{"id":70174,"date":"2026-03-27T10:03:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/doj-probes-california-maine-over-transgender-inmate-housing-policies\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T10:03:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:03:42","slug":"doj-probes-california-maine-over-transgender-inmate-housing-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/doj-probes-california-maine-over-transgender-inmate-housing-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ probes California, Maine over transgender inmate housing policies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/justice-department\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Department of Justice<\/a> on Thursday launched civil rights investigations into prison systems in California and Maine over policies allowing transgender inmates to be housed in women&#8217;s facilities, citing concerns about female inmates&#8217; safety.<\/p>\n<p>The probes will examine whether the states are engaged in a &#8220;pattern or practice&#8221; of violating inmates\u2019 rights, part of a broader federal push targeting what officials call a growing national issue.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Pamela Bondi said keeping &#8220;men out of women\u2019s prisons [was] not only common sense \u2013 it\u2019s a matter of safety and constitutional rights.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/finance\/investigations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The investigations<\/a> focus on two California facilities and the Maine Correctional Center. Officials cited allegations of sexual assault, rape and a &#8220;pervasive climate of sexual intimidation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/trump-admin-finds-california-ban-notifying-parents-gender-transitions-violated-federal-law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TRUMP ADMIN FINDS CALIFORNIA BAN ON NOTIFYING PARENTS OF GENDER TRANSITIONS VIOLATED FEDERAL LAW<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The DOJ said the probes are being conducted under federal civil rights law and will examine potential violations of inmates\u2019 constitutional protections.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/west\/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In California<\/a>, the policy stems from a 2020 law allowing inmates to be housed based on gender identity. The issue gained attention after a transgender inmate housed in a women\u2019s prison was later charged with multiple counts of rape.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/northeast\/maine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In Maine<\/a>, officials are investigating allegations that a male inmate remained housed with women despite complaints of assault or harassment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/fbi-launches-probes-against-3-childrens-hospitals-genital-mutilation-minors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>FBI LAUNCHES PROBES INTO 3 CHILDREN&#8217;S HOSPITALS FOR ALLEGED GENITAL MUTILATION OF MINORS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the DOJ will not allow women in custody to face &#8220;unconstitutional risks of harm.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These investigations will uncover whether the dangerous national trend of housing men in women\u2019s prisons has resulted in violations of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/constitution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">women\u2019s constitutional rights<\/a>,&#8221; Dhillon said.<\/p>\n<p>California officials say they are committed to inmate safety, while a spokesperson for Maine\u2019s governor has called the probe politically motivated.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital has reached out to the DOJ and state officials for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The investigations are ongoing and could lead to legal action if violations are found.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Justice on Thursday launched civil rights investigations into prison systems in California and Maine over policies allowing transgender inmates to be housed in women&#8217;s facilities, citing concerns about female inmates&#8217; safety. The probes will examine whether the states are engaged in a &#8220;pattern or practice&#8221; of violating inmates\u2019 rights, part of a &#8230; <a title=\"DOJ probes California, Maine over transgender inmate housing policies\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/doj-probes-california-maine-over-transgender-inmate-housing-policies\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about DOJ probes California, Maine over transgender inmate housing policies\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70174\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}