A former FCI Dublin correctional officer was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday after he admitted to sexually abusing more than a half-dozen women at the scandal-plagued facility.
Nakie Nunley, 48, became the seventh staff member at the troubled women’s prison to be sentenced in recent years, amid a reputed “rape club” at the facility that tormented inmates and led to convictions against multiple prison leaders, including a former warden and a former chaplain. An eighth officer also has pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct charges.
Nunley’s sentence comes amid mounting concerns that the initial wave of arrests have done little to reform a toxic culture at the prison that has left inmates in constant fear of retaliation for reporting their guards’ alleged misdeeds.
Earlier this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the facility, prompting federal prisons officials to sack the facility’s warden after less than three months and install a new interim leader. Days later, Federal District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers declared the prison “a dysfunctional mess” and ordered it to be overseen by a special master — marking the first such independent monitor to be installed at a federal prison anywhere in the nation.
In addition, dozens of lawsuits have been filed alleging sexual assault and retaliation by the facility’s guards in recent years, including one that recently received class-action status.
In announcing the sentence, federal justice officials said they will continue to “aggressively” investigate suspected sex crimes at the women’s prison.
“As today’s sentence shows, the Justice Department will hold accountable officials who abuse their authority to harm those they are sworn to protect — and will not tolerate retaliation against victims,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, in a statement.
Nunley’s sentence, which was handed down by Rogers, comes nearly seven months after he pleaded guilty to a slew of charges, including four counts of sexual abuse of a ward, five counts of abusive sexual contact, and one count of making false statements to investigators.
Federal prosecutors say Nunley targeted women at a call center while he worked as a supervisor for UNICOR, the trade name for the federal prison industries. He admitting having sex with multiple women, and also sent sexual notes to some inmates while making sexual comments to others.
He also admitted retaliating against inmates who tried to report concerns about him, according to the justice department’s announcement. He threatened to transfer one inmate to another prison when she complained about his actions, and he threatened to get another inmate fired from her job if she didn’t strip for him, justice officials said.