Today, the United States Department of Justice notified California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Maine Gov. Janet Mills of the initiation of federal investigations into California\u2019s and Maine\u2019s practice of housing men in women\u2019s prisons.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department will investigate whether California engages in a pattern or practice of violating the constitutional rights of female prisoners incarcerated at the California Institution for Women (CIW) in San Bernardino County and the Central California Women\u2019s Facility (CCWF) in Madera County.\u00a0 The Justice Department also will investigate whether Maine similarly engages in a pattern or practice of violating constitutional rights of women incarcerated at Maine Correctional Center in Windham (MCC Windham).<\/p>\n
\u201cKeeping men out of women\u2019s prisons is not only common sense \u2013 it\u2019s a matter of safety and constitutional rights,\u201d said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. \u201cThe Trump Administration will not stand by if governors are facilitating the abuse of biological women under the guise of inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder my leadership, the Civil Rights Division will not allow women incarcerated in jails or prisons to be subject to unconstitutional risks of harm from male inmates,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon.\u00a0 \u201cThese investigations will uncover whether the dangerous national trend of housing men in women\u2019s prisons has resulted in violations of women\u2019s constitutional rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia\u2019s Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act has provided none of these qualities to the female inmates of state prisons who have been forced to share space with biological men who are violent felons,\u201d said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. \u00a0\u201cOur Constitution protects women from having their civil rights violated by harmful state legislation wrapped in the language of \u2018equity\u2019 and \u2018progress.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIncarcerated individuals can be particularly susceptible to having their rights violated,\u201d said Andrew B. Benson, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine. \u00a0\u201cThe U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office is committed to protecting the civil rights of all Maine citizens, no matter where they live, and will work with our colleagues in the Civil Rights Division to ensure that this vulnerable population is protected from harm while housed in state custody.\u201d<\/p>\n
In California, the Justice Department will investigate widely reported allegations of deprivation of female prisoners\u2019 rights, including the First Amendment\u2019s guarantees of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion, the Eighth Amendment\u2019s protection from cruel and unusual punishment, and the Fourteenth Amendment\u2019s Equal Protection Clause. \u00a0There have been allegations of sexual assaults, rape, voyeurism and a pervasive climate of sexual intimidation due to the presence of males in the women\u2019s prison.<\/p>\n
Under California law, men in state prisons, including violent felons charged with sex crimes and who have intact genitals, can request transfer to women\u2019s prisons based on self-identification as transgender.<\/p>\n
In Maine, the Justice Department will investigate allegations that Maine has allowed a biological male inmate to remain housed with women despite complaints that the male inmate has assaulted or harassed several female inmates.<\/p>\n
The Department has not reached any conclusions regarding allegations in these matters. \u00a0The Department will investigate CIW, CCWF, and MCC Windham pursuant to its authority to enforce the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA). \u00a0Under CRIPA, the Department has the authority to investigate violations of prisoners\u2019 constitutional rights that result from a \u201cpattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of such rights.\u201d \u00a0The Department has conducted CRIPA investigations of many correctional systems, and where violations have been found, the resulting settlement agreements have led to important reforms. \u00a0The Department will also investigate CIW and CCWF under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. \u00a7 2000cc.<\/p>\n
Individuals with relevant information are encouraged to contact the Department via civilrights.justice.gov\/report\/. \u00a0The Department is also collecting information on men housed in women\u2019s jails and prisons anywhere in the country. \u00a0Individuals can reach the National Initiative Examining the Housing of Biological Men in Women\u2019s Prisons at 1-888-394-7118 or SingleSexPrison.Initiative@usdoj.gov<\/a>. \u00a0Additional information about the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is available on its website at www.justice.gov\/crt<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s notice to California is separate and unrelated to an existing CRIPA investigation into alleged abuse of female inmates by prison staff at CCWF and CIW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today, the United States Department of Justice notified California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Maine Gov. Janet Mills of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-241016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}