Women Deserve to Be Heard: WoLF Backs Prison Intervention Effort!

By Lauren Bone, Legal Director 

For years, policymakers and courts have debated whether male prisoners who identify as women should be housed in women's correctional facilities. Throughout those debates, one group has been consistently overlooked: the women forced to live with the consequences.

The Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) is proud to support a group of incarcerated women seeking to intervene in ongoing federal litigation concerning the transfer and housing of male inmates in women’s prisons. WoLF has committed $25,000 toward the legal costs of intervention in the case Doe v. Blanche, helping ensure that women whose safety, privacy, and dignity are directly at stake have a voice in court. Mia Cathell, from the Washington Examiner wrote about the case. 

Help us continue important legal work like this!

Women Have Been Missing From the Conversation

The underlying litigation arose after the federal government changed course on policies governing the placement of male inmates who identify as women. The dispute has largely focused on the rights and interests of those male prisoners and the authority of the federal government to implement its policies.

What has been missing is meaningful representation of the women housed in those facilities.

The women seeking intervention argue that neither side in the litigation adequately represents their interests. They are not government officials, advocacy organizations, or policymakers. They are women who must sleep, shower, change clothes, use the toilet, and navigate daily life in correctional settings where the consequences of these policies are immediate and unavoidable.

Why Intervention Matters

Courts depend upon a complete factual record when deciding important constitutional and policy questions. Yet time and again, litigation involving the placement of male prisoners in women’s facilities proceeds without testimony from the women affected.

Even when courts acknowledge the issue, the perspectives of female inmates often remain absent from the record.

WoLF has seen this problem before.

In Doe v. Blanche (which at the time was called Doe v. Bondi), we sought to file an amicus brief focused specifically on the rights, safety, privacy, and dignity of incarcerated women. During oral argument, members of the court openly recognized that the existing record contained little discussion of the impact on women prisoners. Yet WoLF's brief was ultimately rejected, leaving the court without a dedicated presentation of those concerns.

This pattern is deeply troubling. When courts are asked to weigh competing rights and interests, justice requires that all affected parties have an opportunity to be heard.

The Stakes for Women

Single-sex prisons exist for a reason.

Sex-separated correctional facilities recognize the profound physical differences between men and women, as well as women's heightened vulnerability to sexual violence. They provide privacy in some of the most intimate circumstances imaginable and protect women who are often themselves survivors of abuse and trauma.

The women seeking intervention are asking the court to recognize these realities.

Their position is not rooted in hostility toward anyone. It is rooted in the belief that women retain their rights even while incarcerated. Loss of liberty is part of a criminal sentence. Loss of privacy, dignity, and sex-based protections should not be.

WoLF's Commitment

WoLF has long advocated for the rights of incarcerated women through litigation, public education, and policy advocacy. We have challenged California's prison policies in Chandler, participated in federal litigation concerning the placement of male inmates in women's facilities, and worked to ensure that courts hear from the women most directly affected.

Supporting this intervention is a continuation of that work.

Women deserve representation when their rights are on the line. They deserve a place in the courtroom when decisions affecting their safety and dignity are being made.

Most of all, they deserve to be heard.

WoLF is proud to help make that possible.

If you believe women’s rights do not disappear behind prison walls, please consider supporting WoLF’s legal advocacy. Your support helps ensure that women have a voice in the courts, legislatures, and public institutions where critical decisions about their lives are made.

"Rhonda Fleming, lead plaintiff in the Texas case, told the Washington Examiner that Stoltz complained at a hearing last month that the separation arrangement would create a miniature “men’s prison” at FMC Carswell in violation of Lamberth’s restraint. “If they all claim to be women, what is the big deal with them being in one area?” Fleming questioned. “These men want access to women, but not each other.”