The Justice Department says it is investigating California and Maine over its practices of housing biological males who identify as females in women's prisons.

The investigations fall under the department's Civil Rights division and probe whether the constitutional rights of female prisoners are being infringed upon by housing them with biological males. 

“Keeping men out of women’s prisons is not only common sense – it’s a matter of safety and constitutional rights,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Thursdsay. “The Trump Administration will not stand by if governors are facilitating the abuse of biological women under the guise of inclusion.”

The California investigations center on the housing policies at the California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County and the Central California Women’s Facility in Madera County, while the Maine one focuses on the rights of female prisoners at Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

“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 Dhillon said. “These investigations will uncover whether the dangerous national trend of housing men in women’s prisons has resulted in violations of women’s constitutional rights.”

California currently allows biological male prisoners in state prisons to request transfers to women’s prisons if they identify as transgender, even if they were convicted of violent sex crimes, and there have been allegations of sexual assaults, rape and sexual intimidation tied to biological males being allowed in women's prisons.

The Maine investigation comes after several female prisoners alleged that a biological male inmate who identifies as a transgender female assaulted or harassed them. 

The Justice Department said no conclusions have been reached in any of the cases so far.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.