'Like a War Zone': Prison Officers Used Unprecedented Force in August Attack, Incarcerated Women Say

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ncarcerated women at the Central California Women’s facility in Chowchilla say correctional officers used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets on them after forcing them into a cafeteria with no food, water or medication for more than four hours.

Four women told KQED they were left injured, had difficulty breathing and were traumatized by the incident that occurred last month on Aug. 2.

Three incarcerated people had difficulty breathing and were transported to an offsite medical facility, according to an emailed statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

In its statement, CDCR said officials have “identified concerning information about the handling of the Aug. 2 incident at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) and are taking swift action.” The statement adds that a fight between two inmates prompted the incident and that approximately 100 others became “disruptive,” requiring staff to “quell the incident.”

Sources told KQED that a fight had broken out earlier, well before the alleged use of force by officers, whose later behavior was unprovoked.

The Central California Women’s Facility is the largest female institution in the state. It houses over 2,000 incarcerated people at all security levels, according to a report by the California Office of the Inspector General.

‘People were screaming for help’

On Aug. 2, correctional officers informed the women in one of the units that they were going to conduct a contraband search of the entire building, according to half a dozen formerly and currently incarcerated women who spoke to KQED.

Antoinette Yancey said she is a member of the Inmate Advisory Council, which communicates with prison staff about prisoners’ needs. She said everyone who was there that day complied with the order from officers to file into the cafeteria, also known as the chow hall.

Yancey said that after nearly four hours inside the cafeteria, the women had missed their state-issued lunch and others had not been given their medication. She said she asked to speak to Sergeant Fernando Arroyo, the officer she believed to be in charge that day. Meanwhile, another woman was seen having a seizure, according to Yancey and other witnesses. Yancey told KQED that a guard called a “medical code.” Moments later, she said, 30 to 40 officers entered the cafeteria, including Sgt. Arroyo.

“When I saw Sergeant Arroyo, I assumed that he was coming in to talk to us about lunches, food, water and things like that,” she said. Yancey said Arroyo did not address the women.

The officers then formed a skirmish line around them, according to three of the women. Yancey said she saw Sergeant Arroyo tap officers on the shoulder before officers started screaming “Get back!” at the women, who, she said, posed no threat. Officers began to spray pepper spray and tear gas at the women, according to four accounts.

“Some of the inmates ran away from the [chemical] bomb. Officers chased them, body slamming people who had walkers and couldn’t get down,” Yancey said, “Snatching shirts off people’s faces and [pepper] spraying them directly in the face.”

As the chaos unfolded, Elain De Leon Guerrero, an Iraq war veteran, said she immediately threw herself to the ground.

“I ended up getting trampled on. People were screaming for help, crying, asking to please stop,” she said. “There were multiple orders being sent by different staff. Some were screaming at us, saying, get down. Others were saying, ‘Get up and file.’”

De Leon Guerrero said she saw two women have seizures.

In the statement, CDCR officials acknowledged that correctional officers used chemical weapons but would not provide any more details; the agency said no rubber bullets were used and maintained that the incident did not amount to excessive force. CDCR declined to specify whether other projectiles were used.

The agency also declined to confirm whether a Sgt. Fernando Arroyo works at the Chowchilla facility or was in charge that day. Public records show that a Sgt. Fernando Arroyo worked at the Chowchilla facility until at least 2023. A Chowchilla prison employee named Fernando Arroyo is listed as one of several defendants in an ongoing civil suit filed by 144 plaintiffs in Sacramento County alleging sexual assault and sexual battery at the Chowchilla facility. Arroyo could not be reached by phone; CDCR did not respond to KQED’s request to make Arroyo available for an interview.

‘They just wouldn’t stop. It was like a war zone’

Witnesses interviewed by KQED said that eventually, officers zip-tied all the women’s hands and escorted them outside to the yard, where they were made to sit.

“We’re thinking, okay, we’re sitting, we’re defenseless, now we’re going to get answers,” inmate Johnnyne Ramirez said. Instead, Ramirez said the officers continued another round of pepper spraying and tear gas bombing. Yancey and De Leon Guerro gave KQED a matching account of the events.

“I really thought I was going to die that day because they were shooting. They were throwing [tear gas] grenades. They just wouldn’t stop. It was like a war zone,” Ramirez said.

Witnesses told KQED that the unrest in the yard went on for another hour before prison staff escorted the women back to their cells.

“But they didn’t decontaminate us after using the chemical agents, which they’re supposed to do,” De Leon Guerro said. “They just sent us, little at a time, back to the cells.”

A CDCR spokesperson declined to comment on specific allegations following the system’s written statement, citing an active investigation.

Staff at the facility began an immediate week-long intensive training on appropriate incident response, according to the statement from CDRC.

An unprecedented use of force

When told about the incident, Deputy Director for the ACLU National Prison Project Corene Kendrick said she had never seen this level of force at a women’s prison.

“I’ve never heard of anything this severe of an overreaction, especially when it’s in the context of something like a property search. And the women were just asking ‘what’s going on? And how much longer is this going to take?’” she said.

She pointed to a CDCR policy that states chemical agents should not be used once a person is restrained.

Sara Norman, an attorney who monitors jails and prisons, said the alleged violence by CDCR staff is disturbing but not surprising. In 2020, staff at the men’s correctional facility in Soledad rounded up incarcerated Black men and locked them in a cafeteria for hours at a time.

“They were zip-tied and they were interrogated about involvement with Black Lives Matter,” Norman said. “So these sorts of things tend to burst out in the current culture at CDCR.”

History of alleged abuse at the Chowchilla Facility

The U.S. Department of Justice announced last week that it is investigating the CDCR’s handling of sexual abuse allegations at the state women’s prisons in Chowchilla and Chino.

In a statement, the DOJ said it found significant justification to open the investigation, including “hundreds of private lawsuits” and reports alleging sexual abuse by correctional officers. Last year a correctional officer at the Chowchilla facility was charged with 96 criminal counts, including rape, sodomy and sexual battery over a 13-year period.

The DOJ’s investigation is appropriate given the charges brought against the correctional officer, said state Sen. Nancy Skinner, the chair of the Women’s Legislative Caucus.

“It’s hard to imagine that that individual was able to get away with that without other officials knowing. And it really puts a spotlight on what is happening there,” the East Bay lawmaker told KQED.

The women who were in the chow hall at the Central California Women’s Facility on Aug. 2 said they hope the CDCR’s investigation leads to transparency and accountability. All of the women said they were traumatized by the alleged attack.

“I don’t like being around a lot of people now, so I kind of stay secluded,” De Leon Guerrero said. “I cannot go into the chow hall. I’ve tried it. I start[ed] getting anxiety and a panic attack.”