The Trump administration is investigating whether the practice of housing trans-identified males in women's prisons in Maine and California, despite concerns about sexual assault and harassment, violates the constitutional rights of incarcerated women.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it would investigate whether the California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County, the Central California Women’s Facility in Madera County and the Maine Correctional Center in Windham violated the rights of female inmates.
“Keeping men out of women’s prisons is not only common sense — it’s a matter of safety and constitutional rights,” Attorney General Pam Bondi stated. “The Trump Administration will not stand by if governors are facilitating the abuse of biological women under the guise of inclusion.”
In 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act. The bill enables those who identify as the opposite sex, non-binary or intersex to be housed and searched in a manner consistent with their gender identity.
As the DOJ noted, men charged with sex crimes and who have intact genitals who self-identify as female can request a transfer to a women’s prison. The federal agency says it has seen reports “of sexual assaults, rape, voyeurism and a pervasive climate of sexual intimidation due to the presence of males in the women’s prison.”
The DOJ is investigating if California deprived female prisoners of their right to freedom of speech and religion under the First Amendment. During its investigation, the federal agency will also determine whether female inmates were deprived of the protections guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment — which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment — and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
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