255 ‘Transgender’ Inmates Request Transfer To Women’s Prisons After California Passes New Law

Hundreds of male inmates in California who identify as female have requested to be transferred to a women’s prison since a new law went into effect on the first of the year allowing them to make that choice.

Last fall, California Gov. 👤Gavin Newsom signed legislation that allows incarcerated “transgender, non-binary and intersex people” to choose if they want to be housed in a male or female prison, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Since the bill took effect on Jan. 1, there have been 261 requests for transfers, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

All but six of the requests were for housing at a women’s facility, and no transfer requests have been denied.

These transfer requests have created fear in inmates at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, where guards have warned them that “men are coming” and they should expect sexual violence, the Times reported.

“That if we think it’s bad now, be prepared for the worst. That it’s going to be off the hook, it’s going to be jumping,” Tomiekia Johnson said she had been told.

“They say we’re going to need a facility that’s going to be like a maternity ward. They say we’re going to have an inmate program where inmates become nannies.”