Sep 6, 2026 · 19 min · 8 segments
This episode explores the complex issues surrounding transgender prisoners, gender-affirming care, and the legal and ethical debates in Washington state. We examine recent court cases, safety…
Joel WilbornHost
And for transgender prisoners, facility placement isn't a bureaucratic checkbox.
Right now, in Washington State, that line has been pushed straight before the state Supreme Court at the Temple of Justice in Olympia.
At the center of it is the case of Amber Kim, the first transgender woman in Washington to be transferred out of the women's facility prison and sent back to a men's facility.
To understand how high the stakes are, you have to look at the numbers in the background detailed in recent reporting by the Washington State Standard.
Across Washington's prison system, there are 347 transgender or non-binary individuals out of roughly 13,000 incarcerated people.
Only 20 trans prisoners are housed at the women's facility, the Washington Correction Center for Women in Gig Harbor.
Under the Federal Prison Rape Elimination Act and state guidelines, it takes exhaustive reviews by multidisciplinary teams, multiple staff, mental health clinicians, and custody leadership.
Amber Kim, who is serving a life sentence, spent years in men's prisons being targeted, assaulted, and harassed.
She came out as a trans woman in 2016 and underwent gender-affirming care, but it took four full years of review before the Department of Corrections finally approved her transfer to Gig Harbor in 2020.
In her court filing, she called the move a massive improvement in all aspects of my life.
Sex between incarcerated individuals violates Department of Corrections policy, but the DOC never alleged the encounter was non-consensual.
Both women were cited with an infraction, yet the response was radically divided.
Amber Kim was packed up, stripped of her placement, and transferred straight to the men's facility in Monroe, where she has been kept in solitary confinement ever since.
Now, I remember... sending a message to Amber Kim and when she got there she was very upset and she said she would spend a lot of time crying and she missed her friends and she wanted me to get messages to him but she was just desperately homesick she just wanted to to leave and being in solitary confinement Trans or not, that's, to me, cruel and unusual punishment.
And for transgender prisoners, facility placement isn't a bureaucratic checkbox.
Right now, in Washington State, that line has been pushed straight before the state Supreme Court at the Temple of Justice in Olympia.
At the center of it is the case of Amber Kim, the first transgender woman in Washington to be transferred out of the women's facility prison and sent back to a men's facility.
To understand how high the stakes are, you have to look at the numbers in the background detailed in recent reporting by the Washington State Standard.
Across Washington's prison system, there are 347 transgender or non-binary individuals out of roughly 13,000 incarcerated people.
Only 20 trans prisoners are housed at the women's facility, the Washington Correction Center for Women in Gig Harbor.
Under the Federal Prison Rape Elimination Act and state guidelines, it takes exhaustive reviews by multidisciplinary teams, multiple staff, mental health clinicians, and custody leadership.
Amber Kim, who is serving a life sentence, spent years in men's prisons being targeted, assaulted, and harassed.
She came out as a trans woman in 2016 and underwent gender-affirming care, but it took four full years of review before the Department of Corrections finally approved her transfer to Gig Harbor in 2020.
In her court filing, she called the move a massive improvement in all aspects of my life.
Sex between incarcerated individuals violates Department of Corrections policy, but the DOC never alleged the encounter was non-consensual.
Both women were cited with an infraction, yet the response was radically divided.
Amber Kim was packed up, stripped of her placement, and transferred straight to the men's facility in Monroe, where she has been kept in solitary confinement ever since.
Now, I remember... sending a message to Amber Kim and when she got there she was very upset and she said she would spend a lot of time crying and she missed her friends and she wanted me to get messages to him but she was just desperately homesick she just wanted to to leave and being in solitary confinement Trans or not, that's, to me, cruel and unusual punishment.
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