The ACLU’s latest intervention in WoLF’s California prison lawsuit shows just how little they care about women’s safety, dignity, and rights

On Thursday, October 10th, intervenors in WoLF’s case Chandler v. Macomber (previously Chandler v. CDCR), including the ACLU of Southern California, Transgender Law Center, and Lambda Legal, filed their motion to dismiss. This comes shortly after the state’s motion to dismiss, filed the week prior.

The case centers around California’s “Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act,” also known as SB 132. This law allows men to “self-identify” as transgender,  nonbinary, or intersex and be housed in women’s facilities. Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) filed a lawsuit in 2021 on behalf of four incarcerated women challenging SB132. WoLF asked the court to overturn this law and declare it unconstitutional. The full case background and information on our plaintiffs is available here.

The ACLU is representing four men who want to be housed in women’s prisons: Kelly (Kelli) Blackwell, Keith (Katie) Ervin Brown, Tremaine (Tremayne) Carroll, and Jennifer Rose. These men insist that they feel like women, so they must be labeled women. This meets the standard in California for them to move into the women's prison. These men assert that they are not a threat to incarcerated women, as they are now 'women' too, in the California penal system. There is overwhelming evidence that they are, in fact, just as dangerous as other men, if not more. In the federal prison system, nearly 50% of men who identify as “transgender” are sex offenders (compared to 13% of the general population).  

The ACLU trots out 'women's rights' in their seemingly endless fundraising appeals, while ruthlessly steamrolling over incarcerated women's rights in court. 

We remain disappointed and appalled by the ACLU’s relentless assault on incarcerated women's rights. Incarcerated women make up one of the most vulnerable populations in America — and yet they have been completely abandoned by the organizations that claim to represent their rights. 

Here are some of the arguments the ACLU used to deny incarcerated women the right to safety:

Throughout their brief, the intervenors pretend they don’t know the difference between men and women, leading to statements such as: 

“A carceral housing policy that treats some women one way and other women another way based on their genitalia or their sex assigned at birth discriminates between those women on the basis of sex.” (pg. 5)

Or, in other words…

A carceral housing policy that treats women one way and [men] another way based on their [sex] discriminates between those [people] on the basis of sex.

This is, of course, simply describing men's and women’s prisons.

Later, the intervenors pretend that men are an equal threat to women as they are to each other, stating:

“Cisgender women can also present security concerns, but no one would reasonably suggest that an appropriate remedial policy for them is transfer to a men’s facility.” (pg. 6)

They claim this despite the fact that women are not men and do not pose anywhere near the same level of security risk, as every party to this case admits. They also ignore the unique threat that men pose to women, which no other population can inflict: pregnancy.

But at least we can all agree that it would be ridiculous and cruel to force women to live with men as a punishment. 

WoLF Responds to ACLU

We remain disappointed and appalled by the ACLU’s relentless assault on incarcerated women's rights. Incarcerated women make up one of the most vulnerable populations in America — and yet they have been completely abandoned by the organizations that claim to represent their rights. 

Elspeth B. Cypher, a retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, said about the case:

"I cannot imagine a more vulnerable group of women than women in prison.  Upwards of 90% of incarcerated women have been victims of physical and sexual assault at the hands of men.  To install males in confined spaces with females is unconscionable.  These women have no voice and cannot defend themselves physically or psychologically. In fact, it is a violation of the UN rules regarding the treatment of women prisoners. I never thought I would see the ACLU willingly advocate for the violation of those rules and surrender the physical and psychological safety of women. Yet, that is where we are."  

Nancy Stade, an attorney and WoLF Board Treasurer, said:

"This is a case about incarcerated women seeking protection from the cruel and unusual punishment of sharing a cell with a man — possibly fully intact, possibly a sex offender. The brave women represented by WoLF are up against prison officials, the law of the State of California, and the practices of its prison industrial complex. Today, the ACLU and several groups supposedly dedicated to civil rights have  intervened — not to protect these women, but to champion the most powerful interests against some of our society's most vulnerable.” 

This law is dangerous and inhumane, and it is clear that neither California nor the ACLU truly care about women’s rights or experiences. Incarcerated women, including our plaintiffs Janine, Nadia, Tomiekia, Krystal, Channel, and Cathleen, have faced rape, harassment, retaliation, and a culture of fear and terror. Yet the ACLU still thinks it does not go far enough.

WoLF will not stop fighting to protect incarcerated women in California! We will be filing our opposition in the coming weeks.

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WoLF is the only feminist organization bringing lawsuits to overturn bills like SB 132. We rely entirely on our generous donors to make this resource-intensive legal work possible.

Please consider donating just today to support this case and the brave women fighting for their rights inside California’s prisons! Amounts as small as $5 or $25 make a difference!

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