Retired Massachusetts justice warns Senate committee H.550 could jeopardize safety of women 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 that "men often sometimes lie about their gender identity" to be placed in women’s units, and she asserted that most such men have not undergone surgical procedures. She testified that women in female facilities are often survivors of prior abuse and that introducing men into that environment, she said, destroys therapeutic spaces and increases fear and harassment.

Seifer described alleged incidents she said arose after men were placed in women’s housing, including sexual assaults and at least one pregnancy. She also described a case she said is headed to trial in California in which court orders about preferred pronouns could complicate testimony for victims. She said some women who report being assaulted are not believed and that she is working with an individual in Massachusetts who, after complaining about assault, was placed in segregation and lost communication privileges.

Seifer cited several numerical claims in her testimony — saying about "97 percent" of males who identify as trans women have not had surgery and that "86 to 87 percent" of incarcerated women have experienced abuse — and presented those figures as part of her group's findings. The committee did not independently verify those statistics during the hearing.

She also listed litigation in multiple states and said the ACLU has brought cases seeking to block certain executive actions; she referenced comments by ACLU attorney Chase Strangio and a New Yorker article in describing past policy debates. Seifer said some lawyers advised that housing not be determined "solely" by gender identity and that the Department of Justice accepted that recommendation, which, she said, led to closure of some units.

The committee chair initially mispronounced Seifer’s name when introducing the witness; Seifer corrected the record during her remarks and offered to supply additional materials. Committee members asked whether Seifer’s group had contact with people in Vermont; she said they had not and declined to remain for the committee’s 2:30 p.m. continuation but offered to send materials.

The committee did not take formal action on H.550 during the recorded portion of the session; the hearing recessed and will resume later in the meeting packet. The hearing transcript records only Seifer’s testimony and the committee’s procedural exchange during this segment.