SAN FRANCISCO — Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of alleged sexual abuse.

For seven years, the only full-time gynecologist at the California Institution for Women, a high-security prison facility in Chino, has been abusing his patients, according to a civil lawsuit filed this week by six women.

Dr. Scott Lee, a 70-year-old licensed OB-GYN, acted with impunity at the Chino prison where he has treated hundreds of women since 2016, according to a civil complaint filed in the Central District of California federal court. The claim, which has not been previously reported, accuses the prison’s leaders and other medical staff of failing to take action to stop Lee despite past complaints against him.

Lee did not respond to multiple requests to comment. It’s unclear whether he has retained an attorney.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has faced multiple civil lawsuits in recent years alleging that staff enable systemic sexual violence against prisoners. In September, the federal Department of Justice announced that both the Chino facility, located about 20 miles west of Riverside in an agricultural part of San Bernardino County, and another women’s prison in Chowchilla are under investigation for civil rights violations related to sexual abuse.

“While we are unable to comment on personnel matters, Dr. Scott Lee no longer has direct in-person contact with patients,” a spokesperson on behalf of the CDCR and California Correctional Health Care Services told The Times in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

Imprisoned women have filed hundreds of lawsuits against the state in the past two years over claims that range from groping during searches to rape, but the plaintiffs in the case against Lee make grim claims about their alleged experience under his medical care.

According to the complaint, the six women say that they endured abusive pap smears and biopsies and coerced exams, including breast and anal examinations, and that those who crossed him allegedly faced retaliation, including withholding of medical treatment.

The Times does not name the alleged victims of sexual assault. In court papers, Lee’s accusers are identified as Jane Does. Three agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, out of fear of retaliation and to protect their privacy as they transition back into society. Prior to being incarcerated, each woman was a victim of domestic violence, their lawyers said, and they all served prison time for crimes they committed against their abusers.

One of the plaintiffs in the case.

(Paul Kuroda/For The Times)

One woman, identified as Jane Doe #1, alleged that during a December 2022 doctor’s visit for a worsening skin condition that required a prescription for a topical cream medication, Lee insisted on doing a pelvic exam.

The woman, who served eight years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon, said she signed a form to decline a physical exam. But during the visit, the lawsuit alleges, Lee inserted two fingers into her with such force that “he tore her open, causing her intense pain.”

“I was shocked. I was stunned,” she said.

She said that a nurse, named as a defendant in the complaint, was present during that exam but did not intervene or report Lee.

The woman said she is still struggling to process what happened.

“For years, I’d been rebuilding myself from trauma in the past. I felt safer in prison than I had in the free world,” she said. “I built myself back up in that environment and then it was destroyed.”

‘You have a thought like, is this normal?’

Another woman, identified as Jane Doe #4 in the lawsuit, was 7½ months pregnant when she was transferred to Chino, the only state facility that offers prenatal care, according to the complaint. She was serving 23 months for a property crime.

“I went in thinking the system was going fail me,” she said. “In a way, it did.”

She recalled arriving at the prison shackled in handcuffs after a six-hour bus ride from Fresno.

A week later, she had her first checkup with Dr. Lee.

Lee, according to the lawsuit, asked her to undress, while he remained in the room, then proceeded to measure her stomach and perform a breast examination. When Lee began pressing down on her stomach and pelvic areas “with force,” the claim alleges, she told the doctor he was hurting her.

Lee then “pumped his fingers in and out, made inappropriate comments, and continued despite [her] request to stop,” the complaint says, “with such force that she moved back on the exam table.”

“When you’re in a doctor’s office and a doctor is doing something, it’s kind of like they know what they’re doing,” she said. “But then you have a thought like, ‘is this normal? A doctor has never done this to me before.’”

She said she saw his finger “covered in blood,” which made her “scared and disturbed” because she was in a late stage of her pregnancy, reflecting claims in her lawsuit. She said that a nurse who was also present during the appointment did not intervene.

“I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “I felt like I wasn’t protecting my child. I felt like I allowed somebody to do something to her. It’s something that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.”

Another plaintiff in the recent case, identified as Jane Doe #2, alleged that Lee became “visibly angry and hostile” when she refused to get a pap smear from him in 2022. That patient had previously undergone surgery to get a hysterectomy, and according to the complaint Lee allegedly said he needed to perform the exam to confirm she did not have a cervix.

A woman identified as Jane Doe #3 in the complaint said she went to Lee for birth control that is injected every three months. Lee, she alleges, insisted she get an intrauterine device because he did not have any shots available of the drug Depo-Provera.

“I never had the IUD, but I knew it was invasive,” she said.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends physicians routinely screen their patients about their history of sexual abuse to inform their practice, and Jane Doe #3 said that she warned the doctor and the nurse who was also present during the appointment that she had a history of sexual trauma.

She asked him “to go slow,” she recalled, according to the complaint, and said he indicated that he would.

Echoing her allegation from the complaint, she said that Lee inserted a speculum without any lubricant and was “in there for about ten minutes while I was asking him to stop and was crying.” The complaint said the nurses aided Lee in holding her legs open while he “ignored her pleas for him to stop.”

Jane Doe #3 bled for months, according to the complaint. She said the pain was so bad she “could barely sit down.”

Months later, she saw a new part-time female doctor who filled in for Lee, to address the pain.

“It took me a while to relax enough for her to remove the IUD, but she was patient,” Jane Doe #3 said, referring to an alleged incident detailed in the lawsuit. “The moment she removed the IUD there was instant relief, I wasn’t in pain anymore, I stopped bleeding. And she gave me my Depo shot.”

Town hall brings allegations to light

As of the start of the year, California housed 3,629 women in state prisons.

The one who called out Lee began her campaign around October 2023, saying she was outraged after how he treated her during a visit.

A woman, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe #1, went cell-to-cell with a notebook in hand, asking prisoners about their experiences with Dr. Lee.

(Jenny Huang)

The woman, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe #1, said she went cell-to-cell with a notebook in hand, talking to as many prisoners as possible.

“I said, ‘This might sound kind of strange, but I was just wondering if anything ever happened to you with Dr. Lee the gynecologist?’” she said. “They would start telling their story. And I would share my story.”

She wrote down the names and dates and compiled their statements in letters.

“We were getting together to make something happen, being as powerless as we were,” she said. “You use the resources that you have.”

A month later, in November, the situation came to a head. Officials had brought in an advocacy group made up of formerly incarcerated women and social workers for discussions on ways to reduce sexual assault in California’s women’s prisons.

A few dozen women shared their allegations about gynecology and obstetrics appointments with Lee gone awry, according to multiple people who attended the town hall.

“We sort of hijacked the meeting,” Jane Doe #1 said. “That [town hall] was life-changing for us.”

The lawsuit claims that the CDCR and its executives “should have known to be on the alert for any warning signs” at Chino.

Instead, the complaint alleges, they “ignored obvious red flags” that dated back to when Lee was hired, including a lawsuit and complaint to the Medical Board of California by an inmate who alleged Lee left a gash on her vagina after a botched procedure.

That woman’s lawsuit was dismissed, according to court records. A Medical Board spokesman said its complaints and investigations are confidential, and the agency’s website did not show a disciplinary order against Lee.

Protesters including USC students and advocacy group members demonstrate outside the California Institution for Women in Chino in April 2024. The demonstration followed the filing of charges against a guard at the Chowchilla women’s facility who was later convicted of 64 sexual abuse charges involving incarcerated women.

(Mark Boster/For The Times)

History of sexual violence at women’s prison

With the lawsuit against Lee adding to the long list of alleged sexual misconduct in state prisons, state officials are facing increased pressure to bring reform.

In August 2023, members of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus held a hearing to learn about the culture of sexual assault and harassment of inmates by prison staff.

A year later, a March 2024 report to the California Legislature identified the inadequacies in addressing sexual abuse at the hands of staff, calling out the inaccessible reporting process and the lack of accountability by prison officials.

Last April, a group of students from the University of Southern California, along with members from two other advocacy organizations, protested outside the Chino prison.

They showed up on a cloudy day with bullhorns and signs that read “rape is not a punishment for a crime.” The demonstration followed prosecutors bringing a case against Gregory Rodriguez, a former correctional officer at Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, who in January was convicted of 64 sexual abuse charges.

“We never really designed prison for women,” Jeanne Woodford, the former deputy secretary at the CDCR told The Times. “We built prisons for men and then painted them pink and said this is where women live.”

Woodford noted that sexual abuse “has been a problem in female prisons forever,” which is why officials should have been on the lookout for Lee’s alleged behavior.

“No one took it seriously,” she said. “There was so much smoke, but someone should have been looking for the fire.”