UN Special Rapporteur Raises Alarm Over the Treatment of Women in California Prisons
By: Jasmin Faulk, WoLF Executive Director
On September 1, 2026, Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, made public a formal letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom concerning reports of sex-based violence against women incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility. The Governor has not responded to her letter.
Four of the women whose experiences the letter details—Tomiekia Johnson, Nadia Romero, Cathleen Quinn, and Channel Johnson—are plaintiffs in Chandler v. Macomber, Women’s Liberation Front’s (WoLF) lawsuit challenging SB 132. The communication also notes allegations that prison officials treated Tomiekia Johnson’s “participation in the lawsuit” as evidence of her “bias” and retaliated against women who reported harassment, threats, and violations of their privacy.
The letter reinforces WoLF’s position raising “serious concern” about women being required to share sleeping quarters, showers, toilets, and other intimate spaces with biological males under California’s SB 132. It described the allegations as a possible “stark example of discrimination against women” and emphasized the state’s “heightened duty of care” toward incarcerated women—particularly survivors of sexual and domestic violence.
Ms. Alsalem requested answers regarding California’s transfer policies, the criminal histories of male prisoners transferred into women’s facilities, complaints submitted by female inmates, reported retaliation, and the safeguards available to protect women’s dignity, privacy, and safety. She warned that a failure to protect these women could constitute a “blatant violation of their rights.”
The Special Rapporteur urged authorities to take immediate interim measures to “halt the alleged violations.” This communication brings pressing international attention to the harms WoLF’s plaintiffs have been reporting for years—and reinforces why WoLF will continue fighting to restore single-sex prisons and protect the rights and safety of incarcerated women.
Ms. Alsalem also filed an amicus brief in the Chandler case last month in support of the women and in opposition to the housing policies to which they have been subjected to in the past five years. The case is currently under appeal in the Ninth Circuit.
WoLF extends its sincere gratitude to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem for her steadfast support of WoLF’s work and her courageous commitment to defending the safety, dignity, and human rights of women and girls.
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The women at the center of this case have taken tremendous risks to speak out. WoLF remains committed to ensuring their voices are heard and their rights are defended, but sustained litigation requires extensive legal research, court filings, appeals, and years of determined advocacy.
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