Transsexual prisoner “lives in fear” of reprisals, now he is back in a men’s prison fighting rape allegations

A transgender prisoner who allegedly raped two female inmates in a women’s prison is “living in fear” after being sent back to an all-male prison, his lawyer says.

Tremaine Carroll, 51, fears “retaliation” at Kern Valley State Prison, the notorious, violent all-male facility in central California where he was transferred, says attorney Joe Goethals.

Carroll was transferred after two women accused him in January of raping them at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), where Carroll was serving his sentence as a transgender woman.

California’s prisons have been in chaos and confusion since 2021 after Senate Bill 132 allowed transgender and nonbinary biological men to request to serve their sentences in women’s prisons.

“She feels very uncomfortable in the Kern Valley,” Goethals told DailyMail.com.

“Prisons can be a dangerous place for people who identify as part of the trans community. She therefore has serious concerns and lives in fear of further retaliation.”

Carroll became one of California’s first biological men to be transferred to a women’s prison in August 2021 after convincing officials he posed no threat to the CCWF’s 2,000 female inmates.

He became the figurehead of the California transfer system and even defended it in a civil lawsuit.

That changed in January, when two CCWF inmates made allegations that Carroll overpowered and raped them.

One of them, a small woman in her thirties, said Carroll forcibly penetrated her in the shower of the eight-room dorm they shared.

The attack traumatized her, and every time she takes a shower and her heart pounds in her chest, she relives the ordeal, she says.

The women were not identified.

Carroll pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and one count of deterring a witness from testifying.

Goethals says Carroll “never had any consensual sexual relations of any kind” at CCWF.

Transgender prisoners are not welcome at the CCWF and face discrimination by inmates and guards, he added.

The women’s statements cannot be trusted, says Goethals.

They contained “too many coincidences” and were recorded by guards who had “control and influence over” the alleged victims, he said.

“We will show that my client poses no danger to anyone.”

Carroll identifies as a woman using the pronouns “she/her,” but prosecutors and others refer to him as a man.

He is due back in Madera Superior Court for a preliminary hearing on July 8.

He is 1.88 m tall, weighs 90 kg, is male, has facial hair and has not undergone sex reassignment surgery.

The lawyer says Carroll is having a tough time in Kern Valley, a maximum security prison for about 2,500 men that has seen repeated outbreaks of violence, including a stabbing on a sports field in April.

He is serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, which is the maximum sentence in California for repeat offenders.

In one of his first convictions – for two counts of kidnapping – Carroll and other men broke into the apartment of two women.

Court records show that the victims were sexually abused and forced to perform “oral intercourse.”

Despite the incident, a committee of prison staff, experts and a warden approved Carroll’s request to be transferred to a women’s prison.

He was transferred to the CCWF outside of Chowchilla in Central California in August 2021.

There, Carroll repeatedly complained to staff about his treatment, harassment by other inmates and about 30 cases of sexual assault.

There are 1,983 trans and nonbinary inmates in California state prisons, out of a total inmate population of approximately 96,000.

About 344 inmates in men’s prisons have requested a transfer to women’s prisons.

Of these, 44 were approved and 59 rejected. Others are currently under review.

Only 15 inmates of women’s prisons have requested a transfer; three have been approved.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says it carefully reviews applications and only approves them if it is “safe” to do so.

The ministry said it could not comment on Carroll’s case.

Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno said the rape allegations cast doubt on the decision to greenlight Carroll’s transfer.

When asked if the department should review its transfer policy, the prosecutor replied, “I certainly hope so.”

The Transgender Law Center, the ACLU and other groups say incarcerated transgender people are the most likely victims of abuse and deserve protection.

If they serve their sentences in prisons that match their gender identity, they will be safer, advocates say.

But women’s rights groups warn of an increase in rapes and other atrocities in the cell blocks that were once only accessible to women.

Sharon Byrne, director of the Women’s Liberation Front, says SB 132 makes it too easy for male inmates to seek access to women or get out of violent men’s prisons.

To apply, prisoners simply need to prove their identity.

Taking cross-sex hormones or undergoing surgery is not necessary.

“Any man serving a sentence in a men’s prison for violent assault, rape or other crimes sees the opportunity to easily get into a women’s prison,” says Byrne.

“Who won’t take advantage of this?”

Still, attorney Goethals says activists and some politicians are using Carroll as a political football to show that incarcerated transgender people who are transitioning from male to female are “sexual predators.”

“They cling to this case as if it were proof that they were right all along,” he said.

“But when we investigate this, it will fall apart. I don’t think her allegations against Tremaine Carroll will justify her position.”