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Retired Massachusetts justice warns Senate committee H.550 could jeopardize safety of women in prisons
Summary
Elsa Seifer, a retired associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and president of the Women’s Liberation Front, testified April 30 before the Senate Institutions committee in opposition to H.550, saying placement policies that allow men who identify as women into women’s housing have led to assaults and reporting failures in prisons.
Elsa Seifer, a retired associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and president of the Women’s Liberation Front, told the Senate Institutions committee on April 30 that she opposes H.550 because of risks she said arise when men who identify as women are placed in women’s correctional housing.
Seifer said she runs a working group of about 30 women, lawyers and formerly incarcerated people who track conditions in federal and state prisons. "I am a retired associate justice from the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts," she said when introducing herself, adding that she submitted written testimony in advance and offered a one-page fact sheet.
Why it matters: Seifer framed her testimony around safety and trauma. She said prison staff have acknowledged…
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