V-coding

V-coding is the common practice in the United States to subject incarcerated transgender women to constant sexual assaults in male correctional facilities to placate aggressive male inmates and corrections officers.^[1][2][3][4]

Several academics found that a majority of transgender inmates were frequently sexually assaulted by male inmates and officers.

A 2007 study of Californian prisons found that 59% of transgender inmates were sexually assaulted while incarcerated compared to 4% of all surveyed inmates, and 41-50% of the transgender inmates surveyed reported rape, compared to 2-3% of the all inmates surveyed.^[5] A 2021 study in the same state found that 69% of transgender women were forced into performing sexual oral practices against their will in all-male prisons, 58.5% reported being sexually assaulted, and 88% reported being forced into some "marriage-like" relationships with their respective male inmates.^[2][3]

Context

Further information: Transgender rights in the United States

Transgender people are significantly more susceptible to being victims of sexual assaults and sex trafficking than their cisgender peers, with research indicating that around 27% of LGBTQ youth have experienced sex trafficking as defined by U.S. federal law, compared to 15 percent in the general population.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]} The United States Department of Justice stated in a report in 2022 that 66% of trans people experience sexual assault at some point in their lives, and 15% of trans people report being sexually assaulted by police or prison staff (32% for African-American trans people).^[9]

In 2025, more than 2,000 transgender women were incarcerated in federal jails in the US.^[12]

Description

A 2007 study of Californian prisons found that 59% of transgender inmates were sexually assaulted while incarcerated compared to 4% of all surveyed inmates, and 41-50% of the transgender inmates surveyed reported rape, compared to 2-3% of the all inmates surveyed. Furthermore transgender inmates were disproportionately denied medical attention following a sexual assault compared to other inmates. Transgender inmates reported more assaults had taken place outside of their cells compared to the cisgender inmates, indicating that transgender inmates were more likely to be assaulted in the presence of officers in all areas of the facility. Inmates described sexual assault as a "fact of life" while incarcerated.^[5]

A 2018 report from the Indiana Maurer University School of Law, along with a subsequent report in the UCLA Journal of Gender and Law,^[13] found that, based on accounts of former inmates, it was common for trans women placed in men's prisons to be assigned to cells with aggressive cisgender male cellmates to maintain social control and to, as one inmate described it, "keep the violence rate down", or as prison authorities stated, "violence prevention". Trans women used in this manner are often raped daily. This process is known as V-coding and has been described as so common that it is effectively "a central part of a trans woman's sentence".^[4][14]

The prisoners serving as "customers" for these women are informally referred to as "husbands". A 2021 California study found that 69% of trans women prisoners reported being made to perform sexual acts they would have rather not, 58.5% reported being violently sexually assaulted, and 88% overall reported having taken part in a "marriage-like relationship".^[2][3][4] Trans women who physically resist the rape are often criminally charged with assault and placed in solitary confinement, the assault charge then being used to extend the woman's prison stay and deny her parole.^[15]

It is common for correctional officers to publicly strip search trans women inmates, putting their bodies on display for staff members and other inmates. Trans women in this situation are sometimes made to dance, present, or masturbate at the correctional officers' discretion.^[16] A 2017 study by the Sylvia Rivera Law Project found that 75% of trans women respondents in New York state prisons were subjected to sexual violence by a correctional officer, with 32% being victimized by two or more COs and 27% of respondents being forced to perform oral sex for a CO.^[17]

History

V-coding has existed since at least 2007 according to a Californian report.^[5]

Donald Trump signing executive orders during the inauguration day, January 20, 2025.

Following Executive Order 14168 signed by Donald Trump on the inauguration day of his second presidency where he defined sex and gender as one and the same as biological constant, and where he clearly stated that trans female inmates should be relocated to all-male jails,^[12] many female transgender prisoners and several organizations issued lawsuits against the federal State, stating that such order violated the Eighth Amendment's "protection from cruel and unusual punishment" partly because of V-coding,^[3][18][19] arguing that they "feared for their lives".^[20] Several judges blocked Trump's order,^[3][21][22] but federal officials relocated trans women into all-male prisons anyway despite the rulings.^[22][23]

Non-incarcerated transgender women revealed they were scared of becoming imprisoned for simply being transgender and thus experiencing V-coding since Trump's second presidency.^[24][25]