For sexually abusing numerous female inmates and making false statements while a correctional officer at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Dublin, California, a former Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) officer received an eight-year prison sentence, officials announced this month.
Andrew Jones, 36, of Clovis, California, pleaded guilty to the charges on Aug. 17. U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers handed down Tuesday’s sentence.
According to his plea agreement, Jones was employed as a correctional officer at FCI Dublin where he supervised prisoners who worked in the Food Services Department.
Jones admitted that, between July 2020 and June 2021, while he had supervisory and disciplinary authority over all the female prisoners, he received oral sex from, and/or had sexual intercourse with, three female prisoners who worked for him in the FCI Dublin kitchen.
“The egregious sexual abuse that took place at FCI Dublin was disgraceful and tragic, and the Justice Department will not rest until we have eliminated such misconduct from the Federal Bureau of Prisons,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “As the defendant’s guilty plea and today’s sentencing demonstrate, FBOP employees who abuse their positions of authority and assault those in their custody will be held to account.”
Jones admitted that he sexually abused these prisoners in multiple places near the FCI Dublin kitchen, including a staff bathroom, a warehouse, and a room where kitchen utensils were kept.
In a memorandum filed in connection with Jones’ sentencing, the government argued that Jones “enforced silence and obedience” from the prisoners by using “violence and threats of violence.”
The memorandum stated that “intimidation and insults on the one hand, and the flattery on the other, was aimed at cultivating pliant prisoners who Jones could abuse for his sexual pleasure, while he remained safe in the belief that his misconduct would go unreported.”
In sum, Jones pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual abuse of a ward involving three inmates and one count of false statements to the DOJ-OIG.
Jones is one of eight correctional officers to have been charged with federal crimes involving sexual misconduct at FCI Dublin in the past three years and the fourth to have been sentenced.
To date, all the recent sentences for FCI Dublin guards convicted of sexual abuse of a ward and/or abusive sexual contact of a prisoner have resulted in sentences that are above the U.S Sentencing Guidelines.
“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,” said Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz of the Justice Department Office of Inspector General (DOJ-OIG).
“The defendant’s conduct—sexually abusing inmates and threatening violence to keep them silent, is sick and reprehensible,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate.
DOJ-OIG and the FBI investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Molly K. Priedeman and Andrew Paulson for the Northern District of California prosecuted the cases.