WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a federal civil rights investigation into Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW), examining whether the practice of housing inmates assigned male at birth at the facility violates the constitutional rights of female prisoners.
DOJ sent a letter to Washington Governor Bob Ferguson on Tuesday, notifying the governor that the department is investigating the WCCW in Gig Harbor under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, or CRIPA. The federal statute authorizes the DOJ to investigate whether the prison “engaged in a pattern or practice of depriving female prisoners of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
The investigation is based on information that WCCW “has failed to protect female prisoners from sexual and physical violence, harassment, voyeurism, and intimidation from male prisoners who identify as female,” according to the letter.
The DOJ emphasized it has not reached any conclusions about the allegations and will review the facility’s policies, practices, and relevant evidence as part of the inquiry.
“Under my leadership, the Civil Rights Division will not allow women incarcerated in jails or prisons to be subject to unconstitutional risks of harm from male inmates,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. “The constitutional rights of women cannot be sacrificed at the altar of appeasing unsupported and dangerous ideologies.”
Washington corrections probe preceded by federal lawsuit
The probe follows a federal lawsuit filed in April by the America First Policy Institute on behalf of a female inmate, Faith Booher-Smith, who alleged she was violently attacked at WCCW on August 7, 2025, by a inmate assigned male at birth who identifies as female. That suit challenges the Washington State Department of Corrections’ (DOC) housing policy as a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.
If violations are found, DOJ said it would seek to work with Washington state officials to address them, potentially through negotiated reforms rather than litigation.
KIRO Newsradio has reached out to Ferguson and the Washington Department of Corrections for comment.
Washington is now the third state to face a DOJ investigation on this issue. In March, the department notified California and Maine that it was launching similar probes into women’s prisons in those states over the housing of biological male inmates.
This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com.
Read more of Aaron Granillo’s stories here.