Documentary tells the story of a survivor of sexual violence and her imprisonment with a transsexual prisoner

In a new documentary released Tuesday by the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative group, a survivor of sexual assault gave insights into her life in a women’s prison with male criminals who say they identify as transgender.

The six-minute documentary is part of the Independent Women’s Forum’s series “Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The Male Takeover of Women’s Prisons” and centers on the story of Evelyn Valiente, a victim of sexual assault and former inmate at the Central California Women’s Facility. Valiente, who uses a pseudonym to protect her identity, was forced to share a housing unit with a male inmate who identified as a woman while serving his sentence for killing a person in a shooting.

“At first I thought everything would be fine, but it didn’t take long before this one particular person became manipulative, calculating, vindictive and always out to harm other people,” Valiente said of the “transsexual” inmate, who had already been convicted of sex crimes.

In 2020, California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom signed a law requiring the state’s prison system to house inmates based on their gender identity, not their biological sex. Under the law, correctional officials are required to privately ask inmates how they identify and then try to house them accordingly.

Before her time in prison, Valiente had been sexually abused. She said that being in the same housing unit as a person convicted of sex crimes, as well as other men, was “scary” not only for her but for many other women who “come from very violent backgrounds.”

“You run a lot in trauma,” said Valiente.

REGARD:

Andrea Mew, storytelling manager at the Independent Women’s Forum and co-producer of the documentary series, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that while California lawmakers claim the transgender prisoner law is about their safety, the law actually puts women in prisons, who often have a history of abuse, at a greater disadvantage.

“It’s really interesting that while California is all about rehabilitation, it’s re-traumatizing women through many of their personal triggers,” Mew said. “Many women in prison are victims of sexual assault, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and men around them can be a very big trigger for them. At the same time, it’s allowing violent male criminals unfettered access to what, in many cases, got them into prison in the first place.”

Currently, five states – Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California and New Jersey – as well as New York City have passed laws allowing men who identify as women to be housed in women’s prisons. However, other states, such as Wisconsin, have reportedly transferred biologically male offenders who identify as transgender to all-female prisons, despite their violent criminal histories.

In September 2023, an inmate sued the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in New Jersey after she was assaulted in prison by a male inmate who identified as transgender. Another New York City inmate filed suit in January, claiming that a prison officer ordered a male inmate who allegedly sexually assaulted her to state that he identified as transgender so he could have “access to female inmates.”

Mew said she and co-producer Kelsey Bolar wanted viewers to imagine how they would feel if a loved one in prison was forced to share a cell or housing unit with a transgender inmate who has a history of violence.

“People need to put themselves in the shoes of the people who are in prison and imagine themselves there, their own daughter was there,” Mew said. “There are many things that can happen that can lead to one going to prison that are completely unintentional. So imagine yourself or your own daughter being involved in an accident like that. Put yourself in the shoes of the person there and think about how it would feel to be threatened physically, emotionally and – in some cases, as we’ve seen – sexually by male criminals while you’re just trying to do your time and get home.”

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Originally published by Daily Caller News Foundation