In speaking with Liz Collin on her podcast, former inmate Jayme Ali talked about what she calls a “dangerous” policy that allows predatory men—including convicted sex offenders—to be housed with women inside the Shakopee Minnesota Correctional Facility.
Ali also shared her message to Gov. Tim Walz and President Donald Trump about the “cruel and unusual punishment” she suffered during her incarceration at Shakopee.
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After a 10-month sentence, Jayme Ali was released on parole from Shakopee prison—also known as Minnesota’s women’s prison.
“Last year in December I was committed to the Department of Corrections, Shakopee—[the] women’s-only prison. But upon getting there, I looked and saw a man. I was like, ‘Hey, I’m confused. Since when do they let men in all women’s prison?’ And I was very quickly informed that that was a transgender man who identified as a transgender woman,” Ali recalled.
“I don’t discriminate. It’s not about hate. I love everybody and how they choose to identify is between them and the higher power of their life,” she added.
Ali told Collin about her first encounter with Bradley Sirvio: “I was like, no, that’s not a transgender woman, that’s a whole man—beard, glasses, male genitalia. These are flat out men.”
However, Ali also pointed out that being housed with men inside Shakopee was even more troubling considering the crimes for which they were convicted.
Ali recalled how she “decided to look more into these so-called transgender men and what they were incarcerated for because that’s public information. I am a survivor of sexual assault … and I immediately started to relive the trauma of being victimized by the sexual assaults at the hands of men and immediately began to have panic attacks, nightmares, not being able to sleep…”
“Having to live through the nightmare that I was being subjected to and being victimized to at the hands of the Minnesota Shakopee women’s prison policy … I stayed in my room, I withdrew from all my classes. I wouldn’t eat most of the time. Having to live through the trauma of the what ifs,” she added.
If what this women describes doesn't constitute cruel and inhuman punishment, I don't know what does.https://t.co/r3NMik8Es2
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 22, 2025
During the interview with Collin, Ali also explained what she says happened with another inmate, Sean Windingland, who was convicted of sexually abusing his children. Windingland was permitted to transfer to Shakopee, but was later transferred back to a men’s prison after some concerning allegations, according to Ali.
Ali explained that after allegations of Windingland having sex with female inmates, Windingland’s cell was searched.
It was during a search of his cell, according to Ali, that “bottles of semen were found in his room and they were being stored by him in the hopes of trying to impregnate … an incarcerated person, and they were going to call it the Million Dollar Baby and sue the Department of Corrections.”
In May, the Department of Corrections (DOC) responded to the allegations made by Ali and said they were “unsubstantiated.”
However, Windingland is no longer at Shakopee and is now housed at Rush City prison with men.
In speaking about her ordeal—at times, in tears—Ali said, “That was cruel and unusual, and is cruel and unusual punishment to be forced to live with predatorial men.”
According to a statement to Alpha News, the DOC says “there are 5 transgender women residing at MCF-Shakopee as of Wednesday, October 15th.”
Ali also told Collin about her plans to sue the Minnesota DOC along with Gov. Tim Walz, DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison over the policy that allows men to be housed with women inside Shakopee prison.
In speaking up for her “sisters” still inside Shakopee, and to push back against the transgender prison policy, Ali has plans to lead a protest march, Sunday, Oct. 19, beginning at 11 a.m. outside Shakopee women’s prison.
For more information about the protest march, please see here.
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
Dr. JC Chaix
Dr. JC Chaix is an editor, educator, and an expert in media studies. He wrote and directed the Alpha News documentary "The Fall of Minneapolis" and "Minnesota v We the People."
