AFPI Calls on Washington State to End Dangerous Inmate Policy After Assault at Women’s Prison

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The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) has called on the Washington State Department of Corrections to immediately revoke its Transgender Inmate Policy following a violent assault of a female inmate by a male housed at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW).

AFPI attorneys sent a letter to Department leadership detailing a reported August 7 assault in which 6'4" convicted child molester Christopher Williams—who identifies as transgender—allegedly attacked a female inmate from behind, punching and kicking her until other inmates intervened. The inmate, previously removed from WCCW after a separate sexual assault allegation, was reportedly returned to the facility without notice to female inmates or their families.

"This policy is actively harming real women,” said Leigh Ann O’Neill, senior attorney at AFPI. “The Department of Corrections is failing in its most basic duty: to protect the people in its custody. Housing biological males in these spaces—regardless of intent—undermines every safeguard those institutions were designed to provide. The physical harm and psychological trauma these women are reporting is real, and it’s preventable."

AFPI previously sent a letter to the Department in March 2025 documenting 51 internal complaints by female inmates alarmed by the policy. The August 13 follow-up reiterates that the current arrangement not only exposes women to physical danger but also erodes core sex-based protections within correctional facilities.

AFPI’s legal team has submitted a public records request related to the Department’s decision-making process around Williams’ return to WCCW. The organization has demanded the immediate removal of all biological males from women’s correctional facilities in Washington.

AFPI remains committed to protecting women at every level of public life—from schools to the prison block.