Reports out of New Jersey indicate two inmates at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility are pregnant after having sex with transgender inmates. The facility, an all-women’s state prison, began housing transgender women in 2021.
The policy was part of a settlement in a lawsuit filed by a transgender inmate and the ACLU, according to the Daily Mail. Transgender women are not required to have had gender reassignment surgery in order to live amongst female inmates.
According to NJ.com, the pregnant women engaged in consensual sex with other prisoners.
The Daily Mail reported a prisoner can announce a change in gender identity at any time while they’re in prison and that the state must house prisoners by the gender they identify with. In addition, those inmates are entitled to single-cell housing until they’re permanently placed, private shower time and a prohibition of physical exams to determine their sex.
The New York Post reports there are more than 800 prisoners at the facility, with 27 transgender women included.