The Trans Person Prison Problem
Against the wishes of the family of one of his victims, who believe that he continues to pose a unique risk to women, Douglas “Donna” Perry is currently being housed at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, Washington, which we only know as a result of the 2021 whistle blower mentioned in our article about Perry and his crimes.
Perry is just one example of a widespread, growing issue as activists continue to push to allow gender self identification to determine sex categorization, for instance, in what facility an inmate serves their time, or in records maintained by police. It is unclear how this may impact the accuracy of statistical data as it relates to the study of criminology going forward.
The recent case of cat killer Scarlet Blake in the United Kingdom, who was found guilty after the sex fantasy murder of a BMW engineer, Jorge Martin Carreno, 30, may be a guide.
The Daily Mail reports that Blake, despite being jailed in a male prison for 24 years to life, will be recorded in police statistical records as a woman because he told police he identified as a female after being arrested.
Blake emigrated from China to the UK at the age of nine, and came out transgender a few years later. Blake, formerly known as Alice Wang, also pled guilty to “criminal damage,” in relation to the torture, killing, mutilation, and dissection of a neighbors cat, which he live streamed on the internet four months before the murder as a sick, twisted Valentine’s day gift to American Ashlynn Bell.
The day afterwards, Blake took a photograph of a missing poster put up by the worried owners of Starlet, the missing cat. Blake, 26, said that the sexual fantasy was inspired by a Netflix documentary “Don’t Fuck With Cats,” a 2019 true crime docuseries about an a crowd-sourced, amateur investigation into a series of animal cruelty video uploads committed by Canadian porn actor Luka Magnotta, who was subsequently convicted of the murder of Chinese student Jun Lin.
Blake also told the jury about his long distance relationship with Ashlynn Bell, another trans person. During the trial, Blake, who reportedly began his transition from male to female at the age of 12, said he recorded a fake confession to make Bell “happy.” Bell had previously asked him to kill someone.
Blake was arrested after police received a report from his former partner about video of Blake allegedly confessing to the murder after the two reportedly had a falling out following a bad argument. A coroner had previously ruled that Carreno had accidentally drowned because of alcohol intoxication; Blake allegedly hit him on the head and strangled him before hiding his body in a river.
Just like with the cat, returned to the scene after Carreno’s body had been found to take photographs. In this case, of the memorial left by his grieving family and of a tree near where he had been killed.
Blake also alleged that Bell would have punished him if he didn’t kill his neighbour’s cat. Testifying about a visit to see Bell in Colorado, Blake told the court that Bell didn’t like his girlfriend, Evie Brockman, and held them at gunpoint.
"I blocked Evie… as I knew her problem was with Evie not with me. So I put myself in front of her and I sort of de-escalated by talking to Ashlynn… And then she… lowered the rifle and handed it to me. Then we went into the apartment and as I was heading further in Ashlynn was having a verbal consultation with Evie.”
"Ashylnn then started hitting Evie and making threats and Evie was very panicked at this point,” worried she was going to be killed by Ashlynn. Bell reportedly had a large and intimidating collection of weapons and Nazi memorabilia, and video of Evie Brockman crying and saying she was terrified of Blake and Bell was played.
Blake told the court that killing the cat and putting its body in a blender was something he "very much didn't want" and had "emotionally distanced," himself "to be able to do it".
Veterinarians said that the cat, Starlet, would have experienced excruciating pain for up to three minutes. In previous video calls with Bell, Blake cut himself, and put a noose around his neck. In one message, Blake told Bell, "I'm a borderline psychopath, I love death lol."
Four months later, only six days after the government had lifted all lockdown rules, between three and four a.m. on July 25, 2021, Blake, wearing a hooded black combat jacket, a mask, and a backpack containing a bottle of vodka, left home on a 40-minute walk to the city center.
CCTV footage played during the trial showed Blake prowling the streets of Oxford while Carreno, who had become lost after a night of drinking with work colleagues, wandered through the streets, trying to find his way home.
Blake can be seen appearing to offer to share the bottle of vodka with Carreno, and about 12 minutes later, Blake persuades Carreno to walk towards a remote area near the Cherwell River. Around 5:15 a.m., Blake hit Carreno on the back of the head with either the vodka bottle or another item, then strangled Carreno with a home made garrotte and pushed him into the river, where he drowned.
The judge said that while there was no evidence of sexual activity at the murder, there was “ample evidence [Blake] derived sexual gratification from strangulation,” adding, “There was therefore a clear sexual motivation for the killing. You also believe that you would derive pleasure, whether sexual or not, from the experience of killing a person. I am sure that you did derive pleasure from killing Jorge as you had from killing the cat.”
The judge also addressed a series of excuses that Blake offered to mitigate his crimes, saying, “There is no evidence that you suffer from any relevant mental illness or other mental disorder. What you did is not the fault of a society that didn’t accept you. It is not the fault of your parents. Whatever role Ashlynn Bell may have played in encouraging your interest in killing, she remained in the United States. She did not control or direct you. Even if the decision was motivated in part by a desire to please her, the decision to kill was entirely yours.”
Blake’s own lawyer said in open court that Blake would likely spend the rest of his life in prison, saying, “Scarlet Blake has been found guilty of the murder of Jorge Carreno. For that, she is going to be sentenced to life imprisonment. That is the sentence for what she has done.”
“She may well be detained for the rest of her life, if no parole board comes to the conclusion she is safe for release. Looking at her background, she is, in one sense, a dangerous person. With the lifestyle she has adopted, it’s unlikely that any parole board will feel she is fit to be released back into safety.”
Blake referred to himself as “us” and “we” during the trial, and has used at least six different names, including Alice, Scarlet and Candy, who he said is “still here,” presumably meaning in his head. He is also known to have used other pseudonyms to mask his identity on the internet.
Concerningly, there is no word of any police investigation into Ashlynn Bell. Also of concern is Blake being recorded as a female perpetrator, not least of all because it will lead to aberrant analysis of crime trends and criminal methodologies.
An article published in REDUXX discusses a German study on female pedophilia, conducted by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, which concludes that up to 10% of women are pedophiles.
The study included not just female participants, but participants who "identify with the female gender." While the authors note that they excluded individuals who identify as male, and although the study pointed out some of its own limitations, the inclusion of natal males in statistics about female crime rates is not discussed.
The authors did note that the sample was “not representative,” though this was a reference to the size of the sample and not its composition.
A recent investigation by the Oversight Project of the Heritage Foundation found that just over half of trans inmates in the state of Wisconsin were convicted of sex crimes. A study from the Correctional Service of Canada titled Gender Diverse Offenders with a History of Sexual Offending found that 44% of Canadian trans women convicts were sex offenders of some kind.
Of these, 66% had low reintegration potential, 64% had committed a “current sexual offence,” while 88% had previously been convicted for sexual offences. 85% were convicted of violent crimes that caused death “or serious harm” to their victims, 58% of whom were either women or children.
Studies show that the experiences of transgender prisoners are more difficult than other prisoners, as their “otherness” is used as a weapon against them by fellow prisoners through intimidation and violence (including sexual violence) and by prison officers through neglect and ignorance.
A study by the National Center for Transgender Equality found that transgender prisoners were victimized at rates nearly ten times those for prisoners in general, and referenced previously released research, including a California study which found that of transgender women held in men’s prisons, 59% had been sexually assaulted by another prisoner.
Other studies also show this group is over-represented in sex offender populations, and unpublished research commissioned by the Ministry of Justice in the UK, in which sex offenders in men’s jails who had recently transitioned were questioned about their experiences, found that some men serving prison time for sexual offences are “faking new identities as transgender women – according to other trans women sex offenders, who resent the imposters.”
This is all a massive problem for a prison system tasked with keeping all of their prisoners safe, a job they already fail at with exceptional precision. A culture war conflict where every misstep is a genocide to both sides is unlikely to make things better.
In December 2021, a former inmate who had been housed at the Washington Corrections Center for Women made an anonymous report about sexual assaults on female inmates by male inmates who received transfers to the female facility after identifying as female.
One of these assaults was allegedly committed by Princess Zoe Andromeda Love, who has a criminal history that includes the rape of a 12-year-old girl. Love was one of over 150 natal males set up for the same move.
Love sexually assaulted a female inmate with developmental disabilities just before his release back into society, according to Scott Flemming, a former correctional officer at the WCCW.
After his release, according to various media sources, he allegedly returned to identifying as male.
Speaking to National Review in November of 2021, Flemming described the relationship between Love and the inmate he allegedly assaulted as a “predator-victim” relationship, and not “two inmates in love, after having consensual intercourse,” which is reportedly how the prison initially handled it.
According to Flemming, when he attempted to check the incident report about a month later, the report had been “erased.” In Flemmings opinion, this was likely “part of a cover up” since the Washington Department of Corrections is facing a lawsuit about the release of “gender identity” information on it relates to where the incarcerated are being housed.
In a related ruling, a federal judge in Spokane ruled that records that could “potentially identify,” transgender inmates must remain sealed and can not be released to the press, even if those records are stripped of information that may be used to identify the inmates.
The Spokesman-Review reported that U.S. District Court Judge Thomas O. Rice granted a preliminary order which prohibits the Washington Department of Corrections from releasing prison records sought by the Tacoma News Tribune, KIRO Radio and several other media organizations.
The records document complaints made against transgender inmates at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor despite anonymous report of sexual violence. The order was sought on behalf of transgender inmates represented by Disability Rights Washington and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, a man who raped his own 10-year-old daughter, Mark Campbell, is currently in Taycheedah Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
Peter “Commander Pedro” Langan came out as trans while fighting to undergo reassignment surgery on the taxpayer dime after serving 18 years in a male prison. During the early 1990s, Langan was one of the founders of the Aryan Republican Army, a white supremacist group that aimed to overthrow the US government. The ARA had some connections to the bombing of the Murrah federal building and other terrorist activities, and robbed banks to fund their racially motivated terror campaign.
Langan testified for the defense at the trial of Terry Nichols, whose attorneys said that Langan "possesses information that other members of his group may have assisted… McVeigh in the plotting and execution of the bombing.”
Langan’s Aryan Republican Army advocated for terrorism against the American "Zionist Occupied Government," and at least one source claimed that the proceeds of Langan’s robberies helped fund the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building.
While Federal prosecutors were not able to prove a definitive link between the ARA and the terrorist bombing, Langan said at least three of his fellow gang members were in Oklahoma around the same time and one confided in him about their involvement with the bombing.
Langan publicly renounced his views on white supremacy before his transfer to the Carswell Federal Medical Center Women's Prison, in Fort Worth, Texas, after a 2014 legal victory.
A lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, Fleming v. United States, specifically names Langan, along with several other transgender women incarcerated at Federal Medical Center Carswell, a federal prison just outside of Fort Worth, Texas, alleging that they committed acts of violence against the female plaintiffs and other women. Langan denied harming anyone at Carswell in an interview with The Intercept.
In the Cheshire Home Invasion case, after Steven Hayes (now Linda Hayes) and Joshua Komisarjevsky destroyed a family, raping and murdering both a mother and her 11 year old daughter before setting them on fire, Hayes declared he had been diagnosed with a gender identity disorder at 16, but had never been treated, and was undergoing hormone therapy as part of gender transition while incarcerated at the Men’s State Correctional Institution in Benner Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania.
Hayes was transferred to Benner Township after it was decided that it was unsafe for him and his co-conspirator to remain incarcerated in Connecticut.
Jason Michael Hann was sentenced to death in 2014 for murdering his 10 week old daughter Montana and two month old son Jason. The children’s mother, Krissy Werntz, was sentenced to 15 years to life after driving the remains cross-country with Hann in an attempt to dispose of or hide them.
The couple was caught after they failed to make payments to the facility and the contents were auctioned off to cover the past due balance; the winning bidder found Montana's remains while emptying out the storage unit.
Court documents suggest Montana’s head was completely encased in layers of duct tape. An autopsy found that Montana suffered numerous skull fractures caused by blunt force, and the Arkansas medical examiner who conducted the autopsy also said that a fracture he found in her left tibia was caused by bending her leg “as if you wanted to break a pencil”.
Within days of the couple’s arrest, another infant who was also a child of the couple - a 2-month-old boy - was discovered, having also been murdered and stored in a different storage unit.
Reduxx reported that Hann, originally sentenced to death, was transferred from Death Row at San Quentin to Central California Women's Facility after California Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in California in March 2019, and Hann began to identify as a woman.
Hann was subsequently allowed to move into general population and is reportedly awaiting a tax-payer subsidized breast augmentation.
Keeping trans women incarcerated with their natal sex exposes them to the potential for cruel and unusual harm, but incarcerating trans women with women exposes women to a group that is statistically much more likely to be sexually motivated criminals who target women and girls.
A former prisoner in the Rose M. Singer women’s jail on Rikers Island is suing on allegations that staff at Rikers ignored her warnings in 2022 that a transgender woman in the female prison population was actually a man pretending to be a woman in order to prey on the opposite sex behind bars.
Investigative records obtained by Rose Doe’s attorneys were provided to NBC 4 New York, showing that Doe complained to correctional staff that a new detainee propositioned her for sex and then groped her in the bathroom two days later.
The Acting Warden, Floyd Phipps, sent an email saying, "I feel that individual is not a suitable fit… [Rose Doe] does not want to remain in the unit due to feeling unsafe."
According to Doe’s lawsuit, the next day, "while Plaintiff was sleeping in her bed, the Perpetrator, took the opportunity to sexually assault Plaintiff again… pull[ing] down her pants while she was sleeping and begin[ing] to rape her."
"I’ll be scarred for the rest of my life," Doe told NBC 4. In a letter to Doe dated June 26, 2022, jail investigators said there was "insufficient evidence to make a final determination as to whether or not the event occurred."
A spokesperson for the NYC Department of Correction declined to comment on the lawsuit, which comes just a year after trans advocates demanded that the New York City Council and the Department of Correction make it easier for inmates to be imprisoned in line with their “gender identities”.
In a hearing on gender equity in jail, Dr. Rachel Golden, a psychologist who specializes in “gender-affirming care for Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, Non-Binary, and Intersex people”, told lawmakers it would be a mistake to think that men who commit compulsive sex crimes would pose as trans women for access to victims.
"Fearmongering that one bad actor will pretend to be transgender and therefore create an unsafe environment results in the continued disproportionate targeting of TGNCNBI individuals for harassment and violence," Golden testified, before adding that trans women are far more likely to be the victims of sexual violence if they’re housed in male prisons.
Solitary confinement is considered cruel and unusual punishment by many though the courts disagree; it’s certainly not the most psychologically healthy form of incarceration. How do the prisons differentiate between criminals seeking to gain access to populations they want to prey on from people who are likely to become victims if they remain in men’s prison units?
What guardrails are in place to protect female inmates, along with the accuracy of criminology statistics? How will Princess Zoe Andromeda Love and Scarlet Blake and Steven “Linda” Hayes be recorded in criminology statistics? And how many inmates will be assaulted and raped, as in the allegations of Rose Doe?