Is the story true about the American who asked for transfer to a women's prison and raped a cellmate there?

During the recent press conference, Vladimir Putin spoke about the “Sidel” from the United States, who announced his transgender, was transferred to the women's colony and subsequently raped another prisoner. We checked the reliability of this story.

December 23, 2021 During the press conference, RT journalist Murad Gazdiev He asked The President of Russia about his attitude to new ethics, the culture of the abolition and struggle of Russia for traditional values. Answering this question, Putin, in particular, said: “I'm afraid to make a mistake, but, in my opinion, I can hardly make a mistake. In the States, in my opinion, now they said, Ksenia (Sobchak.-Ed.) Asked a question about the place of imprisonment, in my opinion, in the States-if I am mistaken, do not judge me strictly, do not be angry-the one who was sitting for rape, declared himself a woman and demanded that he be transferred to a women's prison. Translated. He immediately raped his cellmate. But some kind of common sense should be in everything! "

Apparently, Putin in his answer relied on the article, published At the end of November 2021, in the American publication National Review, which calls yourself "by the magazine of conservative views." In Russia, this text was retold a newspaper "Sight" And all the same TV channel RT In their Telegram channel, also described events mentioned in one of the reports "Channel One".

The events described in the article National Review occurred in Washington-there are prisoners-transgender They can serve A petition for transfer from a male prison to a female or vice versa. If the petitioner convinces the special commission of gender dysphoria (a feeling of inconsistency between the biological sex with gender identity) and a number of inspections will pass, its wish can be satisfied.

In the article by National Review with reference to Scott Fleming, a former guard of a women's prison in Seattle, it is stated that in reality this system does not work-the commission supposedly has enough of one statement of a man-confinced man that he actually identifies himself as a woman. The passing to change the floor or course of the necessary hormonal drugs is not among the prerequisite for making a positive decision.

Criticizing such a policy, Fleming, dismissed for refusing to vaccinate against the Covid-19, spoke about a concluded named Hobbie Bingham, sentenced to prison, on charges of sexual relations with a 12-year-old girl. Already in prison, Fleming said that he identifies himself as a woman named Princess Zoe Marie Andromeda Love, and achieved a transfer to a women's prison. There he was settled in one chamber with Heather Lee Anne Trent - a prisoner with developmental disabilities, which was previously subjected to sexual violence.

According to Fleming, his colleague once went into the cell, where Trent and Bingham lived, and found them stripped and lying in the same bed. The former guard claims that intercourse occurred between the prisoners. He draws such a conclusion due to the fact that Trent allegedly repeatedly told other prisoners, as Bingham blowjob. A colleague of Fleming, who witnessed the rape, drew up a description of the incident on his computer, but a month later the files allegedly disappeared from the device.

Fleming believes that Washington’s penitentiary system was able to skillfully hide what happened, and is sure that the rape actually happened. This conclusion reinforces several of his observations. Firstly, Bingham’s relationship and Trent seemed to him as “the interaction of a predator and sacrifice”. Secondly, after Bingham’s transfer to another camera, he hinted that he plans to make money with a new neighbor-they allegedly expected get Large compensation that women are paid to women who have become pregnant in prison. Thirdly, the prisoners turned to Bingham as a man and used the appropriate grammatical constructions. Fourth, after the liberation of Bingham, he had a briefly cut his hair and, according to his former cellmates, again began to identify himself as a man. 

National Review managed to get confirmation of Fleming's words from another colleague who wished to remain anonymous. At the same time, the prison, in which, presumably, rape occurred, refused comments. The requests of journalists were considered in the federal court - according to its decision, personal data of transgender prisoners cannot be disclosed due to doubts about their safety in the future (including after leaving prison).

The fact that the legislation of Washington’s state regarding transgender prisoners was imperfect was also reported before the publication at National Review. American radio station Kiro on March 8, 2021 told About rumors that are distributed in a local women's prison related to the transfer of men who replaced the sex. With reference to the anonymous employee Kiro, probably, the first of the media was mentioned by Bingham, who "had sex with a female prisoner." The radio station also did not provide any good evidence.

At the same time, two days later, a representative of the staff of the staff of Washington Geneva Cotton Published The statement in which she called statements from media publications false. According to her, the authorities conduct numerous checks and studies for each request for the transfer of a transgender from a male prison to a female or vice versa, evaluating a number of factors and risks. Moreover, according to the service, from September 2020 to March 2021, there were no reports of rape or harassment from the women's prison in Seattle.

In addition to National Review, Kiro and several regional publications, not a single large American media mentioned this high -profile story in its publications. Almost completely ignored the message about rape Washington and the foreign press in the prison. Rare exceptions are the retelling of the article by National Review (this is what did, for example, Spanish Marca). In early December Bingham He mentioned The author of the note in the New York Post, not saying anything about the accusations of rape.

The situation around the charges against Bingham can be compared with a story that occurred three years earlier on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In 2018, in the UK, the court sentenced 52-year-old Stephen Terens Woods to life imprisonment, who then underwent a floor change. He was arrested for attempted murder, and previously tried for obscene behavior in relation to minors and exhibitionism. Being in conclusion, Woods began a transgender transition - at this time, against him, who identified himself as Karen White, began an investigation into two episodes of rape in 2003 and 2016. Then it turned out that in 2017, already being in custody, Woods sought up two women who were included in the Weikfield prison. White is serving a punishment in a men's prison, since the court did not believe in the sincerity of his desire to change the floor. The British authorities apologized for the mistakes they made. We emphasize: harassment from the transgender person to the women-confused were proven in court, and all the largest 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 US incident, available on open resources, is the story of a former guard of a women's prison in Washington, dismissed shortly before. All other information is limited to anonymous messages or rumors. Fleming’s interview was published in a conservative American magazine, while the largest media in the United States and around the world either ignored it or simply retold, without providing additional information. More than nine months have passed since the first reports of the rape, since the publication in National Review - for more than a month, and during this time there has not been any news regarding the incident described by the former prison guard. Compared to the case of Stephen Woods (Karen White), the case of a hobby of Bingham (Andromeda Love) is still a very meager set of evidence, official documents and court decisions so that we can give an unambiguous verdict regarding the veracity of statements about rape.

This is not for sure

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. National Review. Male Inmate Sexually Assault Female After Transfer To Washington Women’s Prison, Former Guard Say
2. BBC. Trans Inmate Jaled for Wakefield Prison Sex Offences
3. Is it true that British doctors were forbidden to use the words “mother” and “women's milk”?
4. Is it true that the Vatican accepted amendments to the Bible, excluding the sinfulness of homosexual relations?