Julia Yoo was among the attorneys who represented plaintiffs in lawsuits that were recently settled—with the federal government agreeing to pay $116 million to 103 inmates and formerly imprisoned women who alleged they were victims of sexual abuse at a federal corrections institution in Dublin, since shuttered. The plaintiffs included one who alleged she was sexually abused by the warden and at least three other staff members at an infamous Bay Area federal prison known to inmates and staff as “the rape club."
The lawsuits, filed separately against the U.S. Bureau of Prisons but handled jointly by a federal judge in Oakland, centered on widespread sexual abuse that occurred at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, which was shut down in April. Federal prosecutors have brought criminal charges against at least eight FCI Dublin employees since 2021. Seven of those defendants, including the prison’s former warden and former chaplain, have pleaded guilty or been convicted for their roles in the abuse.