Incarcerated women are suing a state prison system that allows violent \u201ctransgender\u201d men to be housed in female prisons.<\/p>\n
The Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) gives violent male convicts who self-identify as transgender full access to women\u2019s prisons, including cells, bathrooms, and showers. The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) argues these actions are discriminatory and unsafe. By forcing women to share a prison with violent men, Washington DOC is violating the fundamental constitutional rights of women to be safe while incarcerated, according to a lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0filed on April 27.<\/p>\n \u201cWashington\u2019s housing policy subjects women to cruel and unusual punishment by disregarding the biological differences that justify sex-separated facilities in the first place,\u201d Leigh Ann O\u2019Neill, an AFPI attorney representing the plaintiffs, told The Daily Wire.\u00a0\u201cI am proud to support this action on behalf of the female inmates.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit highlights public data showing that over 50% of males in federal prisons who self-identified as transgender between May 2024 and January 2025 were sex offenders. Placing male sex offenders in women\u2019s prisons has resulted in physical and sexual assaults against women.<\/p>\n \u201cThe housing of these male inmates with females \u2014 including as bunkmates in the same cell \u2014 has led to multiple instances of violence and sexual abuse against the female inmates, persistent harassment, and the routine intimidation of female inmates in violation of their fundamental constitutional rights to serve their sentences in safety and without further punishment,\u201d states the lawsuit.\u00a0\u201c[Washington] DOC\u2019s Transgender Inmate Policy exposes female inmates to a population statistically more likely of having committed a sexual offense, and only females can become pregnant as a result of these offenses.\u201d<\/p>\n The plaintiffs, the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, Inc., and Faith Booher-Smith, are suing the Washington DOC and Tim Lang in his official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Corrections.<\/p>\n > \u201cWilliams approached her silently from behind and struck her on the side of her face with his fist, then grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground before kicking her repeatedly with such force that she sustained visible injuries, including, facial bruising, a laceration in her mouth, and swelling to her jaw and eye,\u201d states the lawsuit.<\/p>\n Williams is described in the lawsuit as a \u201csix-foot-four, \u2018biologically intact\u2019 male\u201d and \u201cconvicted child sex offender\u201d that allegedly assaulted<\/a>\u00a0and harassed his former cell mate, Mozzy Clark.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Ms. Clark has alleged, Williams sexually assaulted her for months during the time she was forced to share a cell with him,\u201d states the lawsuit.\u00a0\u201cWilliams masturbated in front of her, groped her while she slept, and repeatedly threatened her with rape.\u201d<\/p>\n Clark brought allegations against Williams in a\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0she filed against the Washington DOC in December 2024.<\/p>\n Claiming he did not feel safe \u201cbeing classified as male,\u201d Williams repeatedly asked to be transferred to WCCW, public records<\/a>\u00a0show. A Washington DOC Housing Assignment Review committee denied his request in November 2019, recommending instead that he was transferred to a single cell in a male prison due to his \u201cpast violence towards women,\u201d public records\u00a0show<\/a>.<\/p>\n When Williams requested to be transferred to WCCW in the summer of 2021, Eric Jackson, the former Superintendent of a male prison where Williams had been incarcerated, recommended against his transfer to WCCW due to his history of violence against women.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to Williams\u2019 serious infraction history and the most recent conviction where Williams assaulted and inflicted serious life-threatening injuries to a female victim, would not recommend placement at WCCW,\u201d a document from August 2021 exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire states.<\/p>\n Despite these recommendations, the Washington DOC moved Williams to WCCW in the fall of 2021 in alignment with its transgender housing policies. Within months of his arrival to WCCW, Williams allegedly assaulted Clark.<\/p>\n Williams is serving a sentence for first-degree assault and has an\u00a0earned release<\/a>\u00a0date of 2038, according to previous\u00a0reporting<\/a>. He is currently being housed in a male prison, according to the Washington DOC\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Washington DOC published its\u00a0first transgender policy<\/a>\u00a0allowing inmates to be\u00a0housed according<\/a>\u00a0to their gender identity, rather than biology, in February 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing in the Policy even prohibits a male who is sexually attracted to females \u2014 let alone a male convicted of raping females \u2014\u00a0 from ultimately sharing an unsupervised cell with a female inmate, so long as he claims to \u2018identify\u2019 as a woman,\u201d states the lawsuit.<\/p>\n \u201cMale inmates known to Plaintiffs who are attracted to females and who make no effort to conform to a female \u2018gender identity\u2019 are permitted to be housed at WCCW, share a cell with female inmates, enter the bathrooms and other intimate spaces designated for females, and even have sexual relations with female inmates.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWomen are uniquely exposed to risks \u2014 including the possibility of pregnancy \u2014 that male inmates do not face. That disparity underscores a fundamental violation of the women\u2019s equal protection rights,\u201d O\u2019Neill told The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n Washington DOC has some of the most radical transgender policies in the country.\u00a0It further expanded its gender ideology policies in October 2023 after reaching a\u00a0settlement<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0Disability Rights Washington<\/a>\u00a0(DRW), a federally funded\u00a0nonprofit<\/a>\u00a0that claimed the prison system was\u00a0violating<\/a>\u00a0the rights of transgender inmates by failing to provide medical sex-change procedures.\u00a0The Washington DOC now provides inmates with cross-sex clothing, surgery, and sex-change medical interventions as part of the settlement.<\/p>\n The AFPI legal team says this special treatment of men is further evidence of discrimination against women, who have to pay for personal items and accommodations that are provided to trans-identifying male inmates at no cost.<\/p>\n \u201c[Washington] DOC routinely categorizes medically necessary care for female inmates as \u2018elective\u2019 or \u2018non-urgent,\u2019 resulting in delay or denial of treatment.\u00a0At the same time, sex-rejecting procedures for trans-identifying male inmates are approved and prioritized under standards that are no more urgent\u2014and in many cases less urgent or entirely unnecessary\u2014than the care denied to female The Washington DOC told The Daily Wire it does not comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-21-1024x385.jpeg\")
Booher-Smith, an incarcerated woman housed at Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW), alleges she was physically assaulted in August 2025 by Christopher Williams, a man who self-identifies as female.<\/p>\n
inmates,\u201d states the lawsuit.<\/p>\n