Victoria’s Diversity Commissioner has caused a stir by claiming that women’s prisons don’t have enough men. According to the state’s latest policies, boosting male representation in female prisons is the key to making women feel safe.
The comments come on the back of a bizarre and disturbing case involving a convicted pedophile father who abused his five-year-old daughter. Now identifying as a woman, he has been placed in a female prison, prompting outrage from victims’ groups and concerned citizens alike. But Victoria’s official line? This is exactly the kind of diversity the prison system needs.
The same individual is now claiming in court that he is actually 12 years old, hoping to be transferred to a girls’ juvenile facility. Authorities are reportedly examining the claim, because apparently in Victoria, self-identification trumps biology, experience, and criminal history.
Government sources insist that pushing for more male prisoners who identify as women is the only way female inmates can feel “safe and included.”
With public outrage mounting, questions are being raised about how far the state will go in enforcing its gender-diversity mandates — and whether actual women in women’s prisons will ever get a say. In the meantime, the Diversity Commissioner maintains that more men identifying as women is precisely what the system needs.
Because nothing says “safety and inclusion” like putting men in women’s jails.