WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) announced the release of Evelyn Valiente’s* story in the fifth episode of its exclusive docu-series, Cruel & Unusual Punishment: The Male Takeover of Female Prisons. In this latest release, Evelyn Valiente discusses her traumatic experience as a sexual assault survivor forced to live in close quarters with a male inmate who identifies as a woman in the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF).

In 2021, California passed SB 132, known as the Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act – allowing fully intact men to be housed in female-only prisons by simply declaring a non-male gender. Evelyn Valiente’s story shows how this policy undermines female inmates’ safety as men identifying as transgender use non-male identities as a cover to infiltrate female prisons.

Evelyn Valiente spoke with IWF under a pseudonym to protect her identity. Valiente was granted parole in 2022, and she still lives in fear of retaliation for speaking out against the transgender policies in California prisons. Many of the women in these prisons are victims of abuse, and they walk in constant trauma while being forced to live with male inmates described by Valiente as “threatening”, “manipulative”, and “aggressive.”

Valiente highlights how women’s safety in same-sex spaces has been completely disregarded to appease the gender ideology movement: “What about our rights? What about how we feel? No one asked us. No one asked us how we felt about this. No one did,” said Evelyn Valiente in the documentary. “‘Trans’ seems to be more important than what we are going through as women or women, period… Honestly, I really don’t think the public cares. I don’t.”

Click HERE to watch Evelyn Valiente’s story.

IWF’s Storytelling Director and co-producer of the series, Kelsey Bolar, said, “Many female inmates, both current and former, don’t feel safe publicly sharing their stories of being forced to share prison cells with male felons. The prospect of retribution is real, as Evelyn Valiente demonstrates. As IWF continues to expose the consequences of housing violent male offenders in women’s prisons, we felt it was important to include a story that captures the real-life terror these women face in speaking out. As Valiente explains, that fear even follows them into the free world.”

IWF’s Storytelling Manager and co-producer of the series, Andrea Mew, said, “Evelyn coming forward anonymously to speak out against the state of women’s rights in women’s prisons sadly paints the perfect picture for the current culture in the carceral world. Staying silent wasn’t an option for her, since she knows the injustices of female inmates being forced to live amongst male criminals firsthand are too grave to be cast aside, but her personal safety must come first. Like the man she was housed with, not all, but many of these transfers into the women’s facilities aren’t just violent, they’re manipulative and know how to game the system.”

Watch Evelyn Valiente’s story HERE.

BACKGROUND:

As more states allow men who identify as women into women’s prisons, few are aware of the harmful fallout. Women with histories of trauma and domestic abuse are forced to share their most private and intimate spaces with intact males—many of whom are violent, sexual predators serving time for heinous crimes.

Allowing male offenders to reside in women’s prisons is dangerous and unfair. Put simply, it’s cruel and unusual punishment. These stories stand as a testament to why biological sex matters, especially in institutional settings. Incarcerated women need and deserve female-only spaces. Anything less is a violation of their most basic human rights.

The eradication of single-sex prisons is harming female inmates.

In this documentary mini series, IWF brings voices to light who detail the untold, gruesome story about what’s been happening to female inmates behind closed doors. As more and more prison systems allow males to declare themselves “women” and opt to be housed in facilities meant for females, the voices of those most affected deserve to be heard. 

Watch the Cruel & Unusual Punishment: The Male Takeover of Female Prisons trailer HERE. Each episode of this ongoing short documentary series produced by IWF, varying from 5 to 10 minutes in length, will be released individually over the coming weeks, with episodes available to the public for free on YouTube.

Direct media inquiries and booking requests to [email protected]

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www.iwf.org 

Independent Women’s Forum is dedicated to developing and advancing policies that aren’t just well intended, but actually enhance people’s freedom, choices, and opportunities.