"This is breaking my heart" — Inside women's prisons with Amie Ichikawa

WoLF volunteer Julia Hing spoke with Amie Ichikawa, one of the founders of Woman II Woman, a support group for incarcerated women. Amie served five years in Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and has first-hand knowledge of what goes on inside women’s prison. Along with her organization, Amie works with lawmakers, the media, and within the criminal justice system to bring awareness to the public of the plight of incarcerated women.

JULIA: Hi Amie. So nice to meet you! I’ve been following your work and am so impressed by your commitment to helping women in prison. We’re all fans here.

AMIE: Oh wow. Thank you so much! I love WoLF. I will forever be indebted to WoLF for listening when no one else would. I felt like I was screaming into the void before that. Finding WoLF was like a real saving grace.

JULIA: When I first heard that intact males were being put into women's prison, I was just flabbergasted. This goes against everything we know about criminal behavior. It's basic stuff—criminal justice 101.  We know that criminals, especially male criminals, are going to do whatever they can to grift. I mean, they pretend to be sick to be moved to the infirmary or be moved. Sociopaths will do whatever they can do game the system, including adopting a trans identity.

AMIE: I used to think it was just from lack of knowledge or no connection or no vested interest to the women inside. But I think it's really intentional at this point. It's so blatantly in your face and it's not like it's just one thing it's continual. It feels like it’s social economic experimentation. I feel like this is what they're getting ready to do in the free world, and as soon as we start making noise about what's happening inside [the prisons] then they have this in mind for exactly how long it's going to take for all women to assimilate and just give up and give in to the whole erasure of our sex.  

JULIA: Reading these policies and the Moss Group’s Report on the situation, it just seems like the people writing these policies are sitting in an Ivory Tower with no connection to reality.

AMIE: And that report [Moss Report] is so offensive. It basically infers that the women who are worried about men being housed with them are over-reacting, that they’re being stupid. The report said there's going to be a buddy system. The Inmate Advisory Council are all considerably outgoing, intelligent women. When I told them that that's what it said, they were just like “What? We misunderstood.” Because oh, yeah, go ahead and blame them because nobody else is going to defend them right. No one's going to say, “No, you're dumb, you guys are stupid.” Let’s not use them as a scapegoat. I think I might have checked out for like 24 hours mentally after reading it. It's bad.

JULIA: It's so unfortunate that legacy media doesn’t want to listen and our only choices are right wing media. My mom is conservative, and I've always been a liberal. I was really surprised that she knew so much more about this issue than many of my liberal friends. They had no idea and because the issue hasn’t been covered, they all assumed it was people with no penises who were very effeminate.

AMIE Ichikawa: Right. That was because there was so much effort that was put into that beforehand. Orange is the New Black was a huge tool. The soft programming that happened there, so that everybody would think that these are very sensitive delicate flowers who are just being deprived of their hormones, and they all look so feminine. It’s not accurate at all.

JULIA:  It’s just insane. The people behind these policies are clueless. I've spent the last decade researching and writing about crime and I'm appalled that this is being allowed to happen. Putting violent men in women's cells—it's shocking. In the report, they talk about how they interviewed these people and those people. I noticed, they said they interviewed inmates, but there was no sex specified. So, it was very suspicious. Did they interview just the trans-identified men? Because that's what it looked like to me.

AMIE: I asked and asked about this. When I knew that this was happening, I contacted the Department of Justice first because they are the ones to fund this organization. And I said, “Hi, I just want to let you know that I'm more than happy assist with any kind of liaising in any way. I will be fully available at your disposal.” No response. I contacted the Moss Group people and said the same thing, “Whatever you need help with. I’ll be happy to help you in any way possible.” So, no response again.

The women [inmates] were asked, “What organizations advocate for you? We'll make a list, and we'll contact them.” So, the clerk who made that list to give to the Moss Group was one-hundred percent sure that my name was listed there and I didn't get a call. But another organization called me to get an update on how things were going, so that they could give it to the Moss Group. And I asked them if we, as members of the public, can get a list of the organizations and advocates that contributed to the completion of the report. And they said, we're going to refer you to the Department of Corrections, and then that department said no such list exists.

So, I told both of them, I would think that you would be more than willing to be transparent with this, because the public, and the people inside have every right to know who helped with the Moss report. Who did this, you know? Maybe we want to say it's great. You don't know. I don't want to say it's great, but I think they're trying to avoid putting it in writing.

JULIA: It's so disappointing that the organizations that used to represent women, Planned Parenthood and ACLU, have turned their backs on women. I donated to both organizations most of my adult life, too and it's been really shocking to watch them pivot away from defending women's rights. The fact that the ACLU fought so hard to keep us from knowing the number of men housed in women’s prisons in Washington is shocking. This is the same group that used to fight for transparency and for freedom of information acts to be upheld.

AMIE: Right. I mean, when I was a kid, I used to run around the playground and say "I am gonna call the ACLU, and I'm gonna tell on you." They were my go-to tattle tale people, the ACLU. And now we're like mortal enemies. This is really crazy.

JULIA: I'm just so angry with them. I've donated money over the years. I mean obviously not millions. But you know just the fact that I gave them money when I really didn't have that much at the time, and then to just see them turn around and betray their original ideals. And having Chase Strangio [the Deputy Director for Transgender Justice and a staff attorney for the ACLU] a woman who claims to be a man—fighting to put more men in women's prison—makes it even worse. I can't understand it.

AMIE: And how can you? You know I can't even imagine Chase defending women if Chase hated being a woman so much that Chase denounced their womanhood.

“These are silver foxes, women over 65. For them to have that feeling of futility and being of absolutely no significance to the prison, to the state, to the governor, to society, it’s very hopeless.” —Amie Ichikawa

JULIA: You were released from prison in 2013. When you were still in Chowchilla [Central California Women's Facility – CCWF] were there already trans identified men in there? Had the policy already started?

AMIE: There was. There was one person who had been there before I got there. Someone who was post-op. There weren’t any outstanding or remarkable complaints that I can recall.

It's never really comfortable, because a lot of times when a male inmate gets agitated, or a there's some kind of explosive situation, they revert back to their angry man voice and hearing that voice is pretty traumatic for most people. I believe it was in 2011 or 12, Richard Masbruch was extradited from Texas to CCWF to serve his life sentences for the double rape that occurred in the same county the prison was in, so a lot of women were familiar with that case. It’s a security issue. These are safety concerns that are not the women’s responsibility. It’s the departments' job to keep these people safe, not the women's. This person tried to mutilate himself.

JULIA: Isn't Masbruch the one who electrocuted his victims?

AMIE: Yes. By no coincidence, Richard walked right up to the president of the Inmate Advisory Council and asked, “Hey can you get me a job in the electrical shop?” This serial rapist just makes light of his crimes. My blood pressure is so high right now thinking about it. And these are older women that have to live with him. These are silver foxes, women over 65. For them to have that feeling of futility and being of absolutely no significance to the prison, to the state, to the governor, to society, it’s very hopeless. By the way, the Inmate Advisory Council used to be called Women’s Advisory Council, WAC. They removed “women” from the name, taking even that away from us.

When I was inside, I called home every single day and my parents thought I was out of my mind [about the men being housed in women’s prison] until they read about what was happening in the newspaper. I would say "How can this happen? How can they do this here? How can they do this here? This isn’t really happening. This isn’t legal. Is it?" And they would say, “You know you have to really lay off whatever it is you guys are doing up there. You know, you’re losing it.” And then when they saw it in the news, they were shocked. They had no words because how can the state do that? With Masbruch, it was a difficult transition. This person has a really bad temper. A tendency to be explosive. People are still scared when he gets upset.

JULIA: Is Masbruch still there?

AMIE: He’s at CIW now [California Institution for Women in Chino], living it up. Living the dream. After he was attacked and assaulted and stabbed, he was transferred for security reasons to CIW; which is a very small prison-one yard, maybe a quarter of the size of CCWS. They said he has an entire entourage of special services escorting him to the honor dorm where he was allowed to select his room and his roommate. He’s no longer on any wrong-sex hormones. Richard doesn’t like SB132 either, oddly enough, and actually, has helped formulate some statements. It’s really bizarre the way things work out.

For the most part, now he’s not one of the biggest concerns. Safety-wise, it’s a little uncomfortable. But it’s the influx of “protective custody men” that have nowhere else to go, nowhere else to hide, nowhere to safely finish their sentences. This is where they’re going by default. I mean there’s even gangs in protective custody. I didn’t know that until recently. I mean these are very bottom-of-the-barrel type of individuals.

JULIA: And they’re putting them in women’s prison.

AMIE: They are because their safety and their feelings are far more important than women's mental health, physical safety, and well-being.

When I told the women that Dana Rivers would be housed there, it was awful. The few people I told were like “Well, why don’t they just let us start euthanizing ourselves, so we don’t have to sit here and wait for someone like that to kill us.” I haven't responded to that message yet. I don't really know what to say sometimes.

JULIA:  When you were released, you didn’t shy away from addressing the issues you faced in prison. You began fighting for incarcerated women from the outside. A lot of people would not want to revisit that. What made you fight? Were you doing it right away?

AMIE: I was okay. I came home. I stayed in contact with a lot of people. I still helped whenever I could. If people needed the resources like phone numbers or paperwork, I would do what I could. But I worked. I did regular stuff.

JULIA: How difficult was it to return to civilian life? Were you able to find work?

AMIE:  There’s not a lot of resources unless you're one of the special people that the organizations exploit for funding. You don't really get a lot of help. When I first got out, they said that I was unemployable and should get on permanent disability. I was so offended. It was the most offensive thing I had ever heard. It really ticked me off.

They said my handshake was too firm. My handwriting was too aggressive.  And I said, "So what do you suggest?" They said, “Go get your forklift license. You could try to get a job at the refinery.” So, you know, that’s kind of what we’re pigeon-holed into. So, I said, okay, and I did. I almost was hired at a refinery. But I was dangerously honest and made a note on my application that I was on parole. The human resources lady pulled me aside and said, “You cannot work in the oil field with these charges. You can never, ever work in the oil field.” And she felt terrible. She said, “I can hire a rapist, but I can't hire you.” She said, “But I want to ignore the rules and make an exception for you. I feel bad. I just want to get you on the crew.” But I didn’t want her to jeopardize her job either. So, onto retail I went and things were fine, things were okay. But in 2020-21 when this stuff started happening [men being put in women's prison] and I started getting these phone calls and these messages from people I had never even met, I knew I just had to do something.

“There is a young lady who contacted me when this first started [men moving into the women's facility], and she was devastated. She said, ‘This is breaking my heart because this is the only place I felt safe and comfortable to be a woman.’ And I thought, yeah, it’s gone, that safety is gone. It’s prison and it’s not like we want to glorify it, but that feeling of calm and safety is gone. And that’s when I started to understand how important women-only spaces are.” - Amie Ichikawa

JULIA: Knowing that you're out, and they're in and just remembering what it was like must be really hard emotionally. Do you find yourself breaking down sometimes when you are doing this work?

AMIE: Yes. I started doing a lot of research on complex PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. Because I was hoping this could be used like a counter diagnosis for the gender dysphoria. This was before, when I thought the men had to have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria [to transfer into women's prison]. And I started to realize that is exactly what's happening to me—PTSD. The disassociation, everything, all of these symptoms. We're all experiencing them together and it's not fun together.

I’m really trying to invest in self-care, quiet time to deescalate and I have to really turn off because I’ll just go and go and go until I crash. There’s so much to do. I don’t ever feel right stopping. My good friend has been very serious about my mental health and my physical health. This started to affect me physically. A couple of months ago, I just really started to fall apart. I can’t sleep. It’s pretty bad because I can’t function some days. It hasn’t happened in a while but there are some days I will have this to-do list that is so long I’ll get stuck and cry. I have a lot of good friends and partners who are keeping an eye on me because they know I’m no good dead. I’m not going to be helping anyone if I’m dead. I have to take care of myself if I really care about the ones inside.

JULIA: Right, because if you're ill, you can't help them, either you. You know you have to keep yourself healthy mentally, especially because then it affects your entire body. It's crazy what stress and depression can do to you; it can seriously impact your physical health

AMIE: I had no idea how serious it is. I really didn’t. I feel like a real grownup now, because this really is stress. This is stress. I don't even recall getting this stressed inside [prison].

JULIA: How does the stress compare to when you were in there?

AMIE: You know, in some ways, it was a real mental vacation, because there's not a lot of thought that goes into living. You're told when to get up, when to go to work, what to wear, how to wear it. It's somewhat freeing. It's not something I want to do again. But maybe the military would have been a better choice. I don't know how to explain it. There is a young lady who contacted me when this first started [men moving into the women's facility], and she was devastated. She said, “This is breaking my heart because this is the only place I felt safe and comfortable to be a woman.” And I thought, yeah, it’s gone, that safety is gone. It’s prison and it’s not like we want to glorify it, but that feeling of calm and safety is gone. And that’s when I started to understand how important women-only spaces are. And the whole idea of women magic and the stuff that happens when we’re together and why the world works so hard to keep us divided and separated. Because things do happen when we’re empowered and we’re together.

How do you go to a self-help group and work on rehabilitation and self-care, and getting in touch with remorse, when the conversation is dominated by a narcissist AGP [autogynephilic male] The women, they shut down. The psychological warfare is one of my biggest fears. These women, they're not prepared. I don't think any woman is really prepared for this, and that's why I’m so dedicated to stopping it inside, because I don't want what's happening inside to come out here. It's going to be extremely devastating especially for the women who are completely unaware. It's going to blindside them. It’s not going to end well.

JULIA: It’s already creeping into our lives. There was an issue with men in their twenties sharing cabins at a science camp with girls who were as young as 12 and 13. Parents didn’t know their middle school kids were sleeping in the same room as these adult men. They weren’t told. They found out afterwards that the counselors were allowed to sleep in the same cabin as the girls because the men said they were “non-binary.” It’s curious that these non-binary males chose to sleep in the girls’ cabin instead of the boys. Most of the parents were upset but some actually felt bad about being upset! They were more concerned about being seen as bigots for objecting to the sleeping arrangements. These parents were tripping over themselves explaining that they felt bad for being concerned about the situation because they didn’t want to be bigots. Imagine being more concerned about hurting some guy's feelings than safeguarding your kid—it's incredible.

AMIE: So many women are so afraid of being thought of as bigots. I see that on news, and I'm like, Stop it. You're a mom! They put your young daughter in with a grown man! You should be pissed. The girls were 12 and 15? And the men were in their 20s? That's the worst age combination ever. Well, not according to Californian senators. The worst is when you're 15, and any attention is really great and it's great for the self-esteem. We love the attention at that age. And these people take advantage of that fully.

JULIA:  We see it time and time again: men who claim to be non-binary insisting on using women's facilities. If the camp counselors didn't consider themselves men or women, they could have just as easily roomed with the boys. But we know what this is all about.

AMIE: Yeah, it’s the same as it is in prison. You're non-binary? So, stay where your actual body matches. But I don't think it's supposed to make sense. If you don't understand it, it's great because that means you're not Yeah, it's like pure madness. I’ve spent so much time trying to really wrap my head around it. I thought maybe I was being extremely insensitive, and I was just old and out of touch. And then I realized, no, it’s not me.

JULIA: No, it's your original instincts. You were right the first time. And what's happening now on the outside, too, is that we're being conditioned, especially women, to ignore everything that we know as women. Young girls are told they're bigoted if they are afraid of someone in the bathroom with a penis.

AMIE: (imitating) Just stop looking at their penis. They tell you you're the one in the wrong.

JULIA: When I was growing up, we were taught to listen to that voice inside that says something is wrong, someone is not acting right. We knew our boundaries. If there was a creep in the park, we knew to say, "Hey, mom, hey, dad, this person is naked." But now these girls are like “Don't tell, or you're a bigot.” There's a TikTok video—there's tons just like it— of a twenty-something year old crying because there was man in the changing room. She was crying because she was upset but also because she knew she would be considered a transphobe for objecting to his presence. She was obviously conflicted and it was heart-breaking to see how this gender movement is harming women. Ten, even five years ago, that young woman would have known she could call that man out and report him. But now, her instincts are being undermined.

I feel so bad, because I'm Gen X and we didn't put up with that shit— and it didn't exist. Also, if it did, we would have been like “fuck you, you creep.” I just want to shake these young women sometimes. It's like mind games being played on us.

“How do you become more marginalized than everyone else?  Well, you slap on some lipstick and a dress, and all of a sudden you are a victim of everything. Everything hurts you. You need laws changed to protect you. It's a genius plan.” - Amie Ichikawa

AMIE:  It is. It’s so psyop and that goes into that whole psychological warfare stuff. Just confuse everybody to death so, when there is any semblance of normality or order that comes back, we're going to be so desperate for it we're going to take whatever we could get.

Julia: We need someone on our side, like John Strykerand those guys with all the money that are behind this. A friend of mine asked me a few years ago, “Why is everyone trans now? Why are they having social mores changed so quickly? All of a sudden, trans issues are everywhere, but gay people had to work for their rights, and it took a while." Well, why is it everywhere? How is this small group of people able to get laws changed? So, I started researching and what I found was so disturbing. Jennifer Bilek has really exposed the very dystopian truth behind the trans movement. You have Stryker giving millions to the ACLU, and the Pritzkers funding of political campaigns. Sometimes it feels like a Batman plot with super villains. Real life Lex Luthers out to upend the world.

AMIE: It is. They've disguised themselves. Their techniques, and their war games are so perfect—it's the most-evil genius plan I’ve ever seen unfold. In reality, they're so villainous, and if people would just slow down just for a second, they would see the same people that have been running the show forever, just now they're wearing lipstick and a dress. The same people that are the oppressors are spinning it that they're oppressed.  

Just take a second to take that mask off. It's just like Scooby Doo. Just rip it off, and you'll see it's the same villain every time. They reinvent themselves. And this time, it's a contest to see who is more marginalized, and whose life is worse—women or transwomen?

How do you become more marginalized than everyone else?  Well, you slap on some lipstick and a dress, and all of a sudden you are a victim of everything. Everything hurts you. You need laws changed to protect you. It's a genius plan.

JULIA: It really is. The marketing behind it is incredible. They really studied everything that came before it. There is a report that leaked from global law firm Dentons that sets out strategies for mainstreaming trans ideology.  Dentons Document, as it’s known, basically advised the clients to tie trans ideology to civil rights. And they did. They're exploiting the civil rights' movement. Comparing the mysterious rights trans activists claim not to have to the basic rights black people had to fight for. You still see it on social media. You see trans activists using these talking points. You know those talking points really spread everywhere.

AMIE: It's the same plan every time. The plan is so good that they express it differently, and keep rolling it out every time. You insulate yourself with minority groups that people won't question for fear of being cancelled so you're completely protected from any recourse or any questions regarding the validity of your movement. It’s real slick.

JULIA: Very true. And if you dare question anything about the trans agenda, you'll be attacked as a bigot, transphobe, or right-wing extremist. You can't possibly be a liberal if you're questioning the trans narrative.

I was arguing with someone on social media recently. I try to avoid that but sometimes you just can't let things go unchallenged—especially when they're outright lies. Anyway, this person's rebuttal to my comment that "men can't be women" was to call me a "racist, white Trumper." Honestly, it gave me a good laugh. I'm none of those things. But that's their go-to insult now. If you don't believe kids should get mastectomies, you must be a right wingnut, apparently. He threw in "Karen" for good measure.

AMIE: Wow! The first time I got Karen I was really shocked. I was like, who are they talking to?  But now I will proudly wear the badge of Karen. I want to de-stigmatize it and make it a good thing because they were really slick with that technique.

JULIA:  Oh, I know, they’re so smooth. And now what they do is call women “Karen.” It's given people carte blanche to be misogynistic. If a woman is white, and you don’t like what she’s doing, or you want to shame her into silence, you call her a Karen. Half of my family is white, so I find that offensive personally and also objectively as a woman in general.

AMIE: I got a white mama, and I have a natural affinity to run to the defense of all moms always. But when I see somebody that reminds me of my mom that's getting targeted. I can't watch. As a matter of fact, there is a situation right now where the machine [CCWF] literally is trying to use a conservative white woman—someone that would be labeled a Karen— to send a message. They want to break her and make her apologize for misgendering someone in an inmate complaint. She's already lost her parole suitability, so her freedom is already gone.

Now they want to force her into making a public apology to this person, a man who is definitely a superior manipulator and very sharp. I've never seen skills like this before in my life. I am definitely not equipped to take anything on like that on. It's the criminal mind times a million. He knows how to play the game. So, they want this older woman to apologize for her “cisgender privilege” and her strict religious upbringing and faith system that caused her to be so careless and ignorant of the trans experience.

JULIA: The man sounds like he’s probably a psychopath.

AMIE: Yes. And it was already gloom and doom inside. But now, with the introduction of that kind of personality, of that strength inside, I don't know. It’s scary.

JULIA: Was this woman put in solitary, or punished for “misgendering” him?

AMIE: Yes. All of the women who were involved in making a complaint that was related to this specific situation were all removed from the honor dorm. They all went to administrative segregation [a form of solitary confinement]. They all lost everything, all the privileges and trust they earned for good behavior, and had to start over. One was a transman [a woman who identifies as a man]. That person is back in the honor dorm. The other two women, after they were released from administrative segregation, they went to the other honor dorm until they got their write-ups, their rules violations for harassment and false reporting, which were eventually dropped.

They were put in the worst unit in the whole prison. You know it's a pretty violent unit, even without men. It was overwhelming for them. I couldn't breathe and I’m out here. I can only imagine how intense and unbearable it is. Every day I think of them looking down at themselves and seeing themselves erased at one inch at a time where they’re eventually going to be nothing. So that's why I just I keep going. I have to keep going.

“I didn't know that I could file a lawsuit for mistreatment. I just barely learned that women inside could say no. I didn't know. and my friends inside don't know. They are afraid to speak up. That's why we're trying to get them empowered and confident, and to understand that they have rights.”
- Amie Ichikawa

JULIA: When that happens, women being punished for making a complaint against a male inmate and accused of misgendering…Is that policy, or is it something the guards decide? Is that not official policy but de facto practice?

AMIE: I think, in that specific situation the decision was somebody's grab at a promotion. There's a lot of situations that you can exploit in order to climb the ranks and I think that was one. That specific lieutenant that was involved, I think he actually caught that same individual choking out their girlfriend recently. He was pretty irritated, like, “hey, you know, I really went out on a limb for you.”

How did they think it was going to end, though?

But I don't even think the staff there is really prepared for what's happening because they're so accustomed to working in an environment that people don't normally question what you say. They really don't have to do much paperwork because women historically don't make complaints. They're afraid and rightfully so. Look what happens when you make a complaint: you lose your parole date, you lose everything.

So, it's not just the superficial stuff that we were warning them about in the beginning, like “don't get comfortable.” You know we kind of get uncomfortable, you know. Now they have a legitimate reason to be in fear.

But that's what it has to be. We have to combat that by encouraging them and letting the women inside know, file those complaints, exhaust all the administrative options, because as soon as you do that, let's get some more lawsuits filed. Because the men file lawsuits every single day.

JULIA: Right. There are tons of lawsuits being filed on behalf of male inmates.

AMIE: Every day, because the men know their worth. They know, even if they're a convicted felon, “I’m a man, and I have rights.” Women don't know that. I didn't know that I could file a lawsuit for mistreatment. I just barely learned that women inside could say no. I didn't know. and my friends inside don't know. They are afraid to speak up. That's why we're trying to get them empowered and confident, and to understand that they have rights.

At your worst, you’re worth the risk. Just because you're inside there doesn't mean you're any less valuable than the rest of us.

But how do you tell them? How do you really convince somebody of that? I don't even necessarily believe that about myself some days. So, it is difficult to navigate through that.

JULIA: I’m sure there's a lot of fear. Do the men in the women’s prison tend to hang out together?

AMIE: They all communicate, but I think they're spread out pretty well. But they did do this very strange thing when they first got there, and every time they would see one another, or: in passing they would say, “Stick to the plan.”

JULIA: That’s alarming!

AMIE: So how ominous is that? I'm terrified, like what is the plan? That's so smart, devious of these men, really. How better to make your victims more docile than to break them down completely? I mean, stick to the plan, and then just step it up the campaign of fear.

JULIA: That is torture. I mean it’s just unbelievable that this is happening. Internationally, under the Geneva Conventions, as you know, men and women—prisoners of war—are prohibited from being housed together. The Geneva Conventions doesn’t allow this, but somehow here it's allowed. [Additionally, the Nelson Mandela Rules, considered the blueprint for modern prison management, states that men and women must be housed separately.]

AMIE: It bothers me even more because it's California, because California is the lead in everything that is questionable. I mean eugenics, for one. And believe it or not, the eugenics didn’t stop when people thought they did. Doctors were giving forced hysterectomies, forced sterilization of women inside—the only reason why they stopped is because they got caught. If they would have never gotten caught it would still be happening. I remember specifically, when I got there, thinking to myself Why does everybody have cancer here? And why is everybody going to the gynecologist so much? What is happening? I knew something was really wrong.

One woman who was operated on—the doctors missed the Fallopian tube they left it inside her and it ended up getting tied up around her intestines. And she got necrosis. It’s a nightmare, and to think these are the same medical people that that [trans-identified] people are now getting in line for their SRS [sex reassignment surgery]. They almost did a lumpectomy on the wrong breast for somebody the other day. If they're doing that, you can't trust them to make new genitals for you.

I'm afraid I’m trying to get in as much education as possible without being flagged by the prison for propaganda– to make sure that the ones who are interested know this is not where you want to get this SRS done. Believe me. It’s a really bad idea.

And even more so for the trans men, because they're going to be treated with even more disdain.

JULIA: Yeah, there's definitely a lack of concern there. No one cares about transmen [women who identify as men] which makes it even more obvious that this is just a total men's rights movement.

If someone visits an inmate in Chowchilla, visits one of the women, would she be able to speak now honestly, you know, because she is probably being watched?

AMIE: Not really. But it would be a much less monitored conversation—things that you can't say over the phone that they will definitely not put in writing could be expressed.

But unfortunately, they're too afraid to really speak openly. And then when they do speak to me, I worry about them. I avoid visiting anybody there because anybody who is affiliated with me is being watched. This could negatively impact their ability to come home.

There are organizations that won't work with some of the women inside anymore because of their affiliation with me.

There was one point where one of the bigger, long-standing organizations that focuses on commutations and helping women when they go home, refused to work with someone because she is publicly friends with me.

I felt terrible. I was like, hey? Tell them you won’t talk to me anymore, friend. I was worried about her. She said that the organization encouraged her not to associate with me. I told her she needed to look out for herself and maybe listen to them. She said, “No, they can go to hell.”

JULIA: What are you hearing now? What's going on inside CCWF (Central California Women’s Facility)? I know that it's hard for people to tell you. I guess it's gotten worse since more and more men are being transferred there.

AMIE: Definitely worse. The oppression, the feeling of not having any control, I mean, yes, it's prison. But you don't have agency unless you are trans-identified. Otherwise, you just don't have any control over anything.

There’s this feeling of permanent hyper vigilance there now. The women are exhausted. I don't think the women inside have slept or been able to breathe in at least four years now. They just can’t even breathe, so to speak. So, they need life support. It’s time for us on this side, the outside, we have to help them breathe. Their hope is just fading.

The women are hanging on by a string. You know, this time last year, they said, “Just get us out of here and focus on getting home because you're not going to be able to change this.” And I was like, I have to do both. I can’t stop fighting. What about the women who are never coming home? Who won’t get released?

“By default, the women [officers] have to strip search an inmate who is male. They don't have any rights either, the female officers. So, the oppression of women is not limited to a certain demographic here. It's just full-on female erasure in the carceral system.” - Amie Ichikawa

JULIA: I read there was a whistleblower who is trying to raise the alarm on what’s going on. How do most guards seem to feel about housing men with women? Are they against it?

AMIE: Well, I think for the most part they're not comfortable with it. They knew it was not going to work. Everyone on the lower level who is still on an hourly wage knew this was an absolutely horrible idea. There's actually a former lieutenant who resigned. He said, “I can't watch this. I can't imagine how the women feel to be literally screaming for help, and no one is listening to you. Not only are they not listening to you, but it’s like they’re closing the door and putting the curtains up.”

And then a lot of the more seasoned veteran officers, the older ones, the ones that were like our dads went ahead and retired early, because they didn't want to watch this happen either. So, all of the newbies that are coming in don't have mentors. They don't have any of the old timers to show them how to develop relationships with people and how to build their trust. They couldn’t care less. The majority of messages I get about that now is that guards are nothing like the ones I was familiar with. They're young, disrespectful. They treat the women like crap. There is no humanity.

I feel really bad for the female officers, because by default, if you can't figure something out, or if somebody doesn't want to answer the question, it's not a violation for them not to tell you. By default, the women have to strip search an inmate who is male. They don't have any rights either, the female officers. So, the oppression of women is not limited to a certain demographic here. It's just full-on female erasure in the carceral system.

JULIA: It's just crazy. I peaked my best friend a few years ago. He told another friend male sex offenders were being sent to women's prison, and she was dismissive and actually said "Well, they’re getting raped, anyway." I've heard this before and it makes me want to scream. A few men have said this out loud but it's far worse hearing that from a woman. Is rape as prevalent by prison employees as we hear it is? What have you seen inside?

AMIE: There is a lot of sexual harassment. There's a lot of give and take, you know between the women and staff. You're not going to get tobacco for nothing. But there's something a little bit different. I'm not saying that any type of sexual misconduct or assault is okay. I’m not green-lighting that at all. But I will say there is a huge difference between getting felt up by a cop and having a serial rapist stare at you while you're taking a shower. It’s really different, and I don't know how to tell that to a far Lefty or somebody who has the attitude of "Well, guess you’ll think twice before you go back to prison." Because they already don't care.

JULIA: There's a huge empathy deficiency towards women in prison. People seem to have more sympathy for men who have been incarcerated but women they just don't seem to care. I don't know if this is an extension of misogyny in our society or what.

AMIE: I guess it has to do with how women are seen. People think because women should be raising children but are inside, they’re worthless. How dare you commit a crime? How dare you kill your abusive husband, or your pimp who sold you when you were 13 years old?

There's definitely a much worse stigma that comes with being incarcerated when you're a female. Women—we're conditioned. I have friends that refuse to use their real names on social media because they don't want to hurt their victims' families by is posting a picture where they're smiling. Because why should I be smiling? You paid your debt to society, and maybe that's why. But as a woman, your debt is never paid. It's permanent, like indentured servitude for nothing. You’re allowed just to exist and now even that’s on the line—female erasure is all around us. That is essentially what this whole thing is about.  It's so messed up sometimes when I think about how I'm explaining this to women who are already so stressed out, and they already have so much responsibility to take on. They’re shouldering the feelings of the worst kind of men. They are now responsible for that. And now they're responsible for stopping this female erasure and stopping this evil plan from being enacted on all of us.

JULIA: California has Scott Wiener as a senator who consistently votes against women’s rights. The things he’s said and the bills he’s championed are disturbing. He lowered the age of consent and thinks incarcerated women who cry out for help are lying about being terrorized by the men they’ve been locked up with. Do you think he's aware of what he's done? Of how much harm he has caused to women?

AMIE: Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's aware. He’s met only with the [trans-identified] men who were specifically hand-picked to be the face of this movement. So, he’s getting a staged, false presentation of the men who are actually being transferred to women’s prisons. He’s being fed all these suspicious statistics that the risk of being sexually assaulted is 14% higher if you’re a transwoman. The transwomen who I talk to that are staying in men’s prison are there because they want to be. They’ve told me [about the 14% statistic], “That’s an urban legend that we’re all getting raped. We get to choose who we want to have sex with.”

There's always going to be a risk of rape in prison, and of being raped anywhere, even Disneyland. But the 14% increase?  They don't understand where that statistic came from. As a matter of fact, we're [Women II Women] working on our own statistics that we can share.

We believe they’re going to be pushing for full-on forced integration, even for the men who don't necessarily want to be there [in women’s prison]. It looks like that's what the end goal is, to have men's prison, and everyone else's prison. Which is what I think is essentially what the powers that be want to happen in the world in general—men’s and everybody else's.

JULIA: Right like with bathrooms, men's and then everyone else.

AMIE: And this is what I keep trying to explain to people. If there was this increased risk, if there were all these rapes, if this culture of just raping every transwoman as soon as they came out of their cells—If this was real, I strongly believe there would be some effort and guardrails and some safety precautions put in place at the men's facilities to stop this from happening, if it was really happening.

JULIA: And we'd hear about at least some of them.

AMIE: Yeah, I mean it has occurred I'm. Not saying that they haven’t, but not at this alarming rate that they're advertising. Not to the point where they can't do their time over there in men’s prison. This is a completely different agenda than what we’re being told it is.

This is predator prioritization. And who better to do it in California? Who better to do it than Scott Wiener? He's ticking off a lot of goals on his little agenda and female erasure is right up there with the abolition of the age of consent. [California lowered age of consent in 2019.]

JULIA: I was reading a little bit of that. It's just insane. I mean what the hell is going on, right? It’s pure madness.

AMIE: Everything that is wrong is being celebrated and amplified by his position. Even SB 357, the act [the Safer Streets for All Act] that decriminalizes prostitution. There's no probable cause for pulling anyone for prostitution anymore. Are you kidding me? It was Wiener claimed black transwomen were being unfairly targeted. Good one. Well played, senator.

He's on the Public Safety Committee. Everything has to go through him and his team before anybody can vote on it, before anybody even sees it. So, of course, he's going to be knocking anything moderate or conservative out of the box, so that he can streamline his stuff and get it in there immediately.

JULIA: That was mind blogging there was like, how is this even? How? Is nobody in office bothered by this?

AMIE: Apparently, they’re not, because almost every elected official in California voted to put male rapists in women’s prison.

JULIA: If you're traditionally left, what the hell do you do? I mean, do you vote for the party that you can't stand? You know that you're against? Or do you vote for the party you belong to that basically says they don't give a shit about you?

AMIE: It’s a horrible position to be in. Because I know what it's like to throw that ballot in, and really self loathe when you're on your way home from the polls.

“We believe they’re going to be pushing for full-on forced integration, even for the men who don't necessarily want to be there [in women’s prison]. It looks like that's what the end goal is, to have men's prison, and everyone else's prison. Which is what I think is essentially what the powers that be want to happen in the world in general—men’s and everybody else's.” - Amie Ichikawa

JULIA: Are you able to vote now? Is it true that people with a criminal conviction can’t vote?

AMIE: You know that's like a pretty big misconception, too. I can vote. As soon as you're off the paperwork, you get all of your rights to vote back. There's a big movement in California, especially to get incarcerated people the right to vote from inside. If an organization does get them the right to vote, they're going to completely use that as a bartering system for funding. Yeah, we need that eight million dollars. We need that grant for 25.8 million dollars, California, give it to us and I can guarantee you all 34 prisons full of registered voters who will vote for you.  So, I think I would, under different circumstances, say that'd be a great idea, but not with the current amount of power that the members of the nonprofit industrial complex have.

JULIA: What would you say to people who want to help incarcerated women and don't know what to do? People on the outside that may have no connections to anyone in prison, but want to help. What can they do to help chip away at this injustice?

AMIE: Talk about it! I know it's uncomfortable. I know it's awkward, and it feels scary, and you might get a cold sweat, and your blood pressure is going to go up. But every conversation that you have, every person that you make aware of what's going on that's: just restoring the voice of one more woman inside. Because that's what we're going to have to do. This is word of mouth. Boots on the ground. One conversation at a time, and that might seem like that's going to take forever. But if we all do it, then it's going to take half of forever.

They can always send stamps. We can use stamps and the women inside really need stamps and just a message of support. Because you know, traditional mail has gotten so expensive. Now we send a lot of mail, and because we haven't had time to develop a form of curriculum, and at this point I don't know what the odds of us getting a curriculum inside would be.

JULIA: Who would we send that to?

AMIE: You can send it to Woman II Woman, Inc., P.O. Box 465 Harbor City, CA, 90710.

When we get approval for certain items, we’ll send the women something sweet, just a little reminder, just for them to know that they still matter. I'll send in the most feminine, girly things I can find. Things that are sparkly, like the butterfly hair clips, anything that they can get approval for that's going to remind them that they are women and that they are special. It’s been really successful the last year or so. One woman said every time I see one of those sparkly hair clips, I’m reminded somebody cares about us, that we matter.

JULIA: That’s really very sweet and thoughtful. Thank you, Amie. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to me. This has been really insightful, and helpful. What you’re doing to support women—inside but outside as well—is so important. Be well.

AMIE: Thank you and take care of yourself. Have a great night.

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