Of the 204 incarcerated "trans"-identified men the Not Our Crimes (NOC) project has collected data on, approximately 31.8% committed crimes of child sexual exploitation, 13.7% committed other sexual offenses not involving children, 37.7% committed homicide, and 16.6% committed assault or kidnapping.
84.8% committed at least one violent or sexual crime.
Of the 84 men placed in women’s prisons for whom NOC has data, 83.3% (70 individuals) were convicted of at least one violent or sexual crime.
At least 18 men who have been placed in a women's prison are incarcerated for killing a woman.
Of those 84 men who have been placed in a women's prison 22 (26%) have either been accused of assault or harassment (violent or sexual) towards female inmates or have had to be transferred back to a men's prison (with no reason specified). Much information on the behavior of these men while they are incarcerated in the women's estate is unknown or even suppressed.
Most men incarcerated in women’s prisons not only retain their male genitalia, but demonstrate no intention of removing it. There are currently no prison policies that require a male inmate to have his male genitalia removed in order to be transferred to a women's prison. According to the U.S. Transgender Survey, only 12% of trans-identified males in the general population are estimated to have had their genitalia removed.
Men who have removed their genitalia are still male, and they are not inherently less dangerous, as they still retain the superior strength and size of an adult male as well as male aggression and socialization.
For example, Richard "Sherri" Masbruch succeeded in castrating himself, but after being transferred to a women's prison, was then accused of instead using objects to rape female inmates.
This imbalance of strength and size endangers not only the female inmates, but female guards, who are not accustomed to encountering inmates who are more easily able to overpower them or who bring behaviors that are not typically seen in the female estate.
27 states have policies allowing at least some male inmates into women’s prisons, and once inside, they generally eat, sleep, shower, use the bathroom, and engage in work, education, and other programming opportunities alongside the women.
According to PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act), up to 86% of incarcerated women have endured physical or sexual violence at the hands of men. Women’s prisons are areas where these women should expect to be safe from male violence, allowing them the chance of healing and rehabilitation. But rehabilitation cannot begin if women are even less safe in prison than they were before. The presence of just one male inmate in a women's prison wing presents an element of danger and anxiety that can set women back as they try to heal.
Male correctional officers are allowed on staff in women’s prisons (though this presents further safety issues for female inmates), but per PREA standards, they are prohibited in intimate settings such as shower areas. Additionally, per the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the “Nelson Mandela rules”), “Intrusive searches shall be conducted in private and by trained staff of the same sex as the prisoner.”
By introducing male inmates who are not only using public spaces with female inmates, but are using other intimate areas such as showers and possibly sharing cells, this introduces further safety risks to women in prison rather than mitigating the dangers already presented by male guards.
There are no physical differences between men who identify as women and those who do not. Many males who identify as "trans" and are housed in the men's estate have not undergone genital surgery or even hormonal interventions. Only effeminate males or those who have undergone surgeries may be at an elevated risk of assault by other male inmates, but this does not make them unique from other groups of high-risk prisoners which include homosexual males, young males, effeminate males who do not identify as "trans", males with intellectual impairments, former police officers, and males who have committed crimes against children.
31.8% of the "trans"-identified men in the NOC database have committed a sexual crime against a child, putting them at risk in the general prison population, regardless of "trans" identification.
Men who identify as "trans" or as "women" may actually present as much risk, if not more, to other men. For example, while in the men's estate, Patrick "Patricia" Trimble, a man who "identifies" as a woman, sexually abused, tortured, pimped out, and ultimately murdered his developmentally disabled male cellmate, forcing him to write a suicide note before strangling him with a towel.
Andre Patterson aka "Janiah Monroe," another man who has claimed to be a woman, strangled his male cellmate, 31-year-old Kimani Muhammad, while serving time in the men's prison. Patterson/Monroe is now housed in Logan Correctional Center, a women's prison in Illinois.
If men who claim to be women are at high risk in the men's prison, they can be dealt with as any other high-risk male prisoner is dealt with. It is not necessary to increase risk to all female prisoners for the sake of one individual male's comfort or 'preference.' No other vulnerable males are allowed into the women's estate on a 'case-by-case' basis, which means male inmates are discriminated against based on their 'gender-identity.'
According to the data collected by NOC, approximately 40% of "trans"-identified males who commit crimes declared a "trans" identity after their arrest. While it's not possible to understand the motives of each individual, this identity may suddenly be adopted in an attempt to incur sympathy, to get charged or convicted of a lesser crime, or to be placed in a women’s prison.
Women who speak up about having to share cells with men are often punished and their complaints aren’t taken seriously, as formerly incarcerated women have attested to.
For example, multiple female inmates have reported being groped and forced into nonconsensual encounters with Andrew "Andrea" Balcer, a man who was transferred to a women's prison in the state of Maine. One inmate refused to go back into a cell with him after ongoing sexual harassment, including an incident in which he forced her up against a bathroom wall and attempted to kiss her, saying, If you don't wake up, it's because I smothered you with a pillow.
According to prison records, Balcer is 6'1" and 310 pounds.
Despite repeated complaints and numerous grievances filed by female inmates, Balcer remains in the women's estate.