A seventh staff member at the federal women's prison in Dublin has been sentenced after being convicted of sexual abuse, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
Nakie Nunley, 48, of Fairfield, has been given six years in federal prison after being convicted of four counts of sexual abuse of a ward, five counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of making false statements in connection to an investigation into wide-spread sexual abuse that occurred at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin.
Nunley, who pleaded guilty, abused five women when he was assigned to supervise prisoners who worked for UNICOR, a trade name for federal prison industries, prosecutors said. He admitted that between March 2020 and November 2021, he engaged in sex acts with two prisoners, including having oral and vaginal sex with one victim and digitally penetrating another victim on multiple occasions. He also had sexual contact with three other prisoners.
In addition to taking advantage of prisoners under his watch, he retaliated against any that complained about his conduct, prosecutors said. One victim approached Nunley about his conduct with another prisoner, and he threatened to have her transferred to another facility, where she would lose her job.
"Similarly, Nunley admitted that he told another victim that if she wanted to keep her job at UNICOR, she needed to pull down her underwear and bend over," said prosecutors. "When she complied, Nunley slapped her buttocks several times."
Nunley also lied to federal investigators about his crimes.
The sex abuse scandal has unleashed indictments, convictions, plea agreements and sentences involving employees at the low-security prison, which one federal judge called a "cesspool."
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Multiple ex-employees of the prison have now been sentenced, including former warden Ray Garcia, who was convicted in 2022 and sentenced to nearly six years in prison for sexually abusing three inmates and lying about it, and the prison's former chaplain, James Highhouse, who pleaded guilty in February 2022 and was sentenced to seven years in prison for sexually abusing an inmate from May 2018 to February 2019.
On March 15, a U.S. district judge ordered the appointment of a special master to oversee the federal prison, declaring it a "dysfunctional mess." The order came just four days after the appointment of a new warden and a sweep of the facility by FBI agents.
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