Minnesota’s only all-female prison now houses a transgender inmate who is biologically male.
10 Other Left-Leaning States House Prisoners Based on Gender Identity
For over a century, the Shakopee Correctional Facility has been Minnesota’s only women’s prison. However, earlier this month, the state transferred a biological male who claimed gender identity “discrimination” to the jail.
This move comes after Christina, formerly Craig, Lusk sued the Minnesota Department of Corrections last year over “discrimination and harassment” at the men’s facility where he had been remanded. Lusk complained of “misnaming and misgendering,” as well as being denied sexual reassignment surgery, insisting the actions were in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the Minnesota Constitution, and the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
Minnesota’s Department of Corrections agreed to move Lusk to the all-female facility, the first time the state has done so. This decision means Minnesota’s only all-female prison is no more. It also aligns Minnesota with some of the nation’s most liberal states, such as California and Connecticut, that have similarly eradicated their all-female prisons to allow transgender inmates to be housed there.
Issues with Transgender Inmates in Female Prisons
- In California, the housing of transgender inmates in all-female prisons has affected biologically female inmates a great deal. Faced with the prospect of unruly male-to-female transgender inmates, prison officials have begun increasing restrictions on movement in female correctional facilities.
- California has also ignored claims of sexual assault and rape from biologically female inmates, according to a legal complaint filed on behalf of several female offenders housed under the California Department of Corrections.
- Similar problems have plagued other liberal states. Last year in New York, a transgender inmate at Rikers Island penitentiary raped a female prisoner while in the women’s section of the jail and was sentenced to seven more years behind bars for the offense.
- A third of biologically male transgender inmates seeking to be moved to female prisons are registered sex offenders, according to data from the California Department of Corrections.
“A goal of decreasing vulnerability of a subset of men (those with ‘sexual minority’ designation) cannot be pursued by increasing the vulnerability of women,” the complaint reads. “Decreasing the risk that a subgroup of men will suffer prison rape only by creating a corresponding increased risk that women will suffer prison rape is neither constitutional nor compliant with PREA.”
Liberal States’ Policies on Transgender Inmates
California’s liberal governor, Gavin Newsom, in 2020 signed the Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act, which requires the state’s Department of Corrections to house inmates based on their preferred gender identity. Left-wing executives in Connecticut and Washington, D.C., have implemented similar policies, while other states transfer transgender inmates on a case-by-case basis.
More states will likely join the ranks of California and Connecticut. New York is considering legislation that requires jails and prisons to place anyone who “self-identifies as transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary, or intersex” in a correctional facility that aligns with his or her self-described gender status.
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