Banning male inmates from women’s prisons in Minnesota — Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, has made it one of her missions this session in St. Paul.
Rep. Franson joined Liz Collin on her podcast to discuss new documentation that has come out and to shed more light on testimony on the issue from last week.
Franson authored House File 435 to ban biological males from being housed in the state’s only female prison in Shakopee.
“House File 435 is a simple bill just to keep men out of the women’s prison. We have one women’s prison in Minnesota. Women are there. They expect to have their spaces free from men,” Franson explained.
“And unfortunately, while they’re rehabilitating, Minnesota in its infinite wisdom has allowed through a lawsuit settlement from Gender Justice, which I just love those lawsuit settlements. It’s more of a, we’re going to sue you. You’re going to winky wink. We’re going to settle and we’re going to get what we want. It’s basically what happened with the Department of Corrections. Now men who claim that they are women can now be housed in this women’s space in the prison system.”
Last week a whistleblower testified after walking away from her job as an educator at the prison.
“Many of those individuals feel that it is unfair and not safe to have these biological men dictating the rules of the prison,” she said.
Alpha News has also obtained an accommodation list from the mens-only prison at Lino Lakes. Seven of the eight inmates on the list are serving sentences for criminal sexual conduct or predatory offender violations, according to DOC records.
According to the recent list, six men are allowed to wear “women’s undergarments.” The document also says some men are allowed access to hairspray, mascara, and women’s shoes.
One inmate is provided with a “packing device.” An insider told Alpha News “the fact this is allowed at a biological men’s prison in Minnesota blows my mind.”
“Unfortunately, what’s happening is that individuals’ feelings trump reality. So men who feel that they are a woman can go into these places and ask for ridiculous accommodations and the prisoners and the staff are supposed to go along with the males’ fantasies. I find that appalling,” Rep. Franson said.
The DOC said the accommodations are provided for under the department’s policies on transgender inmates.
“There was more discussion on how to treat the men in the women’s facility rather than actually being able to [ask], how do the women in the prison feel, whether or not they are a prisoner or if they are an employee? Those feelings were not taken into consideration,” Franson said.
“There were no townhall meetings where the citizens of the communities could weigh in on this radical change. Instead, the women were told to just suck it up and move over because your spaces now belong to men,” she said.
One particular person who testified last week in opposition to the bill was Devika Ghai. She called the bill a “transphobic narrative.”
Alpha News found this person appears to be a professional activist. According to her website, she charges up to $400/hour depending on the race of her clients.
“We are told ‘science is science’ and ‘believe the science,’ but unfortunately when it comes to chromosomes, though, that does not dictate your gender, it’s feelings and that’s just a clown world,” Franson said. “Democrats lost on this issue. This is a losing issue for them, yet they have dug their heels in. They just haven’t realized they have lost. And unfortunately, many of them are going to experience that loss when 2026 comes around.”
Liz Collin
Liz Collin has been a truth-teller for 20 years as a multi-Emmy-Award-winning reporter and anchor. Liz is a Worthington, Minnesota native who lives in the suburbs with her husband, son and loyal lab.
