Behind a closed chapel office door inside a federal women’s prison in California, a chaplain forced inmates seeking his spiritual guidance to have sex with him, exploiting their faith and their powerlessness behind bars for his own gratification, prosecutors said. James Theodore Highhouse was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison — more than double the recommended punishment in federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. said the guidelines, which call for a sentence of less than three years, “seriously underestimate the seriousness" of Highhouse's con ..read more

Several House Democrats are demanding the federal Bureau of Prisons make public an audit that examines reports of sexual assault at a federal women's prison in California where inmates say they've been subjected to rampant sexual abuse that has led to the arrests of four employees, including the former warden. The eight legislators, including members of the House Judiciary and oversight committees and the Democratic Women's Caucus, wrote to prisons Director Michael Carvajal that they want him to provide a copy of the Prison Rape Elimination Act audit conducted at the federal correctional insti ..read more

Federal investigators questioned the warden of a federal women’s prison in California and searched his office on Thursday, weeks after a former correctional officer at the facility was arrested on charges of sexually abusing inmates. It wasn’t immediately clear if Thursday’s activity at the Federal Correctional Institution at Dublin was connected to last month’s arrest. Documents pertaining to Thursday's search remained sealed. The FBI said it wasn’t able to provide details about the case. In a statement, an FBI spokesperson confirmed that agents “conducted court authorized law enforcement act ..read more

Deputies at a San Francisco Bay Area jail confiscated 200 gallons of prison-made liquor that inmates were preparing for a Super Bowl party, a sheriff’s official said. Deputies found the liquor Saturday at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin before Super Bowl Sunday when the San Francisco 49ers lost 31-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs, Sgt. Ray Kelly, spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said Monday. Known as “pruno,” the illicit alcoholic beverage is fermented from leftover fruit, sugar and juice with a little bread to provide the yeast and made in sealed plastic bags. “It smells horrible a ..read more

Police say an Alameda County man shot and killed an ex-girlfriend after she broke into his house along with an armed man in an attempted home invasion robbery. The incident occurred about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday at a Dublin residence in the 3400 block of Monaghan Street, the East Bay Times reported. Dublin police say the man was asleep when he awoke to a banging noise on his front door. When he opened the door he was confronted by the woman and a man, who was pointing a gun at him. Police say the man was able to get his own gun and shot at the two as he ran from the home. Officers arrived at the ..read more

Actress Felicity Huffman was released Friday morning from a federal prison in California two days before the end of a two-week sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal, authorities said. The “Desperate Housewives” star was released from the low-security prison for women because under prison policy, inmates scheduled for weekend release are let out on Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said. Her husband, actor William H. Macy, dropped off Huffman — aka inmate No. 77806-112 — at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area on Oct. 15, with one day of ..read more

An American Airlines flight from London to Philadelphia landed in Ireland after cleaning chemicals leaked in the aircraft cabin on Monday. “American Airlines flight 729 from London Heathrow to Philadelphia diverted to Dublin due to an odor caused by a spilled cleaning solution in the galley,” an American Airlines spokesperson said in a statement. Katie Phillips, a passenger on board the diverted flight, tweeted that a “chemical spillage” led to a “sickness outbreak” on the plane. Phillips told CNN the odor smelled, “slightly sweeter than fuel.” “We were delayed for nearly an hour at Heathrow w ..read more

“Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman — aka inmate No. 77806-112 — reported Tuesday to a federal prison in California to serve a two-week sentence in a college admissions scandal that underscored the lengths some wealthy parents will go to get their children into top universities. Huffman’s husband, actor William H. Macy, dropped her off at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a low-security prison for women in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to TASC Group, which represents Huffman. The prison has been described by media as “Club Fed,” making its way onto a Forbes list in ..read more

Now that Felicity Huffman has been sentenced to 14 days in prison for her role in a massive college admissions scam, attention has turned to where she’ll spend her time behind bars. In federal court in Boston on Friday, Huffman’s attorney requested that the actress be allowed to spend her 14-day prison sentence at a federal correctional institution in Dublin, California, a “low security” correctional institution with 1,235 female inmates in Alameda County, about 35 miles outside of San Francisco. The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has the final authority to decide where Huffman will serve time when s ..read more

Half a million people were expected to attend the papal Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park on Sunday, but aerial photos of the ticketed event appear to show a much smaller turnout. Irish media, including The Irish Times newspaper, reported that 130,000 pilgrims had turned out to see Pope Francis. An organizer of the World Meeting of Families, the gathering of the Catholic Church that brought the pope to Ireland, told CNN that 300,000 people had been present for the Mass. The reaction was very different from the reception at the last papal visit in 1979, when Pope John Paul II was greeted ..read more