UN Expert Raises Alarm Over Women’s Safety in California Prison

Alsalem said female prisoners have specific safety and privacy needs that authorities are legally required to protect, including protection from sex-based violence.

Women held at the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) have alleged sexual harassment, threats, privacy violations and violence, prompting UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls Reem Alsalem to call for urgent investigations and protective measures. Complaints involving five current or former prisoners also describe punishment for raising safety concerns, bringing attention to whether women can report abuse and seek protection without risking further harm.

Prisoners Describe Fear and Loss of Privacy

The complaints received by Alsalem allege that women were required to share sleeping quarters, showers and toilets with prisoners assigned male at birth, despite several complainants having experienced severe sexual or domestic violence and trauma-related conditions. The Special Rapporteur raised the issue with the United States Government in June 2026, expressing concern that these arrangements could expose already vulnerable prisoners to further distress and retraumatisation.

Alsalem said female prisoners have specific safety and privacy needs that authorities are legally required to protect, including protection from sex-based violence. She argued that requiring women to share intimate spaces with male prisoners was unacceptable regardless of gender identity, placing particular emphasis on the experiences of survivors whose earlier abuse could make such conditions especially distressing. Her intervention calls on prison authorities to take these complaints seriously and address the risks described by the women.

Reporting Abuse Allegedly Brought Punishment

Women who reported harassment, threats, privacy violations or fears for their safety allegedly faced solitary confinement, disciplinary proceedings, transfers and consequences affecting parole eligibility. These accounts raise concerns about both the alleged abuse and the response of the institution responsible for protecting prisoners, particularly when speaking up could carry consequences for a woman's daily conditions or prospects of release.

"Women must never be punished for reporting violence or seeking protection from it," Alsalem said, explaining that retaliation, if substantiated, would punish women for harm they had suffered and could discourage others from seeking help. The allegations require investigation rather than being treated as established findings, and the Special Rapporteur called for effective protection alongside scrutiny of the reported violations.

California Housing Law Faces Human Rights Scrutiny

Alsalem's concerns also address California's S.B. 132, which provides for transgender prisoners to request placement in men's or women's facilities according to gender identity. She questioned the law's compatibility with protections for female prisoners, citing the Bangkok Rules and Mandela Rules as international standards recognising women's specific needs and appropriate privacy. Her 2025 thematic report on sex-based violence argued that female-only spaces are essential where necessary to protect women's safety and dignity, including in prisons.

The Special Rapporteur said similar concerns about female-only spaces extend to several countries, calling on US state and federal authorities to investigate the reported violations and take foreseeable safety risks seriously. On 6 August 2026, she submitted an amicus curiae, or friend-of-the-court, brief to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Chandler v. Macomber, presenting her position that S.B. 132 is incompatible with international human rights law. The brief represents her legal argument to the court, rather than a judicial ruling on the legislation.