Faith Booher-Smith’s story is another reminder of how easy it is to be stripped of our rights. In August 2025, Booher-Smith was violently attacked in an unprovoked by a trans-identified male inmate who was being housed in the Washington State Correctional Center for Women—the state’s only women’s prison. This 6’4”, fully intact man, who had been convicted of sex crimes against a child, was able to allegedly grab Booher-Smith from behind, beat her, and stomp on her, resulting in undeniable, visible injuries.
To make matters worse, the Washington State Department of Corrections was well aware of the attacker’s violent tendencies and still chose to transfer this individual to the women’s prison, where a large percentage of the female inmates are survivors of every kind of abuse one can imagine. They did so because gender ideology, the seemingly new religion of our nation’s DOCs, is being prioritized over women’s well-being, safety, and basic human rights.
As a formerly incarcerated woman, I know firsthand the vulnerability and fear that come with living with little to no privacy, sharing showers, bathrooms, sleeping areas, and a small cell with many other inmates. There is nowhere to flee and nowhere else to turn for protection. Incarcerated women depend on the guards and DOC officials to ensure their safety. And with many female inmates still navigating the trauma of domestic violence or sexual assault, those forced to live with a trans-identified man are being forced into their worst nightmare.
This trans-identified male’s history was no secret. Prior to this attack, he had displayed the same violent and predatory behavior toward another female inmate, Mozzy Clark, who filed two lawsuits against the Washington DOC.
Clark was forced to share a cell with this trans-identified prisoner. This man was provided with a predator’s dream crime come true, as he was allegedly able to masturbate in front of Clark and molest her in her sleep.
In the years I have been fighting for human rights for women who are trapped in the same cells I was in, this kind of disgusting occurrence is not surprising. It’s actually commonplace—as anyone with a working brain would imagine—when you house violent male sex offenders in a women’s prison, even if they choose to identify as women.
At every level, the DOC has failed these vulnerable women. In my own state of California, I’ve helped send billboards across the state with the simple message “Incarcerated Women Matter” to be a voice for my sisters on the inside. I’ve contacted DOC employees and lawmakers like state Sen. Scott Wiener about the abuse incarcerated women are facing. In response, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has decided to punish the brave inmates who speak out by ignoring their commutation and pardon applications, sentencing them to horrifying abuse at the hands of trans-identified male inmates.
Scared and silenced, these women depend on voices on the outside to share their stories. In WCCW alone, multiple other women have suffered at the hands of trans-identified males.
Since Booher-Smith was attacked, she has suffered from dizziness, confusion, and sudden vomiting. When she reported these concussion symptoms to prison medical staff, they ignored her. Since then, she’s lived each day with the psychological trauma and fear of what could happen next. And yet, despite the danger she faces for doing so, Booher-Smith is speaking out so that no other women have to face what she has.
A lawsuit that was recently filed by America First Policy Institute on her behalf proves that there are law firms and organizations that know incarcerated women need to be protected and defended from the cruel and unusual punishment of being forcibly housed with men who identify as women.
This lawsuit is everything I hoped for in California. America First was able to learn from the pitfalls previous cases, such as Chandler v. Macomber, have run into. With what I know now, I truly feel this lawsuit is going to set a precedent that will have a positive impact on incarcerated women across the nation.
The bottom line is the system found a way to accommodate one group—trans-identified men—by shifting the cost onto another: women. Many Americans may think this is a topic that isn’t newsworthy or headline material, but I have one message for those people: what our government will subject the least of us to, they will inevitably subject all of us to.
There is nothing I can do or say to adequately prepare anyone for what incarcerated women in our country are currently surviving. In order to save women in America from the deepest, darkest levels of female erasure, we have to stop the horrible injustices women in prison are enduring.
