After having sex with transgender inmates, two women at New Jersey’s only all-prison women’s became pregnant.
The unidentified pregnant women are being held at the troubled Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, which the New Jersey Governor announced plans to close last year. According to prison officials, the sex was consensual in both cases.
It’s unclear whether the women had sex with the same transgender detainee or if they had sex with two separate inmates. Edna Mahan is home to 27 transgender inmates and over 800 women in total. It is also unknown how far along the 2 inmates are in their pregnancies as well as whether they intend to continue with them. An investigation has already begun.
Last year, the correctional facility started housing transgender women, including those who have yet to undertake gender reassignment surgery.
This was part of the settlement reached after a lawsuit was filed by a trans woman and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey.
On Tuesday, ACLU legal director Jeanne LoCicero defended the policy, claiming that it ensured trans prisoners’ rights were not violated.
Edna Mahan, New Jersey’s only women’s prison, does not require transgender inmates to undertake reassignment surgery in order to be housed there.
Edna Mahan has had to deal with reports of rampant abuse and systemic failures in recent years.
Ten prison guards are facing criminal charges in connection with an alleged assault on inmates in January 2020, along with a transgender woman.
In recent years, numerous corrections officers at the prison have pleaded guilty or been found guilty of sexual abuse and misconduct, and a Department of Justice report last year concluded that officials did fail to take measures to prevent widespread abuse at the facility despite awareness of systemic problems.
