Another Former FCI Dublin Officer Facing Criminal Charges Is Scheduled for Trial

Darrell Wayne Smith, a former FCI Dublin correctional officer, is going to trial. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers set Smith’s trial for March 2025 during a Thursday court hearing.

Who is Smith?

Smith, who is known as “Dirty Dick Smith” according to court records, was arrested in Florida in May 2023 and charged with five counts of sexual abuse of a ward, six counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of aggravated sexual abuse. An indictment describes 12 incidents between May 2019 and May 2021, during which Smith allegedly had sexual contact with three women in his custody at FCI Dublin, according to prosecutors.

What’s the latest with the prison closing?

The federal Bureau of Prisons has pushed back on Gonzalez Rogers’ order requiring that casework for each incarcerated woman at the facility be updated prior to their transfer, among other guidance issued by the court since BOP announced it was closing the prison on Monday.

“This updated casework is required, in part, to ensure inmates are transferred to the correct location,” Gonzalez Rogers’ order, issued within hours of the announcement, along with further details that remain under seal. “This includes whether an inmate should be released to a BOP facility, home confinement, or a halfway house, or granted a compassionate release.” The result of case reviews and transfer designations shall be reviewed by recently appointed special master Wendy Still prior to transfer, the order reads.

In a court briefing filed Tuesday, government attorneys wrote that the order, and Still’s interpretation of it, have significantly delayed the transfer of women to other facilities.

“The logistical details involved with the mass transfer of all [incarcerated people] at a particular facility cannot be changed on the fly,” the government’s brief reads. “Extensive resources and employee hours have already been invested in the move.”

Attorneys also challenged the judge’s authority to dictate when people in BOP custody can be moved. “It is beyond question that transfer of inmates falls within the exclusive authority of the BOP, and it is not subject to judicial review,” the brief reads.

Following two closed court hearings on Wednesday, Gonzalez Rogers issued another order on the transfers filed under seal. Attorneys representing incarcerated women in a class action lawsuit have not responded to requests for comment on the outcome of the hearings.

BOP director Colette S. Peters announced the closure on Monday, saying that the prison is not meeting expected standards despite the agency providing tremendous resources to address the facility’s culture and employee misconduct. It’s unclear how many women have been transferred so far. BOP will not share the timing of transfers, citing “safety and security reasons.”

How many officers have gone to prison?

On March 28, former correctional officer Nakie Nunley became the seventh former FCI Dublin employee to be sentenced. He was handed a six-year sentence for sexually abusing five incarcerated women at FCI Dublin. Gonzalez Rogers said Nunley had left a “wake of destruction.”

“You were cruel, you were perverse, you were predatory, and you exploited them,” she said. “A sentence has to reflect the reality of what you did. There are women you abused who have longer sentences than I will give you. One wonders if that is appropriate.”

What else is happening?

So far, over 50 lawsuits filed by more than 70 plaintiffs allege sexual harassment, retaliation and other misconduct by correctional officers and staff at FCI Dublin. The lawsuits are stayed until July.