{"id":605126,"date":"2026-05-21T02:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=605126"},"modified":"2026-05-21T02:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:35:00","slug":"washington-state-under-federal-investigation-for-housing-men-in-womens-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=605126","title":{"rendered":"Washington State Under Federal Investigation For Housing Men In Women’s Prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington State Under Federal Investigation For Housing Men In Women’s Prisons<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced May 19 that its agents have launched an investigation into Washington State\u2019s practice of housing male inmates in women\u2019s prisons.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson speaks during a news conference outside the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash. on April 28, 2026. Nick Wagner\/The Seattle Times via AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Gov. Bob Ferguson was notified in writing of the federal probe into an alleged pattern of \u201cviolating the constitutional rights of female prisoners incarcerated at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, Washington,\u201d the DOJ stated.<\/p>\n

The investigation is based on allegations that the prison has failed to protect female prisoners from sexual assaults, rape, voyeurism, and sexual intimidation by males who identify as females housed with them at the facility.<\/p>\n

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the DOJ\u2019s Civil Rights Division said the practice would be a violation of the prisoners\u2019 Eighth Amendment protections from cruel and unusual punishment.<\/strong><\/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 Dhillon said in a statement. \u201cThe constitutional rights of women cannot be sacrificed at the altar of appeasing unsupported and dangerous ideologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Washington State Department of Corrections adopted a policy in 2020 to allow men who identify as transgender to request a transfer to women\u2019s facilities. The policy requires housing accommodations for inmates who are transgender, intersex, and gender-neutral to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n

The state is one of a small number of states to adopt similar policies. Maine, California, New York, Minnesota, and New Jersey also allow people who identify as transgender to be housed in a prison that matches their choice in gender.<\/strong> California and Maine were notified in March that their policies were also under investigation.<\/p>\n

The DOJ said it was also collecting information from the public on men housed in women\u2019s jails and prisons anywhere in the country as part of a wider investigation.<\/p>\n

Investigating transgender prison policies is part of the Trump administration\u2019s program to eliminate \u201cgender ideology extremism and restore biological truth to the federal government,\u201d which was an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in 2025.<\/p>\n

The DOJ plans to review policies at the Washington prison and the Department of Corrections, and any evidence that has been reported. Federal investigators will work with the state to remedy any violations, according to the letter.<\/p>\n

The investigation comes weeks after the America First Policy Institute, a right-leaning nonprofit think tank, filed a lawsuit challenging the state\u2019s corrections policy, alleging it has led to violence, sexual abuse, intimidation, and fear among female inmates.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, accompanied by her aides, speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Sept. 29, 2025. \u00a0Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

The complaint was filed on behalf of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, Fair for All, Inc., and Faith Booher-Smith, an inmate who was allegedly violently attacked by a transgender inmate at the prison in 2025.<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim female inmates have been forced to share cells, showers, bathrooms, and other intimate living spaces with male inmates, stripping them of the sex-based protections of a women\u2019s prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cA women\u2019s prison is supposed to protect women<\/strong>,\u201d said Leigh Ann O\u2019Neill, chief legal affairs officer at the institute. \u201cWashington\u2019s policy turned that basic duty on its head.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Washington governor\u2019s office did not return a request for comment about the investigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 05\/20\/2026 – 22:35<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington State Under Federal Investigation For Housing Men In Women’s Prisons Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced May 19 that its agents have launched an investigation into Washington State\u2019s practice of housing male inmates in women\u2019s prisons. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson speaks during a… Continue reading Washington State Under Federal Investigation For Housing Men In Women’s Prisons<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-605126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=605126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/605127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=605126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=605126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=605126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}