Feminists Urge Governor Mills to Veto Maine Prison Self-ID Bill

The bill would house inmates based on their “gender identity,” putting violent men in women’s facilities.

AUGUSTA, ME., June 17, 2021 — Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), a national feminist organization, is calling on Governor Mills of Maine to veto LD 1044, which would place male offenders in women’s prisons based on their self-proclaimed “gender identity.”

While the bill claims to “Protect the Rights of Certain Incarcerated Individuals,” it does this at the cost of the safety, dignity, and civil and human rights of Maine’s incarcerated women. If signed into law, the bill will allow men, regardless of their history of violence against women, to be moved to female correctional facilities.

WoLF Legal Director, Lauren Adams, said:

“There is nothing progressive about violating the most basic of human rights afforded to incarcerated women. Prisons are separated by sex for a reason — to keep women safe from male violence.” 

In states like California and Washington that have enacted bills like LD 1044, incarcerated women have already experienced devastating results. One man, convicted of raping and torturing women, was moved to a California women’s prison where he subsequently raped female inmates. 

“I am in fear over this,” said Danielle F., a woman currently incarcerated in a California state prison:

“I am a victim of domestic violence and rape. What if one of these sex offenders that have their penises rapes us, then what?”

In Washington state, at least one of the men transferred under the state’s “gender identity” policy sexually assaulted a female inmate upon arrival. 

Women’s involvement in the justice system is largely tied to their experiences of male violence. Women are most likely to be convicted of drug or property crimes, and the rates of violent crime committed by women are significantly lower than for men. When women commit violent crimes, it tends to be against an abusive male partner. Forcing women to be housed with violent men, including sex offenders, is cruel and a violation of their human rights.

Amie Ichikawa, founder of Woman II Woman, a nonprofit that represents incarcerated women, said:

“I have received hundreds of messages from incarcerated women in California who are living in a constant state of fear for their safety from the transfers from the men’s facilities. Many of the transfers are the same kind of abusers these women are trying to recover from. There is no respite from the mental anguish this situation is causing. This law was created with no regard to women’s health or safety and we hope other states can learn from this in their attempts to accommodate everyone by not disregarding incarcerated women when making decisions that affect every second of their lives.”

In addition to being cruel, these bills are also wildly unpopular with a bipartisan majority of American voters. According to October 2020 polling, over three-fourths of American voters (77 percent) agree that male sex offenders or domestic abusers should not be housed in women’s prisons, regardless of how they identify.

This bill would also force female officers to conduct intimate searches on male prisoners, and unconstitutionally compel the speech of correctional officers.

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Women’s Liberation Front is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to protecting, restoring, and advancing the rights of women and girls.

For media inquiries please contact:

M. K. Fain

WoLF Director of Communications

media@womensliberationfront.org