During a recent press conference, Vladimir Putin spoke about a prisoner from the United States who came out as transgender, was transferred to a women's colony, and subsequently raped another prisoner. We have verified the accuracy of this story.
On December 23, 2021, during a press conference, RT journalist Murad Gazdiev asked President of Russia about his attitude to the new ethics, cancel culture and Russia's struggle for traditional values. Answering this question, Putin, in particular, said: “I am afraid of making a mistake, but, in my opinion, it is unlikely that I will make a mistake. In the States, I think they just said, Ksenia (Sobchak - Ed.) asked a question about places of imprisonment, in my opinion, in the States - if I’m wrong, don’t judge me harshly, don’t be angry - one prisoner who was imprisoned for rape declared himself a woman and demanded to be transferred to a women’s prison. Translated. He immediately raped his cellmate. But there must be some common sense in everything!”
Apparently, Putin based his answer on the article, published at the end of November 2021 in the American edition of National Review, which calls itself as a “magazine of conservative views.” In Russia, this text was retold by a newspaper "Sight" and still the same TV channel RT in their Telegram channel, the events described were also mentioned in one of the reports "Channel One".
The events described in the National Review article took place in Washington state - there are transgender prisoners there can submit a request for transfer from a men's prison to a women's prison or vice versa. If the applicant convinces the special commission of gender dysphoria (feeling of incongruity between biological sex and gender identity) and undergoes a series of tests, his wish may be granted.
An article in National Review, citing Scott Fleming, a former guard at a women's prison in Seattle, argues that in reality this system does not work - the commission supposedly needs only one statement from a male prisoner that he actually identifies as a woman. Undergoing sex reassignment surgery or a course of necessary hormonal medications is not among the prerequisites for making a positive decision.
Criticizing the policy, Fleming, who was fired for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine, spoke about an inmate named Hobby Bingham, who was sentenced to prison for allegedly having sex with a 12-year-old girl. While in prison, Fleming stated that he identified himself as a woman named Princess Zoe Marie Andromeda Love, and obtained a transfer to a women's prison. There he was shared a cell with Heather Lee Ann Trent, a developmentally disabled inmate who had a history of sexual abuse.
According to Fleming, his colleague once went into the cell where Trent and Bingham lived and found them naked and lying in the same bed. The former guard claims that sexual intercourse took place between the prisoners. He draws this conclusion due to the fact that Trent allegedly repeatedly told other prisoners how she gave Bingham a blow job. Fleming's colleague, who witnessed the rape, wrote up a description of the incident on his computer, but a month later the files allegedly disappeared from the device.
Fleming believes that the Washington state prison system was able to skillfully hide what happened, and is confident that the rape actually happened. This conclusion is supported by several of his observations. First, he saw Bingham and Trent's relationship as a "predator-prey interaction." Secondly, after Bingham was transferred to another cell, he hinted that he was planning to earn money together with his new neighbor - they allegedly hoped get large compensation paid to female prisoners who became pregnant in prison. Third, the prisoners addressed Bingham as a man and used appropriate grammatical structures. Fourth, after his release, Bingham cut his hair short and, according to his former cellmates, again began to identify as a man.
National Review was able to obtain confirmation of Fleming’s words from another of his colleagues, who wished to remain anonymous. However, the prison where the rape allegedly occurred declined to comment. The journalists' requests were considered in federal court - according to it decision, the personal data of transgender prisoners cannot be disclosed due to doubts about their safety in the future (including after leaving prison).
The fact that Washington State's laws regarding transgender prisoners are flawed was reported before the publication in the National Review. American radio station Kiro March 8, 2021 told about rumors that are spreading in the local women's prison related to the transfer of gender-changed men there. Citing an anonymous employee, Kiro was probably the first media outlet to mention Bingham, who "had sex with a female inmate." The radio station also did not provide any hard evidence.
Moreover, just two days later, Geneva Cotton, a representative of the Washington State Corrections Service published a statement in which she called the allegations from media publications false. According to her, authorities conduct numerous reviews and studies on each request to transfer a transgender person from a men's prison to a women's prison or vice versa, assessing a range of factors and risks. Moreover, according to the service, from September 2020 to March 2021, there were no reports of rape or harassment from a women's prison in Seattle.
Apart from National Review, Kiro and several regional publications, no major American media outlet mentioned this high-profile story in their publications. The foreign press almost completely ignored the report of rape in a Washington state prison. Rare exceptions are a retelling of a National Review article (for example, the Spanish Marca). In early December Bingham mentioned author of a piece in the New York Post without saying anything about the rape allegations.
The situation surrounding the charges against Bingham can be compared to a story that occurred three years earlier on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In 2018, a UK court sentenced 52-year-old Stephen Terence Woods, who was then undergoing a gender reassignment course, to life imprisonment. He was arrested for attempted murder and had previously been convicted of indecent behavior with minors and exhibitionism. While in prison, Woods began his transgender transition while he, identifying himself as Karen White, was investigated for two counts of rape in 2003 and 2016. It was then revealed that in 2017, while already in custody, Woods sexually harassed two female prisoners at Wakefield Prison. White is serving his sentence in a men's prison because the court did not believe in the sincerity of his desire to change his sex. The British authorities apologized for the mistakes they made. Let us emphasize: harassment by a transgender man against female prisoners was proven in court, and all major British media wrote about this decision: BBC, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, SkyNews and many others.
Thus, the only source of information about the incident in the United States available on public resources is the story of a former guard at a women's prison in Washington state, who was fired shortly before. All other information is limited to anonymous reports or rumors. Fleming's interview was published in a conservative American magazine, while major media outlets in the United States and around the world either ignored it or simply retold it without providing additional information. More than nine months have passed since the first reports of the rape, more than a month since the publication in National Review, and during that time there has been no news regarding the incident described by the former prison guard. Compared to the case of Stephen Woods (Karen White), the case of Hobby Bingham (Andromeda Love) currently has very little evidence, official documents and court decisions for us to give a clear verdict regarding the veracity of the rape allegations.
This is not accurate
- National Review. Male Inmate Sexually Assaulted Female after Transfer to Washington Women’s Prison, Former Guard Says
- BBC. Trans inmate jailed for Wakefield prison sex offenses
- Is it true that British doctors have been banned from using the words “mother” and “human milk”?
- Is it true that the Vatican adopted amendments to the Bible excluding the sinfulness of homosexual relations?
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