Blue states called out by women's group for ignoring risks posed by transgender inmates
FIRST ON FOX — A new study is sounding the alarm on female-identifying, biologically male felons being incarcerated at female-only prisons, saying those inmates pose physical and psychological risks to biological women.
The report from Independent Women, a nonprofit, released Thursday and shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, says "male inmates identifying as women are disproportionately likely to have committed sexual offenses, and incarcerated women face heightened risks of harassment and assault under these policies.
"Placing trans-identifying males, especially those with fully intact male genitalia or a history of violent sex crimes, in close quarters with female inmates risks a serious deprivation of the female’s rights," the report states. "These risks — and the consequences that have already manifested for women subjected to mixed-sex prison environments — are known, but are being deliberately ignored in deference to laws and policies that marginalize incarcerated women and silence concerns about their safety."
Amie Ichikawa spent five years in a California state prison after she was convicted of making terroristic threats with a gun. After her release, she began advocating for female inmates concerned about being housed with biological males.
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"It's because the laws are based on self-identification. The only requirement is for someone to state that they are a female," Ichikawa told Fox News Digital. "You can't base your denials on physical attributes, including retention of a penis. You can't deny somebody a transfer based on criminal history."
Male inmates who identify as female will often sit before a review board to have cases heard and argue that sex-based prisons violate Equal Protection laws or claim they are being discriminated against on the basis of sex.
Transgender, biological male inmates will also argue that their housing conditions in male-only prisons violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, according to the Independent Women report.
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In four states, biological male inmates who identify as female can be placed in female-only prisons.
Those states include California, Connecticut, Maine and New Jersey. Two states — Utah and Louisiana — prohibit men in women’s prisons, while all others operate on a case-by-case basis.
As of October 2024, there were 1,487 incarcerated men identifying as women in federal prisons — only some of whom are housed in female prisons, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
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Nearly half of trans-identifying male prisoners have sex convictions, compared to less than 12% of the general male prison population nationwide, according to BOP statistics cited in the Independent Women report.
"Women do not deserve to be housed in locked prisons with violent criminal males, period," said May Mailman, legal director at Independent Women. "During the [2024 presidential] campaign, Kamala Harris, unashamed of her overt backing of trans-identifying men in women’s prisons, tried to indicate the law required such insanity.
"She was wrong. ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Stopping the Dangerous Policies Putting Men in Women's Prisons’ makes clear that policy leaders hold clear authority to protect women and enforce sanity. This is a must-read for politicians and their staff trying to end the predations of gender ideology."
Transgender policy advocates say housing female-identifying inmates in female-only prisons allows them to live in a safer environment because transgender women face sexual abuse in male-only prisons.
"Prisons and jails routinely subject transgender people in their care to abusive conditions, including denial of medical care, extended periods of solitary confinement, and harassment, sexual assault, and violence at the hands of guards and other people with whom they are incarcerated," the Transgender Law Center states on its website. "Recent studies show that transgender women are 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted in prison than others."
But female inmates have also faced sexual abuse at the hands of transgender inmates who are biologically male, and they feel their concerns are not being addressed.
Female inmate Dana Gray told Independent Women she was sexually assaulted by a transgender woman "that was physically intact" in January 2023.
"It was terrifying and disgusting because I knew there was nothing I could do," Gray said.
"The trans community has been hijacked as a hiding place for very mentally unwell sex criminals," Ichikawa said. "This is a perfect Trojan horse into the biggest victim pool anyone could ever hope and dream of. There [are] trans women that I speak to in men's prisons that want nothing to do with this and are horrified at the people that the states and federal institutions are allowing to transfer over [to female prisons]."
Further, those against housing transgender inmates in female-only prisons also trigger traumatic events for some women.
Child sex trafficking survivor Alissa Kamholz had to share a cell with a female-identifying man affiliated with the same gang as her childhood abusers, according to the report.
Ichikawa believes there are some men who identify as female to rig the system and be sent to a women’s prison to have more power than they would in a men’s prison.
The topic of housing transgender inmates in female-only prisons has prompted lawsuits and jarring news headlines across the country.
Last year, a man posing as a transgender female inmate at Riker’s Island raped a female inmate, according to a lawsuit filed by the victim. Also, last year, Tremaine Deon Carroll, a biological male California inmate who identifies as female was charged with two counts of forcible rape and one of "dissuading a witness from testifying" after allegedly attacking a woman at Central California Women’s Facility, according to a criminal complaint first obtained by the website 4W and later reported by Reduxx.
Demi Minor, a New Jersey transgender inmate, impregnated two female inmates in 2022. Moore later expressed fear after being transferred out of the female-only prison in an interview with NJ.com. An Indiana judge ruled last year that a female-identifying, biological male convicted of killing a baby could get state-funded transgender surgery.
Hannah Tubbs is a transgender California inmate who, at 17 years old, was convicted of molesting a young girl in a Denny's bathroom in 2017. Under former District Attorney George Gascon's mandates for suspects under 18, Tubbs, who was 26 when the case was eventually tried, received a softball sentence of two years in a juvenile facility for girls because the date of the offense was just days before Tubbs' 18th birthday.
Before he could complete the sentence, however, a 27-year-old Tubbs was charged in Kern County with first-degree murder, threatening a witness, robbery and assault. Tubbs pleaded guilty to manslaughter and lesser charges in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence in November 2023.
IWF’s new documentary series, "Cruel & Unusual Punishment: The Male Takeover of Female Prisons," shares stories of abuse and retaliation for voicing their concerns about the issue.
The IWF report is calling for solutions, including amending the Prison Rape Elimination Act to "prevent gender identity-based transfers to women’s prisons," clarifying that the Americans with Disabilities Act "does not mandate ‘transition’ services or mixed-sex housing," protecting female inmates’ rights to report abuse without retaliation, "eliminating reliance on activist medical guidelines" and "tying federal prison funding to policies that prioritize safety for female inmates."