WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, IW Features, the storytelling platform of Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), announced the release of Crystal Jackson’s story in the tenth episode of its exclusive docu-series, Cruel & Unusual Punishment: The Male Takeover of Female Prisons.
Jackson, a Muslim female inmate, is currently serving a 26-year sentence for first-degree murder in Washington state at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW). She began practicing Islam in an effort to better her life and reform herself while in prison. She also used it as an outlet to cope while struggling with being away from her five children and losing a few family members and close friends.
WATCH CRYSTAL JACKSON’S STORY HERE.
In 2020, the state of Washington began allowing male inmates who self-identify as women to transfer into and live inside the female-only facility. As of 2024, an estimated 11 male inmates are housed at WCCW.
After a couple of encounters with men in the bathroom, Jackson said she now feels forced to pick and choose when she can authentically practice Islam since Muslim women must follow modesty rules and avoid any situations where men could see them in an immodest state.
Jackson told IW Features, in part:
“Here I am, practicing a religion that speaks so highly and fluently of the preparation and the teachings that one must follow in order to be fully converted. I never forgot that—how I felt unvalidated and invaluable in my approach to my own faith.”
IW Features Storytelling Manager and co-producer of the series, Andrea Mew, said: “The fact that a woman’s right to religious freedom is being sacrificed in the name of so-called ‘inclusivity’ is alarming. For many inmates, faith is what supports them along their journey of atonement for their crimes and rehabilitation into society. Making a woman like Crystal Jackson choose between her faith and her safety is inequality at its worst… masquerading as progress.”
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.
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