Authorities revealed that two women serving time at a women’s only jail became pregnant after having intercourse with a transgender inmate.
The anonymous convicts were claimed to be having “consensual sexual interactions with another jailed individual” at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, according to Dan Sperrazza, the state Department of Corrections’ external affairs executive director.
It is unknown if the ladies had sex with the same transgender inmate or two separate inmates, given that the jail houses 27 transgender women among its 800 inmates.
“While DOC cannot comment on any specific disciplinary or housing choices that may be taken in light of these occurrences,” Mr Sperrazza continued, “the Department always maintains all alternatives to preserve the health and safety of the persons in its custody.”
New Jersey passed a regulation last year that allows offenders to be housed according to their preferred gender identification without the necessity for gender-reassignment surgery.
The provision was part of a settlement from a civil rights claim filed by a trans woman who was forced to spend 18 months in men’s prisons.
“We opposed this policy change believing it would be detrimental to the general population of female inmates being housed at Edna Mahan and also bring added stress to our correctional police officers assigned to this institution,” the union’s president said of the policy allowing transgender females to be incarcerated at Edna Mahan.
The ACLU’s legal director, Jeanne LoCicero, continues to defend the policy, claiming that it protects the rights of trans inmates.
“[It’s] in keeping with New Jersey’s robust anti-discrimination statutes that forbid discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender identification,” she told local news source NJ.com.
However, the idea was widely criticised by the opposition, who argued that it would add to the load of a state jail that has experienced disturbing accusations of guard abuse and rape over the previous decade.
Officers, however, contend that the two pregnancies were the result of consensual sexual encounters between convicts.
