The Department of Justice’s decision to investigate Washington state for housing biological males in women’s prisons is being hailed as a major victory by advocates representing female inmates who say they were sexually abused and terrorized under the state’s gender-identity prison policies.
Speaking Wednesday on The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, America First Policy Institute Chief Legal Affairs Officer Leigh Ann O’Neill said she was not surprised the Trump administration’s DOJ launched a federal civil rights investigation into the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW).
“Based on the priorities that they’ve expressed… I did hope and expect that they would take up an investigation here,” O’Neill said, pointing to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s prior involvement in similar litigation before joining the DOJ.
The DOJ announced Tuesday it is investigating whether Washington violated female inmates’ constitutional rights by housing violent male offenders who identify as women inside the state’s all-female prison in Gig Harbor.
The federal investigation follows multiple disturbing allegations involving inmates such as Christopher Scott Williams, a 6-foot-4 biological male convicted of child molestation and violent assault who was transferred into WCCW after identifying as a woman.
Former inmate Mozzy Clark-Sanchez filed a lawsuit alleging Williams repeatedly sexually assaulted and harassed her after prison officials forced them to share a cell. Another female inmate later accused Williams of brutally attacking her inside the prison.
O’Neill said the DOJ investigation could uncover information far faster than ongoing civil litigation.
“With civil lawsuits you have to get into the discovery phase before you can uncover factual evidence,” O’Neill explained. “The DOJ’s investigation is going to have a much quicker ability to get to the bottom of what’s happening in the facility.”
She also accused Washington officials of obstructing access to records related to the prison system.
“Getting official documentation from the state is not easy to do because they’ve designed it that way,” she said.
During the interview, Hoffman also highlighted newly obtained records showing Washington taxpayers have spent nearly $5 million on “gender affirming care” for inmates since 2019, including sex-change surgeries, hormone treatments, and more than $80,000 on laser hair removal procedures.
O’Neill praised the timing of Hoffman’s public records disclosure release, noting it came just before news broke of the DOJ investigation.
“I thought your timing was impeccable yesterday to drop that information the very same day the DOJ announces an open investigation,” O’Neill told Hoffman.
She also mocked the expenditures, saying the laser hair removal spending was “more than I can deal with,” noting many ordinary Americans save for years to afford such cosmetic procedures while convicted felons receive them at taxpayer expense.
She argued public scrutiny and federal involvement are necessary to restore the constitutional rights of female inmates.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” O’Neill said. “That is what it’s going to take to get constitutional rights restored for these female inmates.”
