Women sexually abused by U.S. prison guards: The Guardian

LONDON -- Women being sexually abused is "a common experience" across the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), east of the U.S. city of San Francisco, British newspaper The Guardian has reported.

The report told the story of Cristal, 31, who came forward about the horrific sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of multiple guards at the federal prison in Dublin, California. But now Cristal is in immigration detention, awaiting deportation to Mexico, a country she left as a baby.

Indictments against five officers show that guards systematically victimized women in their custody, intimidated them into silence, lied to cover up crimes and often targeted non-citizens, said the report published Thursday.

At least 26 of those survivors are now facing deportation, including several who directly testified in court and at least eight victims have already been deported, according to the report, citing a coalition of legal advocates.

"These are people who have been abused by federal employees in some of the most horrific ways one could be harmed in prison," Susan Beaty, supervising attorney with the Oakland-based non-profit Centro Legal de la Raza, who is representing Cristal and other survivors, was quoted as saying.

"They need and deserve to return to their families and heal from the trauma they've endured at the hands of the government. Instead, the government is continuing to punish them," she said.