Produced By: Kelsey Bolar and Andrea Mew
Written By: Andrea Mew
In 2020, when California lawmakers passed SB 132, a law allowing male offenders to “self-identify” and be housed in women’s prisons, 44-year-old female inmate Tomiekia Johnson felt deja vu and an impending sense of doom.
Johnson had survived an abusive marriage before imprisonment and, therefore, feared the presence of men in vulnerable situations and spaces. Then, in 2012, she was allegedly forced to live with a male serial rapist, Richard Masbruch, at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF).
Combined, these experiences led Johnson to object to policies that house male criminals with female inmates, and now, from behind bars, she’s doing everything she can to raise awareness and stop this injustice.
Initially, she filed formal concerns about the passage of SB 132 through the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) grievance process. But, according to Johnson, staff, mental health professionals, and even a superior court judge all told her some form of the same thing: “Give it a chance.”
“I feel like I’ve given it a chance,” said Johnson in a phone interview with Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) for the Cruel & Unusual Punishment series. “Every woman in here, whether they’re afraid to speak up about it or not, has given it a chance.”
Despite keeping an open mind, Johnson told IWF that she has seen nothing from this new policy but manipulation, as male criminals have come to understand that they can game the system to leave the men’s prison and get unprecedented access to women.
“We’ve given them a chance. They destroyed the opportunity to ever have us have faith in them being here for the right reasons, with the right intentions,” Johnson said, pointing to an increase in clashes and crimes committed against females, including sexual harassment and rape, in their own rehabilitation facility as a direct result of policies such as California’s SB 132.
In November 2021, the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) filed a lawsuit against the state of California on behalf of Johnson and several other female inmates to overturn SB 132 and declare it unconstitutional. The lawsuit alleged that “housing incarcerated women with male offenders violates their constitutional rights,” citing the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
In May 2022, the ACLU and other advocacy groups petitioned the court to be added as parties to the case by representing male inmates who wanted to be housed in women’s prisons. The state and the ACLU then worked together to dismiss the case.
In May 2024, the Eastern District Court of California district court granted that dismissal on procedural grounds.
Despite this setback, WoLF remains committed to pursuing justice for Johnson and her fellow female inmates. On July 19, 2024, the women’s non-profit filed an amended complaint that is now before the court and is awaiting a response from the state and intervenors.
“Men in women’s prisons are an obvious threat, a reality faced by our plaintiffs and thousands of incarcerated women across the country,” WoLF’s Legal Director Lauren Bone told IWF. “Litigation is critical to hold states accountable, and women like Tomiekia and our other five plaintiffs are truly courageous for standing up to public officials for violating women’s human rights.”
Though she explicitly objected to being forced to live with biological men, last year, CCWF prison officials placed Johnson in the same housing unit as Dana Rivers, a man identifying as a transgender woman who was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Rivers was convicted of murdering a lesbian family out of revenge over not being allowed into a festival deemed women-only by event organizers.
Johnson told The Washington Free Beacon about the state allowing a convicted male murderer into her housing unit, saying she once again felt “betrayed” by CCWF.
“I think it’s a slap in the face, because as much as they know I’ve been vocal about being housed with predators, and how much they target me, and how much it’s a known fact that they harass me and provoke me, for them to put him in the building with me is beyond negligent,” she told The Free Beacon.
Johnson maintained this perspective a year later, telling IWF that SB 132 has been a “program failure,” proven “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
As a former law enforcement officer and a survivor of domestic violence, Johnson’s drive to uphold single-sex facilities is an effort near and dear to her heart. A large majority of fellow female inmates, she said, are statistically also survivors—with estimates by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as high as 80%. The ACLU, which advocates in favor of prison “self-identification” policies, estimates that number as high as 90%.
“It’s almost like you’re taking an alcoholic into a program, and you’re introducing alcohol to their program every day,” she said. “But at the same time, you’re telling them, ‘Oh, but you have to learn the 12 steps. You have to do this, that, and the other to be sober. Simultaneously, we’re going to keep giving you shots of tequila.’”
In 2009, Johnson said a heated argument between her and her reportedly abusive husband escalated, and Johnson fatally shot him in the head in what she said was an accidental discharge. She was sentenced to 50 years to life and has been incarcerated at CCWF since 2012.
During her time behind bars, she said she had been working hard to figure out what her triggers are so that—when exposed to them—she can operate in successful ways that aren’t “retaliatory, or abusive, or responsive.”
But with male criminals, many of whom she said are not too dissimilar from her former abuser, she said that she is struggling to rehabilitate and “be the productive member that’s not vulnerable to recidivism.”
For these reasons, Johnson dubbed SB 132 as “highly inhumane.”
“This is a perfect breeding ground for sick individuals, like Scott Weiner, to perpetuate all of these tragedies against women through patriarchal policies,” Johnson said.
California Senator Scott Wiener was the primary author of SB 132, advocating for its passing throughout the state.
Independent Women’s Forum reached out to Senator Weiner for comment. He did not respond.
Still, unlike the many female inmates who understandably fear retribution, retaliation, and parole delays for publicly voicing concerns, Johnson said she has “literally no fear, none whatsoever” about speaking out and naming names.
“I’ve already suffered,” she said. “I’ve already fallen on the sword, so it’s nothing for me to continue to keep going.”
Currently, Johnson lives with a female roommate, and she feels she can confide in her about how these male inmates make her feel. Still, she explained that in the prison common areas with “men [who] are convicts, men [who] have already served 20 [years] incarcerated for raping women, murdering women, raping men, murdering men in prison,” it can feel like she’s being abused all over again.
“California has re-abused me, re-traumatized me. It’s like I’m fighting every inch of the system to keep my sanity so I never come back.”
