Oakland federal judge helps former FCI Dublin prisoners gain early freedom

OAKLAND, Calif. - Laura Russell is home with her family for Thanksgiving after a federal judge in Oakland helped secure her early freedom through a series of extraordinary letters she's been sending to judges across the country about the sexual abuse and medical neglect at the now-shuttered Federal Correctional Institute at Dublin. 

"I'm just going to enjoy my husband and daughter-in-law," Russell told KTVU on Thursday. "I don't care if we have cheeseburgers. It's so amazing to be home on Thanksgiving." 

Russell is one of at least 22 former FCI Dublin women who have been freed on compassionate release, mostly because they were sexual assault survivors, according to Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a Washington, D.C.-based organization serving as a clearinghouse for these cases. 

Separately, members of the Dublin Prison Solitarity Coalition are asking President Joe Biden to give clemency to dozens of women who were held at FCI Dublin before he leaves office. 

Compassionate release allows incarcerated people to be freed early from prison for "extraordinary and compelling reasons," and is often either medical or humanitarian in nature. 

Russell was released roughly a year before her January 2026 release date, after a judge in Idaho noted her deficient medical care and the fact that she suffered physical injury at the hands of an officer when she was at FCI Dublin in 2023 and 2024. 

The culture at FCI Dublin

FCI Dublin no longer exists. 

As backdrop, seven former FCI Dublin correctional officers, including the warden, have been convicted and sentenced for sex crimes while they held authority over the incarcerated women. An eighth officer is headed to trial. 

As part of a class-action lawsuit against the BOP, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers in Oakland visited the low-security women's prison and declared it a "dysfunctional mess."

She also appointed a special master over the prison – the first time in BOP history that has ever happened. 

But instead of complying with the special master, BOP Director Colette Peters shut FCI Dublin down in April, saying she couldn't turn things around. 

More than 600 women, including Russell, were bussed away from California and sent to prisons across the United States, in what many described as horrific journeys. 

Russell was taken to Federal Medical Center Lexington in Kentucky. 

Women have been asking for early release

Dozens, many who were victims of sexual assault or helped the FBI with their sex crime investigations, asked to be let out of custody early.

Russell asked too.

Her case is unusual in light of the FCI Dublin sex scandal because she suffered medical neglect – her arm was injured when an officer slammed a door into her, and she also had mysterious skin spots.  She did not survive sexual abuse. 

"People forget that the abuse at FCI Dublin wasn't just sexual," said Shanna Rifkin, FAMM's deputy general counsel.  "There was a lot of constitutional deficiency of medical care." 

The judge's unusual actions 

What Gonzalez Rogers did was unusual, too. 

Gonzalez Rogers wrote to sentencing judges across the United States regarding her nine-hour visit to FCI Dublin in February and how the prison had "limited to no access to constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care, programming and timely administrative relief." She also wrote that "the time at FCI Dublin was likely ‘harder time’ than other institutions." 

The judge also wrote of the sexualized culture at FCI Dublin, the severe understaffing and retaliation by officers on women who spoke up, his court order states. 

"I've never heard of a case where a judge wrote other judges in compassionate release cases," Rifkin said. "She's lending credibility to the women's voices." 

A judge rarely grants early release 

It's true that Russell's case strays from the norm in more ways than one. 

In setting Russell free on Nov. 21, U.S. District Court Judge David Nye in Boise, Idaho, who is both an Obama- and Trump-appointee, stated that he "rarely grants motions such as this." 

Nye said when he imposes a sentence – in this case, 40 months for laundering money – he expects that sentence to be served. 

Federal prosecutors also noted in their opposition to Russell's early release that she had already received a pretty lenient sentence for her role. U.S. attorneys also noted in their court motion that her claims are simply allegations that were never proven and that she hadn't met her burden of proving extraordinary and compelling reasons to support her early release. 

In an interview, Russell, now 67, said she pleaded guilty to the crimes, taking full responsibility. 

And she added that she didn't do it for her own personal gain. Her son was sentenced to 15 years after being convicted of conspiring to distribute drugs and money laundering. 

Despite the prosecutors' arguments, Nye noted that if "exigent circumstances" arise, an early release should be granted. 

Those circumstances include Russell repeatedly recounting a story of a correctional officer slamming a cell door on her elbow and, when she complained about it, was retaliated against. 

Her attorney, Miles Pope, described what happened to Russell as a "prison assault." 

She also suffers from Meniere's disease and osteoporisis. 

"I think judges believe that we get medical care in prison," Russell said. "But it's obvious, we don't."

A lot to be grateful for 

Russell said she has a lot to be grateful for this holiday: Her husband's continual advocacy, her attorneys, and the judges who listened to her and ultimately got her release. 

But she's also stricken with some PTSD from being incarcerated at FCI Dublin. She felt panicked going into the grocery store recently and says she's used to being woken up by jangling keys and flashlights. The other night, she screamed in her sleep.

"It's going to take a while," she said. "I just have to remember to be kind to myself." 

Lisa Fernandez is a reporter for KTVU. Email Lisa at [email protected] or call her at 510-874-0139. Or follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez

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