California's Male Inmates Can Now Choose To Stay in Women's Prisons
Biological males who find themselves on the wrong side of the California justice system will now be given the choice to serve their sentence in either a men’s or a women’s prison.
Under a new law, a prisoner’s claimed gender identity will determine what type of facility they end up at.
Prison officials will be forced to address inmates by their chosen pronoun and “honorific” title. Worse yet, authorities will seemingly be stripped of any real power to stop these transfers.
The Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act (S.B. 132), which gives state inmates this new power, was signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 26. The provisions of the law go into effect Jan. 1, 2021, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The law allows prisoners to choose from a “broad and inclusive” pool of gender identities, including male, female, “two-spirit,” “mahu” and everything in between.
Incoming inmates will be asked about their identity during processing, and those already behind bars will be allowed to alert corrections officers to their claimed gender at any time.
The identity will determine how prisoners are addressed and even how searches are performed on them.
Most importantly, the new law mandates that inmates be “housed at a correctional facility designated for men or women based on the individual’s preference, including, if eligible, at a residential program for individuals under the jurisdiction of the department.”
Although officials can interrupt this process, the bill places heavy restrictions on any response.
Officials denying the rehousing of an inmate must submit a written “specific and articulable” reason for the refusal.
The law mandates that a prisoner’s anatomy, genitalia or physical appearance cannot be used as grounds to deny a transfer. The sexual orientation of inmates is also not considered a valid reason for denial.
With those constraints, it’s unclear how lawmakers intend prison officials to realistically combat exploitation of the new system.
Despite the confusion, the CDCR is moving ahead with the implementation of policies and procedures for handling transgender inmates.
CDCR Secretary Ralph Diaz assured the public that the new act would not weaken anti-rape laws already in effect across the prison system.
“No one deserves to be treated disrespectfully because of their gender identity or expression. And it is our sworn duty to protect people from sexual assault and violence,” Diaz said in a news release.
“Senate Bill 132 will bolster our ongoing efforts to address the inequalities and complex needs the incarcerated transgender, non-binary and intersex community faces and codify our policies for the screening, treatment, and housing of this population as required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act.”
This devastatingly progressive bill only serves as the latest example of the leftism in California that is driving a mass exodus from the state.
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