Two inmates impregnated by transgender inmate at all-women’s prison in New Jersey: Report

Two inmates at an all-women’s prison in New Jersey are pregnant after reportedly having sex with a transgender inmate.

The women are confined at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, NJ.Com reported. It’s the state’s only all-women’s prison and is slated for closure following complaints about sexual assaults and other problems in the facility.

Dan Sperrazza, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Corrections, told NJ.com that the women became pregnant after “consensual sexual relationships with another incarcerated person.”

The news website reported that the prison houses 27 transgender inmates, who are biological men identifying as women. They were transferred to the facility beginning in 2019 following a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and a transgender woman who complained of suffering from abuse in a men’s prison.

Biological women at Edna Mahan have complained they feel threatened and have been harassed by the transgender inmates. The transgender inmates are not required to undergo sex reassignment surgery in order to be housed with biological women.

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union, the New Jersey Department of Corrections and the union representing the corrections officers at the facility did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

Jeanne LoCicero, the ACLU’s  legal director, told NJ.Com that allowing biological men who identify as women to be housed along with biological women is “in line with New Jersey’s strong anti-discrimination laws that prevent discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender identity.”

The union representing the state’s corrections officers opposes housing transgender women in the facility.

“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,” New Jersey Superior Officers Association President Edward Sullivan told NJ.com.