WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, Independent Women applauds U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump administration for swiftly taking action to revoke nonessential funding from the Maine Department of Corrections after it allowed a male inmate—a convicted double murderer—to be housed in a women’s prison.
Independent Women, along with its grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm, Independent Women Features (IW Features), has been leading the call to end discriminatory and dangerous prison policies that allow male inmates who self-identify as women to be transferred to female-only facilities, through its ongoing exclusive docu-series, “Cruel & Unusual Punishment: The Male Takeover of Female Prisons.” The series features first-person stories told by current and former female inmates, whistleblowers, and insiders in the correctional world.
Independent Women Ambassador Amie Ichikawa, a former inmate who first shared her story with IW Features of being forcibly housed with a male inmate inside the world’s largest women’s prison, Central California Women’s Facility, and co-founder of Woman II Woman, said, “I sincerely appreciate AG Bondi’s fiery statement regarding incarcerated women’s safety and the revocation of all non essential federal funding from Maine’s DOC. At the same time, I do have serious concerns of her surprise at the news of any department of corrections housing a 6’1” 245lb male prisoner in a women’s facility, because it is a nationwide female human rights crisis that I’ve been sounding the alarm on for 4 years. We can’t stop at Maine. This is happening coast to coast. Anywhere a woman is in a cage I can guarantee this is happening on both state and federal levels. This is a great start. Let’s keep going. Incarcerated women cannot continue to be fodder in the gender war.”
Beth Parlato, Independent Women senior legal advisor, said, “Housing a male murderer in a female prison is not just a failure of common sense, but a direct violation for the safety of women. The Trump administration was right to pull non-essential funding, sending a clear message that we will not tolerate policies that put women at risk for the sake of politics. Thank you President Trump for protecting the vulnerable, upholding the rule of law, and ensuring our prisons serve justice, not ideology.”
Earlier this year, Independent Women released an extensive report, titled “Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Stopping the Dangerous Policies Putting Men in Women’s Prisons,” that emphasizes the threat posed to vulnerable female inmates when trans-identifying men are housed in women’s facilities. Today’s action by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is a meaningful step toward addressing this threat and ending gender identity-based transfers to women’s prisons.
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