What's Really Happening in California Prisons? | Amie Ichikawa

DOJ is investigating female prisons in California. Today, we sit down with Amy Ichikawa, who's in touch with people inside these female prisons in California. She's here to tell us what's happening and why is this investigation going on? Security is not prioritized. They're supposed to walk the halls regularly and through a shift and you can go a whole night without hearing anybody walk down the halls at all. It's a scary shift, just knowing that it doesn't matter how loud you scream, somebody might not come. I'm Siamak. Welcome to California Insider. Amy, it's great to have you back on. Welcome back. Thank you. It's great to be here. You're an insider and you know what's going on in prisons in California, especially women's prisons. You have had your own encounter, but you're getting a lot of information from women in these prisons and some odd things are happening. Can you tell us what's happening in the women's prisons here? In our state women's prisons, we now have biological men who identify as women that are in the population and it's created a power imbalance, to say the least. There is, from what I understand, some preferential treatment that is extremely unfair. There's a prioritization of everything for a certain class of people now. It's created a supremacy issue and it was designed that way. The way the law was written that allowed this to happen specifically made this untouchable group and it's being taken advantage of by people with nefarious intentions. This is not being used widely by members of the transgender community that are in the prison system. This is being used by predatory, manipulative men who are using this as an escape from the men's facilities. These are people who have nowhere else to go. They're from security threat groups that they've debriefed, they're dropouts, they're green lighters, people who are at risk, are in danger in the men's prison, but not because of a trans identity, but because of sometimes the nature of their crimes or things that they've done in prison since they've been incarcerated. So it's being highly misused by bad actors and it's having a grossly negative impact on the female population. And what are you hearing? I know there was a rape case and you've been in touch with victims and the person that's allegedly painted as the person that's done it. What are you hearing from what's happening? Well, that unfortunate situation, there were two individuals who filed Prison Rape Elimination Act claims and it was picked up by the Madera County District Attorney. They filed charges formally for two counts of rape by force and one count of dissuading a witness. And a few weeks later, the individual was moved to a men's facility. And I'm in touch with all parties involved and it's obviously negatively impact everyone. This is a situation that would have never happened if the committee that reviews the transfers would have done any kind of research and understood what the alleged perpetrator had been through as a child. They would have never logically moved that person to a women's facility because they're just housed in a state of trauma. It was like compounded trauma because they were allegedly abused by women as a child. So I would have never thought it was a healthy idea to transfer that person in a place where they're gonna be surrounded by people that are similar to their original abusers. I think this is an example of failure all the way across the board, from the legislature to the Department of Corrections. Nobody is caring or showing any genuine concern for what happens to these individuals. Can you tell us more about this story? Did you hear from this woman? I have been in touch with one of the alleged victims. This is life shattering. This was somebody who was just supposed to do a quick turnaround. This was a first offense and it turned her life completely upside down. There's just a complete failure. There was no support offered. She didn't know that she was allowed to have someone there from like a crisis center to support her through the entire investigation or through going to the emergency room, none of that. She wasn't aware. So she went through this alone and then was transferred to a different facility. I don't know how this person has continued. She struggled. There's not a lot of mental health care services. They're not adequate. That's one of the biggest places where this is lacking. If everybody received the mental health care services that they needed, I don't think these situations would even happen. So what happened here? Did she get attacked in the prison? Allegedly, yes. There was both individuals alleged that they were assaulted in a room, in a cell, in a shower. So there's closed circuit TVs. There's video surveillance everywhere except for inside of the cells. So there's proof of their locations at the time, but it's still speculative at this point. And the case is still ongoing. There was a hearing yesterday and it was just continued to next month. And it's just going and going and going. There's no progress. Just like with the other case that was recently dismissed against SB 132, things seem to kind of sit in that courthouse and there's very little progress. And you mentioned the person that's allegedly, they're saying that he or she did it and he or she reached out to you. Can you tell us the story? I have maintained contact with this person. The position that I'm in now compared to five years ago is very different. I am much more open-minded and interested in ensuring that the entire incarcerated population is safe and has access to advocates. I'm not a rape apologist, but this person is innocent until proven guilty. And they are in danger. They're in a very dangerous situation. With these allegations and with all of the negative interaction they've had with staff, it is concerning. They weren't brought to court, I think more than three times. They have been just no show. And the judge has asked for the wardens. I think at one point they asked for the DOJ to come because they want to know, the judge wants to know why they're not producing this individual. Why is this person not coming to court? What's going on here? How do you just not bring somebody who's in custody to court three, four times? Is this happening to other people? Is this a regular occurrence? There's still no answer. And it doesn't make any sense. If it was a free world person, you would get a failure to appear. But who is responsible when you're in custody? The Department of Corrections, I would think. So I think that's kind of obstruction of justice at this point. I don't think they want to see this go any further because this is going to implicate a lot of the things that they've mishandled. Do you think that there is more of these cases right now? You're in touch with people in prisons, right? A lot of things are going unreported. People are afraid to make any complaints because women have seen what happens to individuals that do stand up for themselves. They get written up. There were three people that got in trouble and they got write-ups for false reporting and harassment when they wrote an inmate grievance about being forcibly housed with people that are with fully intact men. There was one woman who she lost her parole grant and this was the only write-up that she ever received in 20 plus years. Her parole grant was rescinded. It was revoked based on the write-ups that she received that were later dropped. So the population sees that happen and they're afraid. That sent a message across the entire prison system so they know you have to be quiet and keep your head down or else that's the consequence you're gonna face. You mentioned some of these people are moved to the women's prison but they might not really be transgender. You think some people are just pretending to get out of the male prison to go to the female. Are there some clear cases? There's undeniably clear cases. There's an individual who specifically said when they got to the women's prison, I'm here because I can't be kept safe in the men's prison. They're gonna get me. So this was the only option I had. There's people who, it's very clear, the intention is to immediately start fraternizing with the women and it's for sexual gratification purposes. This is even confirmed from the trans women in the men's prisons. They've confirmed that a lot of the people that are attempting to transfer are just predatory males. I think the department's done a good job of not letting any more transfer but the first group of people that they did allow to move over is rife with people that have abused this law and are using it incorrectly. They are fully intact, fully operational. A lot of them are registered sex offenders and you would think that that would have been a factor that would have kept them from being qualified to transfer but it hasn't. There's somebody who killed another person in men's prison. You would think that committing a murder while in custody would make you less likely of a candidate to transfer to the women's facility but it didn't. These are the kind of people that the women were told would not be included in the transfers. They were told, no rapists, no woman beaters, don't worry about that. And that's exactly who they got. So how many people are in the women's prison now from the male prisons transferred? 48. And what's the population of women in prisons in California? It's under 4,000 right now. It's less than 10% of the incarcerated population of 91,000. It may seem like a small number in a big picture but all it takes is one person who's predatory with the intention of hurting women to be in that environment to create chaos amongst the entire population. You don't have to touch somebody to hurt them or scare them. Even when I was there, there was an individual who was there for a double rape and we were all aware of the fact that this person electrocuted their victims during the assaults. And they asked if someone would help them get a job in the electrical shop. So that was something that spread fear through the whole community without laying a single finger on anybody. Just the presence of somebody who is acknowledging that yeah, their crime, I electrocuted my victims and I'm going to ask you for a job in the electric shop. That was scary. I wasn't even on the same yard as that individual and I would call home crying every day. And nobody believed me until it came out in the newspaper that yes, that person in fact was in the women's prison. It's the irreparable mental compounded trauma that these women are experiencing. Just that they know that their mental health and physical safety is secondary to everything. These are 92% survivors of some form of sexual abuse that are now being forced to live with or live in the fear of having to live with someone who's a convicted sex offender. And you mentioned there are no cameras in these cell rooms. Can you tell us more about that? How many people are in these cell rooms? In the Central California Women's Facility, there's eight people per cell. There's four bunk beds, a shower, a toilet and two sinks. So this is a very compact area. There's very limited privacy as it is. But when you introduce other kinds of people into the environment, it does change things. Their shower is fully open. I mean, you can see what's going on in there. There's no door? There's a door. Can you lock the door? You can't lock the door. And it only covers from about, like just your midsection. And a lot of these people are taller, you know, six foot plus, so that prison wasn't designed to, it was designed for women. I mean, it's painted pink inside. It's not like TV. It's not a tier system. It's not like the movies. It's more of a dorm setting. There's eight people in a room. How many? Eight rooms in a hallway, 56. I don't know. It's very dorm-like. There's a officer station in the center. There's a day room with TVs. It's not like you would think. It's much more open security-wise. And that's another issue. A lot of these people are coming directly from death row. And death row in the men's facility, there's no equivalent to that security-wise in the women's prison. CCWF is the equivalent of a men's medium security, like a level two. As far as staffing and funding goes, they're technically a men's level two, but they now house level four people from men's death row. That's insane. That's such a security issue. They're coming from a facility that has all the correctional officers. Everybody's armed. And in CCWF, there's one gunner. There's one gun in that prison. It does raise serious security issues. I don't know how that wasn't considered during the frameworking of the law that allows this to happen. What about the people that are transgender in the male prison? Are they getting pressure there? Is it safe for them there? There are specific prisons. CMF, the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, has a large population of LGBTQI prisoners. I'm in contact with a couple. I actually talked to one last night, who we've talked off and on for almost three years now. And this is a trans woman who's been locked up for decades and is thriving, programming, and doing fine in Vacaville. And actually shared with me that there's two people that transferred from the women's prison in Vacaville right now, and they're doing fine. But that's an environment that's been cultivated to accommodate this demographic. If anything, that should have been the California model prison. People go home from that prison. They program well. They're in good communication with their administration. It's just, it's different. It's different. But I think if you were to go to the other outlying prisons, it would be dangerous. It's dangerous for everybody in those prisons. All the men are at risk every day. So there's eight people in these cells, and are they all together at all times? Or how does that work? Most people program. They have jobs throughout the prison or education. So it's not like you're together all day, but from 8.45 at night until seven o'clock in the morning or six o'clock in the morning, you are locked in the room together. The risk is that your cellmates may not even be able to see you. Right, right. To protect you. We had an emergency, and we were screaming and banging on the doors one night, and nobody came because the officer was asleep. Nobody walks the halls. Security is not prioritized. They're supposed to walk the halls regularly and through a shift, and you can go a whole night without hearing anybody walk down the halls at all. So it's kind of a scary shift, just knowing that it doesn't matter how loud you scream, somebody might not come. Tell us about how you ended up in prison, and then how did you get changed? I had problems with authority my whole life, being that my dad was a sheriff. I just didn't react well to authority. I really didn't think anybody could tell me what to do. And in 2009, I learned that there are consequences, and I can't do whatever I want. And I was selling drugs at the time. I was in a really, really crazy relationship, and it went downhill really fast. Within a six-month period, I was horribly in debt. I crashed two cars, and I was on my way to jail, and I was being charged with kidnapping for ransom, false imprisonment, with intensive torture. It was a very long list of heinous offenses. It was eventually whittled down to terrorist threats and a gun enhancement, which was a blessing because everybody I know who had a similar case got life. My first offer was 25 to life. So I still, at that point, didn't know how serious what was happening was. It really took, in some sense, until recently to understand the severity, the weight of what happened. Getting to prison, it hadn't really hit me yet how this is not normal. This is not okay. But that's how I learned about consequences. That's how I learned about there's gonna be a reaction to every action you have. And it was pretty scary the first two years. I'd never been arrested before, and all of this was totally new. I'm the kind of person that used to have to go to the bathroom at my house, and now I have to use the bathroom in front of 20 people. So things were very different. And the first two years, I think it was just a lot of crying, a lot of learning. I learned how to sweep. That was one of the most important things that I took away from prison. I thought I knew everything. Don't tell me anything, because I am very smart and I know everything. But my first roommate, she was a lifer, and I was told, as long as you don't end up in this room, in this unit with this person, you'll be fine. And that's exactly where I went. And she would make us get up at four o'clock in the morning and clean in the dark. And if you made one noise, you were in a lot of trouble. So I never realized how loud I was. Now I'm far more aware of the noise I make, and I'm a lot quieter. But she taught me how to sweep. She was cooking one day, and I started to sweep. And she said, why would you sweep while I'm cooking? Why would you sweep and touch my feet? Why don't you control the energy that you're using and sweep with intention, not just all haphazard? And years later, I think about that a lot. Focus your energy and sweep with intent. Intention is important. And I learned this in prison. So that's one of the little gems. It didn't seem like a lesson or it wasn't fun when it was happening, but I value it greatly now. But the first two years were very difficult. I think it was my second or third year, I got my face broken. It's not a safe place for anybody. I mean, this was from a friend. We got into an argument and my whole face was just purple. And I thought there was something attached to my head, but it was like a hematoma. I couldn't even believe, I thought my brain was hanging out of my head. So that definitely had an impact, but just learning that the world doesn't revolve around me and that everything I do, everybody that's in my life will be impacted by the decisions I make made me a lot more responsible. Well, responsible period, because obviously I wasn't responsible at all before. So when I say prison saved my life, I really feel that it literally saved my life. And for some people, it is a game changer. I don't think I'd be here had I not been incarcerated. What do you think would have happened? I would have, I think I would have died from domestic violence or gang violence, just something in the streets. That's how fast I was going and the kind of people that I was spending my time with, it was all high-risk behaviors. And that's the direction it was going, right before I got arrested. And your father is a sheriff. So were you hiding all of this from him? Well, my dad is actually the first person that warned me about the person I was, my co-defendant. My dad specifically said, you should not date this person at all. This is not gonna end well. And I had a listening problem. So that just made me wanna go harder. But he was still supportive. He still is. Through this whole thing, he showed up at every single one of my court dates. Even if he had to leave work, he would come in his uniform. He would visit me once or twice a week in county jail. There was a time I remember I got left in a holding cell. They forgot about me when I went to court. And I was in this little tiny cell for like hours. And the final bus left back to Linwood, where the women's jail is. And I still was there. I think they just completely forgot about me. So my dad checked the system and saw that I was not in transport. I was not at the jail. And he had to make several calls before they found me in the holding cell. That was interesting. But he's always been kind of like my number one fan. So even in my darkest time, he was still there supporting me. And when I went to prison, he came to see me once a month too for five years. So he's my favorite sheriff. How did prison change your life? Can you tell us the story? I really thought the world revolved around me. I just had blinders on and thought that I didn't understand consequences. I really thought that I could just do whatever I wanted. I was a professional teenager for a long time. And prison helped me understand that there's an impact. Everything you do impacts other people. It's not just you in a bubble. It affects other people. The decisions I make, the way I move. And I'm much more aware of the impact that my decisions have now. And I'm much more thoughtful. And it taught me how special it is to be a woman, really. Spending time with women. All these years, I thought I wanted to go back to prison, but I just missed doing things collectively with women. I'm glad that I learned that I don't want to go back to prison. It's just important. Just like guys have guy time, girls need girl time. That's what I needed. I needed to learn how to appreciate women and to appreciate being a woman. And I found that in prison. When you started advocating for your friends in prison, what was the moment you realized that you need to help everyone, not just your friends? It was a couple of years ago. There was a trans woman that reached out and said they appreciated what I was doing. And I was like, what? I was a little confused, but I was curious. And we started corresponding and we became good friends. And it is a friendship that is vital in my advocacy because it helped me understand that everybody's underrepresented. Nobody is having their voices platformed. This decision for this to happen, it wasn't done with their informed consent. They didn't know. They didn't get to contribute to this. A lot of them said before SB 132 was, when it was still in the frameworking stage, they said there should be requirements. You can't just leave this wide open. They were expressing the same things we're expressing. But because there was no communication, we could have never known that we could have collaborated on these things. But we're friends now and we communicate now and I do my best to keep them as informed as I do the ladies. They're aware of the investigation and they actually said they were happy. This person said, I'm glad it needs to be investigated. It needs to be tightened up. It's far too broad. So that- So DOJ is investigating right now. Can you tell us about that? Yes, the DOJ, a couple of weeks ago, officially announced that they are moving forward with an investigation in California and Maine. They're gonna be looking into whether or not women's constitutional rights are being violated in light of housing biological men in their facilities. They're looking at 1st, 8th and 14th amendment violations. So there are freedom of speech, cruel and unusual punishment and equal protection of the law. So I'm glad we've gotten some federal attention and I'm really hoping that this investigation will uncover the pitfalls, the discrepancies, the loopholes that have been left wide open and how this is being grossly misused across the country. I'm hoping that this leads to a nationwide investigation because this is not just a California problem. This is a nationwide issue. You mentioned if people say they think they're female, they will get transferred. Is that true? Or was it the first batch of the people? That's the only requirement. There's no other requirement besides self-identification. So you make your declaration and that's it. There's no need for a diagnosis, hormone replacement therapy or reassignment surgery. There's still people that are actively in their criminal thinking and behaviors in prison. Not everybody is in the mood to rehabilitate. So those are the people who are jumping on this. It's those who are manipulating the system. It's a misrepresentation of the community that it was geared towards because these are individuals 20 years into their sentence and all of a sudden they want to identify as a woman. And there's no need to wear lipstick or earrings or anything. It's just that self-declaration. Based on what you're seeing, you're talking to a lot of these parties that are in this prison system. What's the solution? It sounds complicated, but there can't be just a broad brushstroke policy for this. If it went back to the way things were before 2019, when things were considered on a case-by-case basis and there wasn't just this wide open opportunity for predators to take advantage of, it would work case-by-case because every situation and every individual is extremely different. So there isn't really a blanket policy that can adequately accommodate this issue or these individuals. If they cared, if the committee actually cared, if that was a requirement for the members of the committee who are reviewing these requests cared, I think it would make a huge difference too. If they weren't politically motivated or bought or activists, I think that it would make a huge difference because there just doesn't seem to be any level of care in the process. What type of decisions have you seen that you think they are not caring? People who are in the men's prison that are convicted of sex crimes against women and children, I don't think that would be a wise move to be in the women's facility, but that's a large number of who they approve to move over there. What percentage is it? In the original, it was 33.8% of the original. So a third of them. And these are registered offenders. So they've already paroled, had to register and re-offended. So this is somebody who has, this is a habitual behavioral issue. This is something that isn't necessarily going away. So I don't know why they would deem somebody with those issues as appropriate for a move, or there's no proof of, some people, they don't have any history of being hurt or at risk. I thought that was gonna be a requirement that an individual would have to be at risk in order to move, but that's not even part of the bill. There's no, or the law, there's no requirement to have had to experience anything that would necessitate you to live in a women's prison. It just is so undefined. There's so few boundaries. There's no guardrails. There's nothing in place that the department can really use to correct any of these issues. They're very limited as to what they can do. So there needs to be more care when these decisions are made. And each person that's going needs to be carefully examined because it will have an impact on the 4,000 people that are in this prison system. Right, like somebody who's experienced sexual abuse from women as a child, that's not gonna be a healthy environment for them. They're gonna be in an environment that has people that are very similar to their original abusers. And it's gonna put them in a state of complex, compounded trauma. And how are they gonna rehabilitate under those circumstances? You can't focus on rehabilitation when you're in a state of hypervigilance. When you're in your trauma, how there's no room for personal development or focusing on developing a skill or victim's awareness. You don't have time for that because you're unhinged. You're in a place where it's not safe in your own head. What can Californians do about this? Californians have gotta pay attention to who they're voting for. You know, this bill was widely supported by the entire legislature, except for a handful or a few conservatives. The Women's Caucus fully supported this. This is something that falls in the cracks because it is a prison-related issue. So if you're not impacted by the system, it's not a general concern of yours, but it should be. This is one of the state departments that has the biggest budget and it is just a microcosm for society. What they're doing in the prison system is a reflection of what's gonna happen out here because what the government will do to the least of us, they're gonna do to all of us at some point. So as women's basic human rights are being erased in the prison system, you have to take into consideration this is our future. So be wise when you pick who your state reps are gonna be because they're making decisions that are gonna impact everything because this is gonna spill over. That's why I'm working so hard to get this contained in the most humane way because the level of female erasure that the women are experiencing inside is not something that I think free world women are gonna be able to survive. It's so intense when you're in a place where you're with registered sex offenders. There's so many different allegations of staff sexual misconduct and the prison's response is to install condom dispensers. That's so degrading. I don't know how much more they can do. I'm sure it can get worse, but this is just on a level that is unbearable that I would think would be unbearable for women in the free world. So pay attention to your legislature. Let's pay attention to the bills that are coming up. It's, you know, we're in session now or pay attention to the bills that they're talking about because they're gonna affect your kids, everything. And keep an eye on the prison staff because that's where real change begins. It starts there. And you would think that it's not a place of concern, but it really, really is. Amy Ichikawa with Women to Women Organization. It was great to have you back on California Insider. Thank you so much. It's great to be back. Keep us posted on what's going on. What do you think about the situation inside female prisons in California? Make sure to let us know in the comments or email us at siamakacaliforniansider.com. We read all of your emails and comments. I'm Siamak Khorrami. This is California Insider. We'll see you next time.