State Prison FOIA Project

WDI USA Tallies Men in Women’s Prisons

Following a March 2021 whistleblower report to a local radio station that men claiming to be women were being transferred to the Washington Corrections Center for Women, a concerned citizen filed a FOIA request. She asked for a count of inmates who claim transgender status, and for the number of inmates transferred from a men’s to a women’s facility since January 1st, 2021.

In response, The ACLU of Washington initiated a lawsuit to “prevent the disclosure of documents” requested, naming the woman as an interested party in the suit. Women’s rights advocates were outraged at the ACLU’s about-face on public access to relevant information. 

WDI USA volunteer Jessica McLaurin, and Keep Prisons Single Sex (KPSS USA) representative Amanda Stulman, responded by organizing a project to file FOIA requests in all 50 states.

The first round of the project asks state prison officials:

1. The number of incarcerated persons claiming “trans” or nonbinary identity;
2. The number of incarcerated persons transferred from a men’s facility to a women’s facility since  January 1, 2021;
3. The number of biological males currently housed in a women’s facility or unit;
4. The number of incarcerated persons who have been transferred from a women’s to a men’s facility since January 1, 2021.
5. The number of biological females currently housed in a men’s facility or unit.

The Response

Number of biological males currently housed in a women’s facility or unit, by state:
(hover over each state to see the number)

Notes: “TBA” means the FOIA request response is forthcoming, and “need resident” means we don’t have a WDI USA volunteer resident in the state to make a request.
If you reside in a state without a resident volunteer and would like to contribute to this project, you can submit a volunteer application to us. We’d appreciate your help!

Overall results:

Total transgender-identifying inmates	4895
Total male transfers to women’s prisons	30
Total male inmates in women’s prisons	79
Total female transfers to men’s prisons	9
Total female inmates in men’s prisons	11

Detailed results:
(check the footnotes for the exact wording we used for each category in our FOIA requests)

State/Date	Transgender-identifying individuals in the custody of [STATE] Department of Corrections1	Men transferred to women’s prisons since January 1, 2021.2	Men in women’s prisons3	Women transferred to men’s prisons since January 1, 2021.4	Women in men’s prisons5
Alabama	Need resident
Alaska	3	0	0	1	0
Arkansas	Need resident
Arizona	TBA
California	1286	22	18	7	Unclear
Colorado	162	2	4	0	0
Connecticut	No records	No records	No records	No records	No records
Delaware	TBA
DC	TBA
Florida	TBA
Georgia	TBA
Hawai’i	51	0	1	0	0
Idaho	52	1	1	0	0
Illinois	TBA
Indiana	72	0	0	0	0
Iowa	40	0	0	0	0
Kansas	44	0	33	0	11
Kentucky	275	No records	No records	No records	No records
Louisiana	TBA
Maine	4	1	2	0	0
Maryland	38	0	0	0	0
Mass.	45	0	2	0	0
Michigan	143	0	0	0	0
Minnesota	8	0	0	0	0
Mississippi	9	0	0	0	0
Missouri	No records	No records	No records	No records	No records
Montana	19	0	0	0	0
Nebraska	13	0	0	0	0
Nevada	TBA
New Hamp.	TBA
New Jersey	24	1	8	1	0
New Mexico	1	0	1	0	0
New York	165	3	5	0	0
North Car.	95	0	1	0	0
North Dak.	9	0	0	0	0
Ohio	173	TBA
Oklahoma	No records	No records	No records	No records	No records
Oregon	TBA
Penn.	248	0	2	0	0
Rhode Island	6	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
South Car.	42	0	0	0	0
South Dak.	36	0	0	0	0
Tenn.	TBA
Texas	1491	0	0	0	0
Utah	14	0	0	0	0
Vermont	TBA
Virginia	88	0	1	0	0
Washington	Blocked
West Virg.	41	0	0	0	0
Wisconsin	191	0	0	0	0
Wyoming	7	0	0	0	0

Subscribe