A woman who participated in the 1969 murders of a husband and wife at the direction of cult leader Charles Manson should be granted parole after serving 50 years behind bars, a split California appellate panel ruled Tuesday, overruling Gov. Gavin Newsom's reversal of her 2020 parole recommendation.
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A new California law that allows incarcerated transgender people to ask for a transfer to a state prison or detention center that matches with their gender identity went into effect in January, but so far few people have been approved for it, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Senate Bill 132, authored by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last year. To date only 21 requests from transgender and gender-nonconforming incarcerated people to move to gender-appropriate facilities have been approved this year, out of 382 requests, according to CDCR officials.
Eight people have been transferred.
Women s prison. | Reuters/Lucy Nicholson
California has paved the way for male prison inmates to be transferred to women s prisons, which has raised concerns about the safety and welfare of both the female inmate population and female corrections officers.
Over 255 men who identify as either female or nonbinary have in recent months requested to be transferred to women s prisons on the basis of self-declared “gender identity,” according to multiplereports.
The onslaught of such requests was precipitated by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signing of the Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act, which requires the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to inquire of every individual to indicate their preferred pronouns, gender identity, and whether they identify as transgender, nonbinary, or intersex. The new law also requires that the department house prisoners in a “correctional facility designated for men or women based on the individual’s preference.”