WoLF Issues Demand Letter to Halt Transfers of Men to Women’s Prisons in California
SACRAMENTO, CA., June 21, 2021 — Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), a national feminist organization, has issued a letter demanding an immediate halt to the transferring of male inmates to women’s prisons due to allegations that such policies place female inmates in danger and violate their civil rights.
The letter, addressed to California’s Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Department of Corrections Secretary Kathleen Allison, outlines multiple statutory and constitutional violations that have resulted from the passage and implementation of SB 132, which allows prisoners to request housing based on their self-proclaimed “gender identity.”
The demands outlined in the letter include:
(1) Immediately halt transfers of male inmates to women’s facilities, and remove all male inmates who have been transferred thus far;
(2) Halt the processing of applications for transfers pending a safety assessment and proper notice and comment period;
(3) Barring that, segregate male inmates together and allow women to refuse sharing housing with male inmates.
The letter describes multiple harms caused by SB 132, including instances of male sex offenders being housed in the same room as women and at least one physical assault.
WoLF Legal Director Lauren Adams said, “Incarcerated women in California have been stripped of their rights and are being subjected to cruel punishment that has no place in a civilized democracy. I have spoken to dozens of current and formerly incarcerated women in the state — they are terrified.”
“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?”
Hundreds of male prisoners in California have already requested transfers to women’s prisons under SB 132. The letter demands that state leaders “do the right thing” by halting these transfers. “California’s incarcerated women are in real and imminent danger,” it reads, “and irreparable damage is being done to their mental health and physical safety.”
Woman II Woman, a California non-profit that supports women in re-entry, reiterated these concerns in an open letter, also published Monday.