California puts trans killer – who targeted lesbian couple in hate crimes – in WOMEN’S prison
A transgender woman who murdered a lesbian couple in what was called a hate crime has been sent to a women’s prison under a new California law.
Dana Rivers, 68, was convicted in November of the 2016 murder of Oakland resident Charlotte Reed, 56; her wife Patricia Wright, 57; and Wright’s adopted 19-year-old son, Benny Toto Diambu-Wright.
The Oakland court heard that Rivers served as an “enforcer” of an all-female biker gang and was furious with Reed for leaving the gang.
Judge Scott Patton called the triple murders “the most depraved crime I’ve ever dealt with in 33 years in the criminal justice system,” and sentenced Rivers, a former high school teacher, to life in prison on June 14.
But Rivers has now been sent to the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, thanks to a California law that took effect in 2021 allowing inmates to request that their gender identity determine where they are held.
Dana Rivers, 68, was sent to a women’s prison earlier this month after she killed a lesbian couple and their son in their California home on Nov. 11, 2016.
Patricia Wright (left), her wife Charlotte Reed (right) were found stabbed and shot multiple times in their Oakland home. Their son Benny Diambu-Wright, 19, was also found shot dead in front of the house
Activists have said it’s dangerous to keep other female inmates with Rivers, a pioneering transgender woman who was open about her transition in 1999, and who discussed her 2001 surgery on ABC News’ 20/20.
Rivers shot Reed twice and stabbed her 40 times in the house she shared with her family; shot her wife in the back and left breast and stabbed her in the neck and shoulder; then shot and killed their son.
Police were called after the sound of gunfire, and officers arrived at the house to find a blood-covered Rivers holding a can of gasoline, with knives, brass knuckles, and ammunition in her pockets.
She has been in custody ever since.
Kara Dansky, an author who describes herself as a “feminist fighting for the sex-based rights of women and girls,” said Rivers was not safe to be housed with other women.
“They did it,” she tweeted.
“On June 16, 2023, the CDCR transferred him to the Central California Women’s Facility.”
Dansky said female inmates were endangered by Scott Wiener, a senator representing San Francisco, who proposed the prison bill, and Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed the bill into law.
“But it’s not over yet,” Dansky said. “We will never stop fighting.”
Dansky, whom Rivers referred to as “he,” narrated The New York Post: “There was something really disgusting about the way this was executed and his obvious hatred for her.
“My feeling based on knowledge of the case is that he killed her because he couldn’t be her — and he shouldn’t be in prison with other women.”
The Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla is the largest female prison in the state
Rivers has already been transferred to Chowchilla Prison, which houses more than half of all female inmates in California
Amie Ichikawa, 41, who spent five years in the same Chowchilla prison where Rivers goes, said the law was “lesbophobic” and endangered the lives of half of California’s female prison population.
California currently has 3,158 women behind bars — more than half of the state’s total of 5,849.
Ichikawa said the law “allows more than 50% of the population in the women’s prison to be forcibly housed with Dana Rivers, a #lesbian killer. 100% of these #women are at risk.’
She said Rivers committed a “hate crime” and was not safe among other inmates, who feared trans inmates.
“They get very anxious when a [trans woman] being processed in,” she told The New York Post.
“Even when they’re post-surgery, if they get angry, they go right back into angry man mode.”
Wright was a semi-retired teacher at Esperanza Elementary School and had been married for more than a year to Reed, a United States Air Force veteran and businesswoman.
Reed and Wright adopted Diambu-Wright together from Africa, but Wright also had another son separately. He was not injured in the triple murder.
That son, Khari Campbell-Wright, previously said Rivers was an acquaintance.
In a 2016 interview with the East Bay Times, he suggested it was a random act of violence.
My mother had no part in it. My brother had no part in it. Wrong place, wrong time,” said Campbell-Wright.
The couple is pictured on Facebook riding a motorcycle after hooking up. River tried to escape on the same motorcycle the night of the murders.
Wright, left, and Rivers, right, knew their killer
Wright and Reed have two other children together. Their son Diambu-Wright, who was also killed, was from Africa
Rivers is formally known as David Warfield. She was fired from her job at Center High School in Antelope after transitioning
Rivers is a United States Navy veteran and former award-winning teacher when she went by the name of David Warfield in the 1990s.
The veteran informed Center High School in Antelope of her plans to undergo gender reassignment surgery and was granted a leave of absence before being fired.
Rivers gained media attention in 1999 after her termination and the start of a lawsuit against the school that reached a $150,000 settlement.
The alleged murder was in the spotlight for a short time and was featured on several television shows, including the Today show.