MILFORD, MA – A female corrections officer out of Massachusetts says she faced retaliation from her employer after pushing back against a policy imposed upon corrections employees forcing female officers to strip search biologically male inmates who self-identify as female.
Danielle Laurenti, a corrections officer with the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (MADOC), has been embroiled in a fight for her career and dignity since 2018, ever since the state passed legislation under a broad banner of criminal justice reform that also forced female corrections officers to strip search male inmates who claimed to identify as female.
Throughout Laurenti’s fight against the state law-backed policy forcing her and her female peers to strip search male inmates, she’s faced denied promotions, de facto lateral demotions, demeaning harassment from superiors and official state bodies, and absurd legal adjudications.
Laurenti’s efforts to rectify the perceived injustice isn’t unwarranted, as she’d never thought she’d be forced to watch males strip in front of her as part of the job when she joined MADOC in 2010.
In fact, as irony would have it, corrections officers would have faced termination for performing cross-sex searches prior to the enactment of the 2018 legislation.
According to the Massachusetts law governing the “treatment” of biological males who assert a female identity, aforesaid male inmates must be “searched by an officer of the same gender identity if the search requires an inmate to remove all clothing or includes a visual inspection of the anal cavity or genitals.”
This unforeseen and radical change in policy prompted Laurenti to seek an accommodation to be excused from strip searching male inmates, pointing to a past sexual assault she suffered back in 2012 and her concerns of possibly going “through that again” when standing face-to-face with a variety of convicted adult male felons.
In Laurenti’s official request to MADOC in 2018, she claimed being put in such a position would trigger “psychological distress” and inhibit her ability to perform her duties adequately.
Yet, in the November 2018 response Laurenti received from MADOC, her accommodation request was denied, with the denial letter framing the act of female officers being forced to inspect the naked bodies of male offenders as one of the many “essential functions…involving physical contact with transgender inmates.”
In short, MADOC and the state believe a male felon’s desire to be viewed in the buff by female officers trumps a female officer’s reasonable request to not be exposed to in-person male nudity.
But the backlash Laurenti received extended far beyond a mere cold denial letter; following her 2018 accommodation request, Laurenti was removed from her post and assigned to standard housing duty and was even brought before a disciplinary hearing.
According to the corrections officer of 15 years, she even said she was threatened by department officials that her conduct could find her in contempt of court.
When speaking with iWFeatures earlier in July about the ongoing battle with MADOC and subsequent reprimands, Laurenti said, “They didn’t care that I was a survivor. They cared that I wouldn’t bend the knee.”
According to Laurenti, this state law-backed policy is tantamount to a free pass for male offenders to indulge in their most vulgar perversions, saying, “These men…they enjoy it. A lot of them have crimes against women. They get off on being naked in front of us. They know what they’re doing.”
At every turn over the past seven years, Laurenti was shot down in her attempts to perform her duties with a sense of safety and dignity, with even her own union refusing to assist her because union leaders called her issue a “hot potato.”
In November of 2023, five years into the fight at that point, Laurenti filed a class-action grievance with eight other female corrections officers over being forced to conduct strip searches on males, saying the practice violated MADOC’s very own sexual harassment policy and created a hostile work environment.
But in April of 2025, the arbitrator overseeing the case denied Laurenti and the others’ plea for relief.
Despite having been blackballed by MADOC and shut down through official and legal channels, Laurenti still feels “empowered” to continue the fight, saying, “Everyone has that gut feeling when something’s wrong. This was wrong from day one.”
Even though her career has been infected with an ideology that puts real women in harm’s way, Laurenti’s passion for the authentic mission of corrections hasn’t made her bow out of the field, saying, “I still love my job. That’s the hard part. I love what I do. And that’s why I’m still here, that’s why I’m still fighting.”
Danielle Laurenti, a corrections officer with the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (MADOC), has been embroiled in a fight for her career and dignity since 2018, ever since the state passed legislation under a broad banner of criminal justice reform that also forced female corrections officers to strip search male inmates who claimed to identify as female.
Throughout Laurenti’s fight against the state law-backed policy forcing her and her female peers to strip search male inmates, she’s faced denied promotions, de facto lateral demotions, demeaning harassment from superiors and official state bodies, and absurd legal adjudications.
Laurenti’s efforts to rectify the perceived injustice isn’t unwarranted, as she’d never thought she’d be forced to watch males strip in front of her as part of the job when she joined MADOC in 2010.
In fact, as irony would have it, corrections officers would have faced termination for performing cross-sex searches prior to the enactment of the 2018 legislation.
According to the Massachusetts law governing the “treatment” of biological males who assert a female identity, aforesaid male inmates must be “searched by an officer of the same gender identity if the search requires an inmate to remove all clothing or includes a visual inspection of the anal cavity or genitals.”
This unforeseen and radical change in policy prompted Laurenti to seek an accommodation to be excused from strip searching male inmates, pointing to a past sexual assault she suffered back in 2012 and her concerns of possibly going “through that again” when standing face-to-face with a variety of convicted adult male felons.
In Laurenti’s official request to MADOC in 2018, she claimed being put in such a position would trigger “psychological distress” and inhibit her ability to perform her duties adequately.
Yet, in the November 2018 response Laurenti received from MADOC, her accommodation request was denied, with the denial letter framing the act of female officers being forced to inspect the naked bodies of male offenders as one of the many “essential functions…involving physical contact with transgender inmates.”
In short, MADOC and the state believe a male felon’s desire to be viewed in the buff by female officers trumps a female officer’s reasonable request to not be exposed to in-person male nudity.
But the backlash Laurenti received extended far beyond a mere cold denial letter; following her 2018 accommodation request, Laurenti was removed from her post and assigned to standard housing duty and was even brought before a disciplinary hearing.
According to the corrections officer of 15 years, she even said she was threatened by department officials that her conduct could find her in contempt of court.
When speaking with iWFeatures earlier in July about the ongoing battle with MADOC and subsequent reprimands, Laurenti said, “They didn’t care that I was a survivor. They cared that I wouldn’t bend the knee.”
According to Laurenti, this state law-backed policy is tantamount to a free pass for male offenders to indulge in their most vulgar perversions, saying, “These men…they enjoy it. A lot of them have crimes against women. They get off on being naked in front of us. They know what they’re doing.”
At every turn over the past seven years, Laurenti was shot down in her attempts to perform her duties with a sense of safety and dignity, with even her own union refusing to assist her because union leaders called her issue a “hot potato.”
In November of 2023, five years into the fight at that point, Laurenti filed a class-action grievance with eight other female corrections officers over being forced to conduct strip searches on males, saying the practice violated MADOC’s very own sexual harassment policy and created a hostile work environment.
But in April of 2025, the arbitrator overseeing the case denied Laurenti and the others’ plea for relief.
Despite having been blackballed by MADOC and shut down through official and legal channels, Laurenti still feels “empowered” to continue the fight, saying, “Everyone has that gut feeling when something’s wrong. This was wrong from day one.”
Even though her career has been infected with an ideology that puts real women in harm’s way, Laurenti’s passion for the authentic mission of corrections hasn’t made her bow out of the field, saying, “I still love my job. That’s the hard part. I love what I do. And that’s why I’m still here, that’s why I’m still fighting.”
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Comments
2025-07-25T17:52-0400 | Comment by: Dawn
We almost need a separate prison for these perverts. Then, at least, the corrections officers will know what they're dealing with on a daily basis and can choose whether or not they work that particular facility. But, instead, the rights of WOMEN are being violated to pander to a small group of predatory MEN.