OLYMPIA, WA – The Trump administration on Tuesday launched an investigation into Washington state’s practice of housing transgender women in its women’s prison.
In a letter to Gov. Bob Ferguson, the U.S. Department of Justice cited allegations that the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor has “failed to protect female prisoners from sexual and physical violence, harassment, voyeurism, and intimidation from male prisoners who identify as female.”
The Justice Department argued this could violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Washington’s state constitution also prohibits cruel conditions specifically for prisoners.
The inquiry follows a lawsuit filed last month against the state by a woman held at the Gig Harbor women’s prison, alleging a transgender woman physically attacked her. The woman alleged several other transgender women were held at the prison.
The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism brought the lawsuit. The group, known as FAIR, has also filed complaints that preceded other federal investigations into the state, including over the participation of transgender athletes in school sports and Washington’s program offering no-interest home loans to residents harmed by historical discrimination. FAIR has campaigned against gender-inclusive policies in schools.
In this case, the group is represented by the America First Policy Institute, a firm founded by allies of President Donald Trump.
The state Department of Corrections has faced several legal complaints over similar concerns.
“The constitutional rights of women cannot be sacrificed at the altar of appeasing unsupported and dangerous ideologies,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in a press release.
The state has also dealt with American Civil Liberties Union-backed litigation in recent years over keeping a transgender woman in a men’s unit. A state appellate court denied the woman’s challenge last year.
Under Department of Corrections’ policy, state prisons have to conduct an assessment of sexual abuse risk for each prisoner within 72 hours of their arrival under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. A follow-up evaluation follows 21 to 30 days later.
Transgender, intersex and non-binary prisoners can request a transfer to gender-affirming housing. A team of medical, mental health and custody staff makes recommendations to agency headquarters on where they should be imprisoned. Housing assignments are reassessed every six months.
Federal regulations under the Prison Rape Elimination Act state: “In deciding whether to assign a transgender or intersex inmate to a facility for male or female inmates, and in making other housing and programming assignments, the agency shall consider on a case-by-case basis whether a placement would ensure the inmate’s health and safety, and whether the placement would present management or security problems.”
Spokespeople for Ferguson and Corrections didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
In her letter to the governor, Dhillon said her agency hadn’t reached conclusions about what the investigation would find. The probe could result in the feds pushing the state to change its practices. It’s unclear how long the inquiry will last.
Meanwhile, the state’s prison watchdog has taken issue with the Department of Corrections placing transgender prisoners in restrictive units for weeks or months at a time while trying to find alternative housing for them due to safety concerns. Some have reported this practice feels more punitive than protective.
Since retaking office last year, Trump has pushed to limit how transgender people can participate in American society. Actions have included attempting to block federal funding for hospitals providing gender-affirming care for transgender youth and claiming that transgender girls competing in girls’ sports amounts to sex discrimination.
Trump also issued an executive order mandating that transgender women incarcerated in federal prison be moved to men’s facilities. In response to a lawsuit trying to block the move, a federal appeals court last month allowed the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to go ahead with the transfers.
A Trump administration national counterterrorism strategy released this month lists “violent left-wing extremists” alongside drug cartels and “Islamist terrorists” as the three major terror groups threatening the nation. It describes left-wing extremists as “violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.”
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