In the context of incarceration in the United States, V-coding is the common practice by carceral staff of subjecting trans women to sexual assault by placing the woman in the same prison cell as an aggressive male inmate in order to placate the male inmate.[1][2][3] This practice has been known to have caused the daily rapes of multiple trans women, and the sexual assaults of 58.5% of them.[4][5][6] V-coding is done to pacify the male inmate, with the goal of reducing their propensity for violence against other inmates, according to prison authorities and one inmate.[1][2] The term has also been used to refer to the broader systemic sexual abuse of trans women in male prisons.
CW: exactly what you would expect.
V-coding
Causing rape of trans prisoners for social control
Not to be confused with Vibe coding.
In the context of incarceration in the United States, V-coding is the common practice by carceral staff of subjecting trans women to sexual assault by placing the woman in the same prison cell as an aggressive male inmate in order to placate the male inmate.[1][2][3] This practice has been known to have caused the daily rapes of multiple trans women, and the sexual assaults of 58.5% of them.[4][5][6] V-coding is done to pacify the male inmate, with the goal of reducing their propensity for violence against other inmates, according to prison authorities and one inmate.[1][2] The term has also been used to refer to the broader systemic sexual abuse of trans women in male prisons.
nemec, blake (2015). “No One Enters Like Them: Health, Gender Variance, and the PIC”. Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex (2nd ed.). AK Press. p. 306. ISBN 978-1-84935-234-5. 2. [12]
“Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government”. whitehouse.gov. January 20, 2025. 3. [13]
Harmon, Amy (January 27, 2025). “Inmate Sues the Trump Administration Over Transgender Executive Order”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 30, 2025. Retrieved January 30, 2025. 4. [14]
Raymond, Nate; Scarcella, Mike (January 27, 2025). “Transgender inmate sues over Trump’s order curtailing LGBT rights”. Reuters. Retrieved September 24, 2025. 5. [15]
Schwartzapfel, Beth (February 21, 2025). “Trans Women Federal Prisoners Told They Will Be Housed With Men”. The Marshall Project. Retrieved September 27, 2025. 6. [16]
Raymond, Nate (January 30, 2025). “US judge blocks Trump administration from transferring transgender inmate”. Reuters. Retrieved September 24, 2025. 7. [17]
Levin, Sam; Johnson, Kaley (March 7, 2025). “Trans women transferred to men’s prisons despite rulings against Trump’s order”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 27, 2025. 8. [18]
“Transgender women moved to men’s prisons amid judicial block”. The Advocate (magazine). Retrieved September 27, 2025. 9. [19]
Fiorillo, Victor (June 6, 2025). “Philly Trans Woman Raising Money on GoFundMe So She Can Escape to Canada”. Philadelphia Magazine. Retrieved September 27, 2025. 10. [20]
“Hundreds of people gather at state Capitol to protest Trump administration”. Arkansas Democrat Gazette. April 12, 2025. Retrieved September 27, 2025.