Two inmates of a women only prison have fallen pregnant after having consensual sex with a transgender inmate, it has been reported.
The women are among 800 people, including 27 transwomen, being held at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey.
In a letter sent to US outlet NJ 105.5, an inmate claimed that one of the women, who is not eligible for parole until 2104, was five months pregnant.
The letter said that the inmates had a history of sex acts in public areas and had to be separated.
Demi Minor has claimed to be the person responsible for impregnating the two prisoners via a website Justice 4 Demi, which she is understood to help run from prison.
It claims that she was sentenced to 30 years inside at the age of 16 for manslaughter, and that she has now been approved for correctional surgery.
A woman claiming to be the mother of one of the children has written a blogpost on the website, titled ‘Freedom, Love, Pregnancy and Trauma’.
“Surprisingly I am three months pregnant and I conceived while incarcerated here at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility,” she wrote.
“Although Edna Mahan breeds a ‘pervasive culture of rape’, I WAS NOT RAPED, nor was I forced to do anything that I did not want to do.
“Despite it not being permitted I fell in love and had consensual sex with a woman who is trans. Consensual sex is a prohibited act in Edna Mahan.”
The woman added that she found “love in a hopeless place” – a quote from a Rihanna song – and that she is 31 and serving a life sentence.
New Jersey prisons began housing transgender inmates who identify as women at women’s prisons last year following a lawsuit at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
The lawsuit followed claims from a transgender woman who said she was abused at a male prison.
New Jersey’s policy does not require trans women inmates to undergo gender-reassignment surgery to be held in the facility.
It has received some pushback, with two Edna Mahan prisoners filing a lawsuit seeking to end New Jersey’s gender identity policy for prisons, it has been reported.
They claimed that they were harassed by trans inmates and that transgender inmates were having sex with female prisoners.
NJ PBA, a union for state correction officers, has also criticised the policy.
President William Sullivan told NJ.com: “We opposed this policy change believing it would be detrimental to the general population of female inmates being housed at Edna Mahan and also bring added stress to our correctional police officers assigned to this institution.”
ACLU legal director Jeanne LoCicero has argued that allowing trans-women into women’s prison protects their rights.
“(It’s) in line with New Jersey’s strong anti-discrimination laws that prevent discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender identity,” she wrote.
An investigation has been launched into the pregnancies.