A female inmate at the Women’s Correctional Center in Washington has come forward after being sexually assaulted by a trans-identified male who asked to be moved into her room. Christopher Williams, who was first arrested after sexually abusing a child, was initially serving his sentence at a male prison and was transferred to the female estate in 2021.
Speaking to independent news outlet Reduxx, the victim — who was assigned the name Mary — revealed the details of the incident, which she says took place in April of 2022.
According to Mary, Williams requested a room change because his cellmate at the time was allegedly bullying him. Although she expressed she had no issues with his gender identity, he started making her uncomfortable with persistent sexual commentary.
“Christopher asked if he could move into my room because he said his current roommate was bullying him … I had no issues with him being transgender. But then he would make weird comments like ‘it hurts when it fills up with blood,’ like he wanted me to know when he was having an erection,” Mary said.
Williams was transferred into the WCCW from the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen, Washington, where he was serving time for brutally attacking a fellow inmate. Despite not changing his sex or name on his identification, his transfer came at a time when WCCW was seeing around 150 other trans-identified males move to its female-only facilities.
In addition to continually harassing Mary and making inappropriate comments, Williams grew annoyed with her lack of interest and began threatening her with sexual violence.
“He said to me, ‘I don’t know why you don’t want [my dick]. Everyone else does.’ Then he started to follow me into the bathroom. And one time, he told me, ‘Just so you know, I can get you wherever I want.’”
Even though Mary attempted to call attention to her uncomfortable living arrangements, her concerns fell on deaf ears until one evening when she was awoken by an officer pounding on her cell door, asking why Williams was at her bedside.
Although she had taken sleeping pills that evening to help with restlessness, Mary recalled seeing Williams next to her bed as she fell asleep and suspects the female officer saw him touching her inappropriately while she was doing her rounds.
“I’m not sure how many times he touched me because of my [meds]. But one day, I came back to my cell from a work shift, and he had two strap-on dildos and asked me to use them on him. I refused. That night, I was woken up to him touching me.”
After reporting the incident to prison staff, who conducted a search of the cell and found sex toys, Williams was removed from her cell and a “Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). Although her report “was determined to be substantiated,” Mary said the WCCW appeared to want to keep the assault private. “They acted weird about it… like they wanted to keep it secret, but the [PREA] was founded.”
Confirming her suspicions, a source at the WCCW told Reduxx that, despite the prison housing nearly a dozen violent male sexual predators, the “Department of Corrections (DOC) is largely in denial about the issues surrounding trans-identified male inmates being housed with women.”
The source stated: “They present it as a historic and successful arrangement. They did a trial run on some new bras they want to make available to order and they picked as many trans inmates as women. They have hired a ton of expensive staff to help the trans population and created a special orientation packet for them.”
Responding to a request by Reduxx to clarify the steps the DOC is taking to protect female inmates, its Media Relations matter admitted that while it “does take allegations of crimes seriously,” it “strongly emphasizes the importance of inclusion and representation by recognizing the unique challenges that non-binary and transgender incarcerated people face.”
“A common myth perpetuated about people who are transgender is that they will commit crimes of assault against vulnerable populations. This is not the case,” he added.
