DOJ Opens Investigation Into Transgender Prison Housing Policies in California, Maine

The investigation is being conducted under a federal law that allows the Department of Justice to examine conditions in state prisons.

A correctional officer walks near a gate, which is one of two entrances into Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, Calif., on June 14, 2005. Ric Francis/AP Photo

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said on March 26 that it will investigate prison housing policies in California and Maine, looking into whether putting transgender inmates in women’s facilities violates the constitutional rights of female prisoners.

The DOJ cited “allegations of sexual assaults, rape, voyeurism and a pervasive climate of sexual intimidation due to the presence of males in the women’s prison.”