On May 31, 2022, the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) submitted a brief in opposition to the state’s Motion to Dismiss our civil rights case opposing SB 132, a California law that (among other things) allows male offenders to seek placement in women’s correctional facilities based purely on “gender identity” claims. The men are not required to take hormones or have surgery (most don’t), and over 300 men have already applied. One-third of these male applicants are sex offenders. The full background of the case and our constitutional claims are here.
While we were preparing our opposition to the state’s Motion to Dismiss, one of the male inmates reportedly raped a woman in the yard’s port-a-potty, while a male accomplice stood watch outside. Witness statements indicate that the woman may also have been drugged; she appeared to be intoxicated and was barely conscious just after the incident. A short time after the rape reportedly occurred, prison staff found the woman unresponsive in her cell. The reported rapist, Jonathan Robertson, was not immediately removed from the yard, despite a number of women pleading with housing and medical staff to do something to protect the victim and themselves. The next day, when confronted in the yard by several of these same women, Robertson threatened to rape them as well, saying there was “nothing you bitches can do about it.” More discussion of this incident is here.
Source: Case Update: Crisis Conditions in California Women’s Prisons — Women’s Liberation Front