4th former guard at Dublin women's prison sentenced for sexually abusing inmates
DUBLIN – Another former correctional officer at the federal prison in Dublin has been sentenced for sexually abusing women who were incarcerated there, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Andrew Jones, 36, of Clovis, was given eight years in prison after pleading guilty in August.
Jones supervised prisoners who worked in the food services department, and between July 2020 and June 2021, as a supervisor of all the female inmates, he received oral sex from, and/or had sexual intercourse with, three women prisoners who worked for him in the Federal Correctinal Institution at Dublin kitchen. Jones admitted that he sexually abused these prisoners in multiple places near the kitchen, including a staff bathroom, a warehouse, and a room where kitchen utensils were kept.
Prosecutors argued that Jones "enforced silence and obedience" from the prisoners by using violence and threats of violence.
"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 own sexual pleasure, while he remained safe in the belief that his misconduct would go unreported," said prosecutors in the sentencing memorandum.
Jones pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual abuse of a ward involving three inmates and one count of false statements to the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General.
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.
Jones pleaded guilty the same time as Nakie Nunley, another prison guard at the Dublin facility. Nunley is facing up to 17 years in federal prison for abusing five women from March 2020 to November 2021.
All these are the latest in a string of indictments, convictions, plea agreements and sentences involving employees at the low-security prison, which one federal judge called a "cesspool."
Former warden Ray Garcia was convicted last December and sentenced to nearly six years in prison for sexually abusing three inmates and lying about it, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The prison's former chaplain, James Highhouse, pleaded guilty in February 2022 and was sentenced to seven years in prison for sexually abusing an inmate from May 2018 to February 2019.
Former guard Enrique Chavez pleaded guilty last October to having sexual contact with an inmate in 2020 and was sentenced to 20 months in prison, and former guard Ross Klinger, who pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual abuse, is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 13, according to federal prosecutors.
Another former guard, John Bellhouse, was convicted in June of sex crimes against inmates from 2018 to 2021 and prosecutors have not yet released any sentencing information.
Finally, former guard Darrel Smith was indicted on April 13 on suspicion of having sex with three inmates by use of force between May 2019 through May 2021.