Housing Men In Women's Prisons - Hell On Earth For Female Inmates
Two women incarcerated at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in New Jersey, the state’s only female prison, have become pregnant after having sex with two transgender inmates. There are apparently 27 transgender inmates housed at Edna Mahan.
In New Jersey, there is no requirement that a male inmate has to have gone through sex reassignment surgery in order to be housed with female prisoners. vAs part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last year, New Jersey agreed that it would house inmates in keeping with their stated gender identity.
Translation: Any guy who says he is a woman must be moved to a woman’s prison to complete his sentence.
Officials for the union which represents New Jersey corrections officers criticized the policy, which they have always opposed.
“We opposed this policy change believing it would be detrimental to the general population of female inmates being housed at Edna Mahan and also bring added stress to our correctional police officers assigned to this institution,” said William Sullivan, president of NJ PBA Local 105, the union that represents the majority of correctional officers.
Female inmates at the prison not surprisingly have also opposed the housing of transgender inmates in their prison. Just last year two Edna Mahan prisoners filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to immediately remove “any and all male pre-operative transgender inmates,” alleging that some had harassed them and engaged in sexual contact with other women.
In an affidavit filed in support of the lawsuit, one transgender prisoner who had gender-conforming surgery before she was incarcerated said the DOC’s current policy was “very questionable.”
“I believe it is highly inappropriate for the NJDOC to place pre-operative male-to-female allegedly transgender inmates in a women’s prison,” said the woman, who has been locked up for more than 20 years.
This may all sound insane, but the fact is that all over the country men, who claim they are women, have been moved into women’s prisons. In addition to the consensual sex which has resulted, there has been a corresponding rise in rapes and sexual assaults.
In 2019 a woman in prison in Illinois was forced to be housed with a male inmate named Monroe who had indicated that he now identified as female. The female prisoner made clear that she was terrified of Monroe who was much larger and stronger and retained male genitalia. Her concerns were ignored. She was raped by Monroe the first day he was housed with her.
When California announced, it would begin to house men claiming to be women in female prison several hundred male prisoners signed up to be moved. According to the Women’s Liberation Front (WOLF) a women’s rights group working on behalf of female inmates, women in California prisons now describe their conditions as “a nightmare’s worst nightmare.”
For their part, authorities in California’s women’s prisons responded to the announcement of the change by stocking prison medical facilities with condoms and Plan B emergency contraceptives. They also began to issue guidance to female prisoners on how to get an abortion if they became pregnant in prison.
One inmate in a California prison responded to the new abortion counseling by noting, it was like the prison had “given the okay for them to rape us, cause you have a plan to take care of the aftermath.”
This nationwide move toward allowing any man who says he identifies as female to be housed in a women’s prison is not just madness. It is criminal. Almost ninety percent of the women in prison have suffered abuse at the hands of men.
A statement from a female inmate in California published by WOLF captures the horrible nature of what is happening quite clearly.
“As of January 1, 2021, any man, regardless if he has or will have surgery, who says or identifies as "female" are eligible to go to a women's prison. They don't even have to have their penises removed. Currently, we have ~14 men on site at CCWF with penises 'intact', still processed by "male" names, and this prison is expecting 300-400 more. Thanks to Senator Weiner and Governor Newsom, women in this prison are being put at risk for sexual assault, rape, abuse, being violated and trauma… A young girl who I just spoke with told me of her interaction with a "man" on the reception yard. He spoke of "getting it on" with the women and he had no intentions of getting rid of his penis. These guys have been overheard saying to one another, "Stick to the plan." What exactly is the "plan?" We are not certain. I will not be surprised [when] the first female gets pregnant… Men are physically stronger than women which poses a threat not only to the women but also the officers… Many of the women are scared, angry and worried about their safety. We do not want to be forced to live with any "man," locked in a room we can't get out of without officers keying the locks and no cameras to record abusive activity. Showering, using the toilet, changing clothes, and sleeping at night pose an unsafe environment for us...Women are being put at risk and someone is going to get hurt badly. Unfortunately, nothing can be done until it actually happens.”
Only a short while ago anyone who suggested housing men in prison with women would have been laughed at and disregarded. Anyone with any common sense would have known the result. It would be disaster. Female prisoners would be at the mercy of evil, violent men many of them with histories of rape and sexual assault.
Yet here we are. We are through the Looking Glass. In the interest of equity and sensitivity, we are doing the unthinkable. We are transforming our women’s prisons into hell on earth for the women held there. The result will prove to be much more serious than just a few pregnant prisoners.