Feds Investigating Conditions At All-Female Prison In Inland Empire

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether two California state prisons for women — one of them in the Inland Empire — are housing transgender, non-binary, and intersex inmates in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The federal investigations are being carried out at the California Institution for Women, located at 16756 Chino-Corona Road in Corona, and the Central California Women’s Facility, located at 23370 Road 22 in Chowchilla.

A letter of legal notice was sent on Thursday to California Gov. Gavin Newsom informing him of the investigation into whether the two prisons "unconstitutionally provided housing and preferential treatment to biological male prisoners within those prisons’ walls," according to a USDOJ news release.

The USDOJ said allegations of sexual assaults, attempted rapes, voyeurism, and "a pervasive climate of sexual intimidation" due to the presence of males in the women’s prison have been reported.

The federal investigation is being conducted under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, according to the USDOJ.

California Senate Bill 132, which was signed by Newsom and subsequently took effect in January 2021, allows inmates to be housed in prisons based on their self-identified gender rather than their sex assigned at birth.

Opponents of the California law sued, alleging that it was unconstitutional and created an unsafe environment for female inmates. The Women’s Liberation Front, which brought the suit, announced last week that a federal court had dismissed the case but said the group would appeal, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Under SB 132 — also known as the Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act — the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports data on the number of inmates identifying as transgender, non-binary, and intersex.

According to the latest CDCR figures dated March 4, 2026, transgender, non-binary, and intersex inmates who have requested a transfer to an all-female facility number 1,028. Of those, 47 were approved for transfer.

It's unclear how many of those approved for transfer are possibly housed at the California Institution for Women and the Central California Women’s Facility.

The number of transgender, non-binary, and intersex inmates who have requested a transfer to an all-male facility is 84, with seven approved for transfer, CDCR figures show.

In a statement Monday to Patch, CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said, "CDCR is committed to providing a safe, humane, respectful and rehabilitative environment for all incarcerated people, enforcing a zero-tolerance policy as mandated by the federal legal requirements known as the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)."

The PREA aims to protect all inmates from prison rape. The idea that transgender women be assigned to men’s institutions "as a matter of policy is a suggestion to violate federal law," Xjimenez continued.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli claims that California’s Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act is harmful to female inmates who are "forced to share space with biological men who are violent felons."

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said that "housing men in women’s prisons" is a "dangerous national trend" that "has resulted in violations of women’s constitutional rights."

In addition to the investigation into the two California prisons, the USDOJ is also looking into conditions at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, Maine. The medium-security prison has a capacity of 566 male inmates and 54 female inmates (not including the campus's Women’s Center, which has an 86-inmate capacity).