By Bob Walsh
Central California Women’s Facility, in Chowchilla
The Central California Women's
Facility is located in charming Chowchilla, Madera County. An almost
incoherent article in today's Sacramento BEE asserts that former Acting
Warden Mike Pallares has been accused of personal sexual misconduct by
staff members and is named (as the administrative head of the prison) in
possibly 19 other cases filed by prisoners against staff.
Pallares
is no longer at that facility is is serving as an Associate Warden
elsewhere within the system. (In the old days the warden of the womens
prison was required by law to be female.) The Dept's own internal
investigation has found no evidence of misconduct by Pallares. Of
course much of the CDCR internal affairs investigation could not find
stink in an outhouse, so.........
Former Acting Warden Pat Vazquez is in charge as of eight days ago.
A
specific "prison guard", Greg Rodriguez, was accused of sexual
misconduct by approximately 20 prisoners. He has been out on leave and
has since retired. He has not been charged. Vazquez made the referral
to the D.A. herself, and is proud to have done so.
A
former staff member, Jennifer Galvani, has filed a lawsuit alleging
sexual harassment including coerced sexual activity with prior Acting
Warden Pallares. That suit has since been dismissed.
Former
Warden Janel Escobedo also filed a suit against Pallares alleging
sexual harassment. In July of 2019 she notified HR that she was
engaged in a "romantic relationship" with a coworker. She was sacked in
September of 2019. She later married the co-worker. She asserts that
her firing was in retaliation for making the complaint against Pallares.
Her basic angle on her suit is that she got fired for having a
consensual relationship and Pallares was retained even after multiple
complaints of sexual harassment and coerced sexual activity.
It is, as usual with sexual harassment beefs within CDCr, a serious mess.
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