarked by Congress for construction.

The Bureau of Prisons and the correctional workers union have repeatedly pushed for additional federal prison funding, highlighting what they say is an inadequate amount of money to address pay increases, staff retention and a multibillion-dollar repair backlog. More than half of federal prison facilities were built before 1991 and many are becoming outmoded or obsolete, the agency said.

“As the agency navigates a challenging budgetary and staffing environment, we must make incredibly difficult decisions. FCI Dublin will not reopen,” the agency said.

The closures across the federal prison system come amid an AP investigation that has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons. AP reporting has disclosed widespread criminal activity by employees, dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including assaults and suicides.

In July, President Joe Biden signed a law strengthening oversight of the agency after AP reporting spotlighted its many flaws.

The Bureau of Prisons said the buildings at its Pensacola camp, which are owned by the Navy, are in “significant disrepair” and will be demolished after about 500 prisoners and 100 staff members are relocated to other facilities.

The Duluth camp is also plagued by “aging and dilapidated infrastructure,” including several condemned buildings that are contaminated with asbestos and lead paint, the agency said. About 736 inmates and 90 staff members will be moved to other facilities.

The Morgantown camp is closing and about 400 inmates and 150 employees will be relocated to “maximize existing resources” at the federal prison complex in Hazelton, West Virginia, about 23 miles away.

The camp at FCI Oxford in Wisconsin was cleared out in June, the agency said.

The Bureau of Prisons again cited efficiencies and infrastructure concerns for the moves, including a $26 million estimate for repairs to the camp at FCI Englewood in Littleton, Colorado.