On Wednesday, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas introduced legislation that would segregate prison inmates by their sex at birth and not their gender identity. The bill was in response to a report that Democratic President Joe Biden may sign an executive order requiring the Federal Bureau of Prisons to allow transgender prisoners to be housed based on their gender identity.
"President Biden's plan to house male and female prisoners together will put women in danger," Sen. Cotton said in a statement, as reported by Fox News. "Documented cases prove that placing men - including ones who 'identify' as female - in women's prisons puts female inmates at increased risk of sexual assault."
Sen. Cotton explained, "My bill will stop the president's ill-conceived plan and keep men and women separated in federal prison."
The Federalist argued that the Biden administration is now giving male-born prisoners a "free pass into women's prisons." It argued further, "If a male convict says he feels like a woman, Biden will force women to bunk next to him. No genital amputation or plastic surgery is necessary; a man with functioning male organs can still be considered a woman."
In November, the Women's Liberation Front filed a lawsuit against the state of California over its policy that allows transgender inmates to be housed based on their gender identity. One of the plaintiffs alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by a male-born inmate who transferred from a men's prison, a move that is allowed under California law S.B. 132.
"The foundational basis of our lawsuit is that these are male offenders being housed in women's prisons," Women's Liberation Front legal director Lauren Adams told the Los Angeles Times in November. "To pretend that they are female, in language or what we say about them or how we talk about them, goes against the whole basis of the lawsuit."
Meanwhile, in April 2021, the Biden administration's Department of Justice ruled in favor of a transgender inmate who identifies as female and claimed she was sexually assaulted after being housed in a men's prison. The transgender inmate filed a lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Corrections.
The Department of Justice ruled that the Georgia Department of Corrections violated the Constituion by denying the transgender prisoner housing that corrsponded to her gender identity despite finding reason to do so after an individualized risk assessment showed there was "substantial risk of harm."
Sen. Cotton said that his proposed legislation titled "Preventing Violence Against Female Inmates Act," would prohibit the Bureau of Prisons from using gender identity as the basis upon which they segregate prisoners. Those who violate the legislation, if passed, would be disqualified from receiving federal law enforcement grant funds. Sen. Cotton's law, however, will allow prisons to house transgender inmates in a separate location.
Sen. Cotton's proposed bill segregating prison inmates by birth gender is a safety net for women's rights in prison. It "highlights the radicalism of the Biden administration and the transgender ideology it has embraced," The Federalist argued.
