On April 7, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (“DOJ”) notified Kansas that it was opening an investigation into the conditions and practices at the Topeka Correctional Facility (“TCF”), a prison housing about 550 female prisoners. The investigation sought to determine whether prisoners were subjected to sexual abuse or unsafe environmental conditions. It was undertaken under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (“CRIPA”).

DOJ lawyers and an expert consultant visited the facility in May 2011. During the visit, they interviewed staff and prisoners. They also reviewed documents including incident, investigative and disciplinary reports; prisoner grievances; unit logs; medical, environmental, health, and safety records; and orientation and training materials.

On September 6, 2012, the DOJ sent its Findings Letter to Governor of Kansas and the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections ("KDOC"), informing him of the results of the investigation. The Letter stated that TCF had failed to protect women prisoners from sexual abuse and harassment by staff and other prisoners. The DOJ did not find environmental conditions to be unsafe or unconstitutional.

Specifically, the DOJ concluded that the KDOC had failed to fix systemic causes of sexual abuse and misconduct despite repeated investigations and audits exposing the problem. The DOJ found that nearly all of women prisoners feared for their safety because (1) prisoners were subjected to sexual assault and unwanted sexual conduct from staff; (2) prisoners were subjected to sexual violence from other prisoners; (3) sexual misconduct was ingrained within facility culture and (4) prison officials were deliberately indifferent to the harm experienced by women at the facility. The Findings Letter included proposed minimal remedial measures.

The parties soon began negotiating a settlement. On December 22, 2014 they released an out-of-court Memorandum of Agreement. The settlement required the state to address sexual abuse within TCF by mandating compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act; a zero tolerance policy; a staffing plan and video monitoring procedures; a classification system and risk assessment process to identify potential threats and victims; staff training; and a grievance, investigation, and disciplinary procedures. The parties would agree to a monitor to conduct evaluations once every 180 days. The agreement was to terminate when the KDOC and TCF had achieved and maintained compliance for one year.

In a DOJ spreadsheet describing all CRIPA matters in 2016, the case was listed as open.

Gabriela Hybel - 05/16/2017


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