Inmates in Minnesota's sole women's prison report feeling "scared" and "traumatized" by the presence of transgender women in their living quarters – a situation that arose after Gov. Tim Walz's endorsement of a controversial "sue and settlement" arrangement with a left-wing organization last year.
Rebeca Warmbo, a former inmate at the Women's Correctional Facility in Shakopee, who spent more than a decade in and out of prison on drug and robbery charges, now considers herself an advocate for her friends still behind bars. Warmbo, 50, keeps in regular contact with several women, who've written to her about their experiences ever since the trans inmates were transferred in.
"They're in fear, and they're scared all the time, and they feel traumatized," Warmbo told Fox News Digital. "Because [some of] these men are sex offenders, and a lot of the women in there have been abused or had sex offenses done against them."
She added: "They do sexually suggestive things to them, and it's making them all very uncomfortable."
There are 48 transgender people reported across all Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities, according to a release last year from the Minnesota DOC. Fox News Digital identified at least four transgender inmates in the women's prison. The state's total incarcerated population is just under 10,000.
Nathan Charles Johnson, Bradley Richard Sirvio, Sean Windingland and Elijah Thomas Berryman are currently serving sentences in the women's facility for felony charges.
According to DOC records, Sirvio is serving a life sentence for homicide, Windingland is serving 24 years for criminal sexual conduct, Berryman is serving a 26-year sentence also for criminal sexual conduct, and Johnson, charged with aiding and abetting a burglary, is set to be released in February 2025.
Warmbo – a self-professed Christian who says she is now sober and studying to be a psychologist – said she has written several letters to her local representatives in Congress and to the Biden-Harris administration about the added "endangerment" incarcerated women now face living in close quarters with biological males.
In addition to Warmbo, Fox News Digital spoke with an inmate currently in prison who spoke on condition that her name be withheld from publication.
The inmate detailed how the prisoners are often too intimidated to speak out about encounters with the trans women, fearing administrative repercussions and having their privileges revoked. She also told Fox News Digital the trans women get their own rooms, while the other prisoners are placed two to a cell.
All the prisoners virtually share the same open living spaces, including the showers. The inmate told Fox News Digital in a phone call that graphic instances of sexual harassment occur in the facility, though Fox News Digital could not independently confirm.
"It's just going to be a huge mess I see for Minnesota because of Tim Walz and his agenda on this," Warmbo said.
Last week, a longtime teacher at the Minnesota women's facility, Alicia Beckmann, resigned out of protest at the new policy, the Independent Women's Forum reported.
Beckmann was reportedly "blindsided" leading up to her 10th anniversary working at the facility, when inmate Sirvio and Craig Lusk – who goes by the name Christina – arrived.
"The women are scared to speak up. Many women are incarcerated because of the men they spend their time with, and we all have freedom of choice, but I guarantee that probably 75% of our population committed a crime because there was violence against them by a man, or they felt coerced into doing something for that man," Beckmann told the organization.
According to the DOC's policy guidance issued to staff in April, trans inmates are granted certain privileges.
"Incarcerated people who are transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary may request a single-cell assignment," and they must be "given the opportunity to shower separately in a manner so as to prevent viewing by other incarcerated people."
"Facility staff must provide incarcerated people who are transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary state-issued undergarments consistent with their gender identity including any combination of those items up to the allowable limit if requested," the document also states.
When it comes to security checks, "pat and unclothed body searches of incarcerated people who are transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary must be done in accordance with the gender of the facility in which they are assigned," meaning if a trans inmate is housed in a male facility, the search should be conducted by male staff. If they are in a female facility, the search should be conducted by female staff.
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"The department provides incarcerated people who are transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary with appropriate gender-related mental health and medical services throughout their incarceration. The DOC provides medical care in accordance with WPATH standards of care," the memo noted.
Nearly $500,000 in taxpayer money was paid last year by Walz's administration in what effectively was a "sue and settlement" scheme by a left-wing interest group, Gender Justice, which represented Craig "Christina" Lusk one year after the organization filed a sex discrimination complaint against the Minnesota DOC.
As of Jan. 31, Lusk was released from state custody and placed under supervision. The settlement reached in this case involved a total of $495,000 distributed among three parties. Lusk received $245,903.72, Gender Justice was allocated $198,000 and Robins Kaplan LLP received $51,096.28 for legal fees.
In 2023, records provided by OpenTheBooks indicate that Gender Justice received $448,904, which includes payments from the DOC and the $5,000 from the Minnesota Department of Education, though further details about the latter amount were not explored.
The complaint alleged the DOC discriminated against a Lusk for not placing the inmate in a women's prison and rejecting requests for sex-change surgeries.
Prior to an arrest in December 2018 after being charged with possession of meth and sentenced to a five-year term, Lusk underwent hormone therapy and sought "bottom surgery" to remove his male genitalia.
As of Jan. 31, Lusk was released from state custody and placed under supervision. The settlement reached in this case involved a total of $495,000 distributed among three parties. Lusk received $245,903.72 and Gender Justice was allocated $198,000.
The settlement also led to an update in policy that avoided the legislative process, with Minnesota’s DOC agreeing to adopt World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care for treating inmates with gender dysphoria on the taxpayer dime.
"The DOC is constitutionally obligated to provide medically necessary care for incarcerated people, which includes treatment for gender dysphoria," DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell said in a statement in June 2023. "Based on the facts of this specific case, the incarcerated person will now have access to the medical care she needs, she deserves, and we have a legal obligation to provide."
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Minnesota is now among 11 states and the District of Columbia that allow transgender inmates to transfer to prison facilities that match their gender identity and not their biological sex. Walz has been an advocate during his time as governor for trans rights.
Walz, a former Army National Guardsman and a former teacher, was one of the first governors to sign into law a bill making Minnesota a "sanctuary state" for children seeking transgender surgical procedures and hormone prescriptions. This laid the groundwork for several of his more progressive LGBTQ policies.
Neither the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Gov. Walz's office, nor the Harris-Walz campaign responded to Fox News Digital's inquiry by press deadline.
