Housed in a women’s prison, Rebecca could have reasonably expected that she would not share a cell with her alleged future rapist.
But days after moving out of her cell following an argument with other prisoners, Rebecca says she was the victim of a “full penetration” assault in the showers at the hands of her new cellmate, a self-identified transgender inmate.
The alleged attack left her with crippling trauma and unable to shower for days at a time. Her basic hygiene is now a “trigger” that brings back the horror of her ordeal.
DailyMail.com can now exclusively reveal the shocking details of this alleged sexual assault at the Central California Facility for Women (CCWF) in Chowchilla, about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco.
We have changed Rebecca’s name to safeguard her true identity.
Rebecca says she was raped by Tremaine Carroll, 51, one of the first male prisoners to request a transfer to a women’s prison under California’s progressive transgender detainee law.
An inmate sits in her cell at the Central California Women’s Facility, which now also houses dozens of male-to-female trans detainees.
In January 2024, Rebecca, who is in her thirties and stands just over five feet tall, was serving a short sentence for robbery.
Sources close to her case say that after she asked prison authorities to change her cell, she opted to share a room with two fellow inmates and a self-identified transgender inmate named Tremaine Carroll.
As a juvenile, Carroll was charged with robbery and firearms possession in 1988 and 1989, according to court documents.
In 1990, as an adult, Carroll was arrested for participating in the kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault at gunpoint of two women.
Carroll was charged with three counts of “oral copulation,” the act of forcing a victim to perform oral sex, although these charges were eventually dropped.
Carroll pleaded guilty to only two counts of kidnapping and was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison.
After his release, Carroll, then 25, re-offended in 1998 and was arrested and convicted for the jewelry store robbery.
That crime triggered California’s ‘Three Strikes and You’re Out’ law, which requires additional penalties for offenders with three felony convictions.
Carroll was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years to life in prison and has been locked up ever since.
Now, at 51 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall and about 200 pounds, Carroll is physically imposing.
In mugshots, Carroll sports a thick black and gray top and identifies as a trans woman, although she has not undergone sex reassignment surgery.
That is not a prerequisite for male inmates to be moved to women-only facilities in California.
On September 29, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act to allow incarcerated transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people to request to be housed in a “manner consistent with their gender identity.” “.
To request transfer, inmates only need to declare their identity and obtain permission from the prison authorities.
Rebecca was raped in the showers, she says. Now, showering makes him relive the horror of the attack.
The sprawling Central California Facility for Women (CCWF) in Chowchilla has been dogged by allegations of sexual violence in its cells for years.
Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the transgender prison bill into law in September 2020.
In August 2021, Carroll was transferred to CCWF after numerous complaints, including reports of harassment by other detainees and an alleged victim of more than 30 sexual assaults.
Once inside CCWF, Carroll became something of a “poster” for the state’s programs for transgender inmates.
Writing for an obscure news website in 2022, Carroll described being a “trans woman” with a “girl’s heart and confused mind.”
Women’s rights lawyer Lauren Bone, who opposes the Transgender Respect Act, told DailyMail.com that Carroll even made a statement refuting the claims of her clients: CCWF inmates who said they were victimized by trans prisoners.
In testimony collected by the American Civil Liberties Union, a strong supporter of California’s trans prisoner policy, Carroll claimed not to be a threat to women.
“I know what it feels like to live in fear and carry the weight of abuse committed by men in the past,” Carroll wrote. “We are all in the same boat.”
Rebecca disagrees.
She now reveals that Carroll began expressing sexual interest in her immediately after moving the cells, according to sources.
Carroll allegedly left her flirting notes. On the second day in the room, Rebecca claimed that Carroll propositioned her.
He said he rejected all advances.
But less than 24 hours later, Rebecca claimed Carroll attacked her when she was alone in the prison showers and raped her.
Detainees and staff held a ‘day of action’ for transgender prisoners in January
Kim and Khloé Kardashian recently toured the facilities for their new Hulu show.
Male-to-female detainees in women’s prisons are “like kids in a candy store,” one complainant told the Independent Women’s Forum.
Sources told DailyMail.com that Rebecca was hospitalized and, humiliatingly, shackled at the arms and legs while she underwent a pelvic exam.
When she left the hospital, Rebecca was segregated from the prison population, subjected to strip searches, and treated as if she were the predator because Carroll had reprehensibly alleged that she was the rapist.
Rebecca is said to have screamed and cried throughout the entire ordeal.
The ridiculous nature of Carroll’s counter-accusation has now become evident with the official filing of sexual assault charges against Carroll by the Madera County District Attorney’s office in California.
Sally Moreno, the district attorney leading the alleged rape case against Carroll, said the new allegations cast doubt on the decision to greenlight the transfer to CCWF.
When asked if the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) should review its procedures, the district attorney said, “I certainly hope so.”
Carroll is now charged with two rapes: the alleged attack on Rebecca and another unrelated assault on an unidentified person around the same time.
Carroll also faces a charge of attempting to intimidate a witness to one of the attacks.
Carroll has denied all charges, but has been transferred out of CCWF to Kern Valley State Prison, an all-male lockup, according to prison records.
The CDCR declined to comment on Carroll’s case, but a spokeswoman told DailyMail.com that transgender inmates who “present a security and management problem” cannot be transferred to the facilities.
Women’s rights advocates said these allegations are a wake-up call for the California prison system, which has moved more than 44 biological male inmates to women-only facilities since 2021.
Almost 200 more transfer applications are currently being considered.
According to a lawsuit filed by the Women’s Liberation Front (Wolf), a liberal feminist group, CCWF installed condom dispensing machines after the law was passed.
The complainants have also come forward.
Former California State Prison guard Hector Bravo Ferrel worked at the Diego Richard J. Donovan Correctional Center, a high-security men’s penitentiary near San Diego.
He said that after the 2020 law was passed, ‘predatory’ inmates were ‘waiting’ to fake sex changes and request transfers..
