Female Inmates Pregnant After Having Sex With Transgender Inmate
metroweekly.comTwo female inmates at a New Jersey prison have reportedly become pregnant after having sex with a transgender inmate. According to the New York Post, the New Jersey State Department of Corrections stated that the sex was “consensual.” The Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, which houses over 800 prisoners – including 27 transgender women – keeps both transgender and cisgender inmates within the same cell blocks.
New Jersey does not require transgender inmates to have undergone gender confirmation surgery to be housed according to their gender identity.Due to a settlement agreement signed by the New Jersey State Corrections Department in June 2021, the New Jersey prison system is required to house transgender inmates among their preferred gender.In addition, prison staff must use inmates’ preferred pronouns, and inmates must be allowed to receive any gender-affirming health care, including hormones or surgery, that has been deemed medically necessary.The settlement agreement was reached after a transgender inmate, Sonia Doe, sued the state, arguing that the state’s previous policy of housing transgender women in men’s prisons was discriminatory and violated her constitutional rights.“I am a woman and feel unsafe in a men’s prison,” Doe told NJ.com at the time.The state eventually decided to settle the lawsuit out of court, agreeing to house trans inmates based on their gender identity and provide better health and medical care for trans prisoners.That agreement was hailed, at the time, as a great victory for transgender people and their treatment within prisons.Since the two cisgender female inmates have become pregnant, LGBTQ advocates have been relatively quiet on the housing situation in New Jersey correctional.
