California bill to bar trans-identified male sex offenders from women's prisons heads to committee

Women's rights groups are hoping that after California Democrats blocked two bills to restore sex-separated sports in schools, they might be persuaded to at least prohibit trans-identified male prisoners who have committed sex offenses from preying on incarcerated women. Republican state Senator Shannon Grove, known for her steadfast protections for women, authored Senate Bill 311, the “Incarcerated Women’s Protection Act,” that is set for a committee hearing on Tuesday, April 29. The bill seeks to prevent male sex offenders from being transferred to women's prisons, a practice that has led to state-enabled abuse, sexual violence, and institutional betrayal.

This bill takes direct aim at Senator Scott Wiener’s controversial 2021 "Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act" law (SB132) that has been flooding female prisons with male inmates. Sen. Wiener sits on the committee that will decide whether to kill the bill or let it move forward. Wiener has stood solidly with the transgender community even, or especially when that stance is harmful to females. Wiener recently lashed out at Governor Gavin Newsom for stating that allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports is "deeply unfair," saying that the governor’s stance is "profoundly disturbing" and standing with “a vile bigot" a reference to Charlie Kirk who raised the issue on Newsom’s failing podcast.   

Any male prisoner can simply claim a transgender identity and can apply for a transfer request, moving them to women's quarters, regardless of their rap sheet or anatomy. Latest prison statistics reveal a shocking 45 trans-identifying males already housed with women, another 206 transfers pending, and with 871 requests awaiting processing. Even the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recognizes that there is no shortage of men who find themselves looking at prison time who suddenly adopt a transgender identity. The floodgates are wide open under current rules, with zero restrictions on which “trans-identified males” get access to females. A 2022 public records request revealed that one in three male inmates seeking transfer to a women’s facility is a registered sex offender.

Women inside these institutions say the consequences of these transfers are not theoretical. They are felt every single day. Tomiekia Johnson, a formerly incarcerated prisoner at Central California Women’s Facility, has been outspoken about the dangers. She says inmates who speak up are punished, not protected. “I’ve seen nothing but manipulation. Lies. Harm. Crimes committed against women,” Johnson said. “You have condoms in the restrooms now. What are condoms doing in a women’s prison?” Legal filings in a lawsuit challenging SB132 claim she and two others were thrown into isolation after reporting sexual harassment by a biological male prisoner.

In her testimony to the California Senate Rules Committee against the appointment of Jeffery Macomber as Undersecretary of Operations, Lauren Adams Bone, WoLF Legal Counsel, quoted from a letter penned by an incarcerated woman who wrote: In a letter, one incarcerated woman, "This [permitting males in female prisons] is the most malicious way to tell an abused woman that what we went through wasn’t important. Despite our trauma, we are forced to live, shower, and coexist with our pain. Tell me how that is humane." 

One of the most chilling examples is Tremaine Carroll, a “Three Strikes” inmate who had been transferred to Central California Women’s Facility and now faces multiple felony rape charges in the infamous case in which Judge Katherine Rigby is requiring the victim and prosecutor to refer to the hulking intact biological male as a woman. According to the Madera County District Attorney, Carroll allegedly raped at least two female inmates. One of the victims said she was attacked in the shower just days after Carroll was housed with her.

Ironically, Carroll had previously served as a “poster child” for the claim that “transgender women” are perfectly suited to be housed with females for the ACLU’s insertion into the lawsuit challenging SB132. Carroll had submitted a sworn declaration insisting, "But I am not a threat to them." Carroll has since been transferred back to a men’s facility.

Carroll’s case is not isolated. Dana Rivers, a biological male convicted of brutally murdering a lesbian couple and their teenage son in what prosecutors described as a lesbian hate crime, is also housed in a women’s prison. Female inmates say Rivers has engaged in intimidation, verbal abuse, and demands for special treatment.

Then there is Shawn Gustafson, a convicted pedophile serving 30 years to life for molesting two children under 10. He was transferred to the California Institution for Women and has reportedly been placed in segregation multiple times for sexual misconduct.

Allowing biological male predators into the female prisons “isn’t a loophole. This is the law operating exactly the way it was written, and California legislators now have any opportunity to at least afford some protections to female prisoners with SB311” said Amie Ichikawa, Executive Director of Woman II Woman, an advocacy group founded by formerly incarcerated women.