Garland Doubles Down on Forcing Female Prisoners to Be Housed With Men

By: Katie Pavlich

Testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Attorney General Merrick Garland feigned ignorance about hundreds of requests made by federal male inmates in California — and other states — to be transferred to a women’s prison.

First, the back story:

The California prison system has received 261 applications since January 1 from transgender, intersex, or non-binary inmates to transfer to facilities that match their preferred gender identity, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.

The requests were filed after a state law came into effect allowing transgender inmates to transfer to different prisons. Around 1 percent of prisoners in California, 1,129 inmates in total, have notified the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that they are transgender, intersex, or non-binary.