Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) introduced legislation on Wednesday, which if made law would prevent biological men from being housed with female prisoners, even men who “identify” as women.
The bill’s text said its purpose is “to secure the dignity and safety of incarcerated women,” and is in response to the President Joe Biden administration’s support for policy that allows inmates in federal prisons to be housed according to their “chosen gender” rather than their biological sex.
“The Preventing Violence Against Female Inmates Act, is legislation ‘to prohibit the Bureau of Prisons from housing prisoners with persons of the opposite sex,'” the press release announcing the bill said. Cotton said:
President Biden’s plan to house male and female prisoners together will put women in danger. Documented cases prove that placing men—including ones who ‘identify’ as female—in women’s prisons puts female inmates at increased risk of sexual assault.
“My bill will stop the president’s ill-conceived plan and keep men and women separated in federal prison,” Cotton said.
Cotton’s office said supporters of the legislation include the American Principles Project, Heritage Action, and Concerned Women for America.
The bill would:
- Forbid the Bureau of Prisons from using asserted “gender identity” to house inmates of one sex with inmates of the opposite sex.
- As a condition of receiving certain federal law enforcement grant funds, forbid state correctional institutions from using gender identity to house inmates of one sex with inmates of the opposite sex.
Opposition to the prison gender identity policy includes a lawsuit filed last month by a feminist organization accusing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of putting women inmates in danger by housing biological men with them, according to a National Review report:
The Women’s Liberation Front lawsuit … argues that the state department of corrections of is violating the First, Eighth and 14th amendments with a new law known as the Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act, or SB 132.
The suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Corrections Secretary Kathleen Allison, and wardens Michael Pallares and Mona Houston, says the law “cannot be applied in any manner that avoids violating the federal and state constitutional rights” of the plaintiffs.
Plaintiff Krystal Gonzalez says she was sexually assaulted by a biological male who was transferred to Central California Women’s Facility under the law. According to the suit, when Gonzalez filed a complaint and requested to be housed away from men the prison’s response called her alleged attacker a “transgender woman with a penis.”
The press release from Cotton’s office said his legislation would not prevent prisons from setting up separate housing options for inmates who want to live according to their “gender identity.”
It also would not apply to short-term mixed-sex holding facilities such as those used in courthouses.
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