(NewsNation) — In California, activists are objecting to a plan to house a transgender convicted murderer in a women’s prison because she was assigned male at birth.
Dana Rivers was a transgender activist, former high school teacher and member of a biker gang before being convicted of the brutal murders of three people.
In 2016, Rivers murdered a married lesbian couple and their son in their Oakland, California, home. Prosecutors said Rivers shot all three victims as they slept, stabbing one of the women more than 40 times.
At her arrest, Rivers was covered in blood. The scene was described as a bloodbath and the judge called it one of the most depraved crimes he’d ever handled.
Last year, seven years after the murders, Rivers was found guilty. Then, just last month, she was sentenced to more than 150 years in prison.
She is now set to be housed at a central California women’s facility, a prison housing more than 2,300 women. It’s a move that has sparked outrage among some activists.
Kara Dansky, president of the American chapter of Women’s Declaration International, said the organization’s position is that it is inappropriate to house transgender women in women’s prisons.
The women’s facility located in Chowchilla is the largest women’s prison in the world. Former inmate and founder of Woman II Woman Jaime Ichikawa says living conditions at the facility are tight and tough. Ichikawa spent five years at Chowchilla.
“This is a place that has eight-person cells. So there’s four bunks and everybody has to cohabitate like that. There is no privacy, there’s no downtime, you’re not alone,” Ichikawa said. “The living space is about six feet, sharing a toilet, a shower and two sinks.”
The small cells and big groups of people housed together are being cited as concerns by those who believe Rivers should be housed with men because of her assigned gender at birth.
Dansky also accused Rivers of showing “contempt for women” based on the crime. However, prosecutors in the case said they believed the motive in the killings stemmed from a dispute regarding the all-female motorcycle gang Rivers was part of, holding the role of the group’s “enforcer.” One of the victims had previously been a part of the club but left on bad terms.
A California law protects the rights of transgender inmates. The “Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act,” signed in 2020, requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to recognize an inmate’s self-reported gender identity and pronouns.
Connecticut passed a similar law in 2018 and other locations, including Rhode Island, New York City, Massachusetts and New Jersey, have also housed inmates based on gender identity.
The laws go further than the federal “Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003,” which seeks to protect trans inmates from sexual assault.
But opponents say the law doesn’t consider the rights and protection of the women being housed with transgender people like Rivers.
Dansky’s organization wants that California law repealed and has called for laws that would protect what she calls the “rights, privacy and safety” of cisgender women and girls.
Across the country, transgender inmates are often incarcerated in facilities based on their sex assigned at birth, not their gender identity. Most states use federal guidelines to decide housing on a case-by-case basis.
But studies show housing transgender women with men can be dangerous.
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, transgender people are exposed to horrific rates of abuse by staff and inmates, including sexual assault and physical violence.
The Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics found roughly 40% of trans inmates are sexually assaulted in prison and transgender prisoners are victimized at rates nearly 10 times those of other prisoners.
“There is some anxiety behind this being a case that was exceptionally heinous,” Ichikawa said. “The female population in the prison is approximately 42% lesbian and bisexual identifying, so that adds an additional layer of fear, unfortunately.”