An inmate at Minnesota’s Shakopee women’s prison says she’s been traumatized by the state’s policy allowing transgender-identifying males to be housed alongside female prisoners—calling her experience “the worst time I’ve ever had to live through.”
Jamie Ali, who is currently incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility–Shakopee, spoke to Alpha News by phone and shared concerns about her mental health, physical safety, and what she calls repeated failures by the Department of Corrections (DOC) to protect vulnerable women.
“I am a survivor of sexual assault. I’ve been raped three times,” Ali said. “I also experienced domestic violence growing up and in my previous relationships so the whole thing being here with these men has been a nightmare.”
Ali said the state’s 2023 transgender policy has caused lasting psychological harm in the form of panic attacks, and the presence of biologically male inmates has forced her to isolate—even from beneficial rehabilitation programs.
“I withdrew from every single one of my classes because there are transgenders in them and it’s very traumatic,” she said. “I’ve been having panic attacks since I’ve got here.”
Hellbound and Down 