Christopher Scott Williams, a transgender who is serving a 28-year sentence for first degree assault, got transferred back to a men’s prison in June for sexually assaulting a female cellmate. Christopher’s plea to get transferred to a woman’s prison was first denied in 2019 because of their violent history against women, as per reports obtained by Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF).
However, in 2021, their request of transfer got approved and then three months later they allegedly assaulted their female cellmate, Mozzy Clark, as mentioned in a lawsuit that she filed against the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC).
Clarke alleged that the state’s decision of putting Christopher in her cell despite their demonstrated violent history and also ignoring her “complaints of sexual harassment and assault” violated her constitutional rights.
David Pivtorak, Clarke’s lawyer, talked about the same and told DCNF, “Based on Williams’ past history of violence and the explicit recommendation that he not be transferred to a women’s facility it was not only reasonably foreseeable but extremely likely that locking him in a small cell with a female inmate would have disastrous consequences, as it did in this case.”
On June 20, 2025, Christopher was sent back a male prison as mentioned on the Washington DOC website, which lists their gender as ‘female’. However, the reason behind this transfer was not clarified by authorities because of privacy reasons. A spokesperson mentioned to DCNF that prisoners “are often transferred to other facilities, sometimes temporarily, for a variety of reasons like medical treatment, programming needs, or security reasons.”
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Christopher remained unavailable for comments and as reported by DCNF they presently seem to be without any legal representation. When Christopher had first made their plea of being transferred to a women’s facility, it was rejected after much consideration and his past violence towards women stood out as a significant reason.
However, Christopher kept requesting their transfer as they said that they “not feel safe from Sexual exploitation in Male Facilities” and also did not feel safe “being classified as male.” The summary of the document that details their appeal, mentions, “Due to ongoing sexual exploitation in Male Facilities she does not feel safe to be housed in Male Facilities and does not feel safe being classified as male.”
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It should be noted here that the housing situation of a prisoner is determined by their Custody Review Score, as a representative of the Washington DOC told DCNF, “State and federal law prescribe where offenders are to be housed. Inside, most have a cellmate, unless placed in temporary administrative segregation or assigned to higher security levels based on a Custody Review Score.”
Eventually, after continuous appeals and reviews, Christopher was allowed to transfer to a facility that matched with their gender identity and was not solely based on their biology. However, after being transferred to the female facility, they were alleged of sexual assault and ultimately got sent back to the male prison only.
