In 2019, an ACLU lawsuit against the New Jersey Department of Corrections resulted in a settlement which required the state to allow violent male inmates to self-identify into the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. The lawsuit was launched on behalf of a transgender male inmate who sought transfer but had been denied. That inmate was anonymized in court records, referred to only as “Sonia Doe.”
Reduxx has learned the identity of the anonymous inmate the ACLU represented in their fight for prison gender self-identification, and can name him as unhinged convicted terrorist Danielle Demers.
Demers, born Daniel Smith, was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office for attempting to sell ammunition and pipe bombs.
In October of 2017, Demers, a veteran of the Marine Corps, was charged with attempting to sell a high-powered rifle, 300 rounds of ammunition, and material capable of making five pipe bombs. During the course of the investigation, it was learned that Demers provided instructions on how to assemble the pipe bomb and noted that they should be filled with nails to act as shrapnel.
He was arrested by members of the Atlantic City Police Department SWAT Team, and the Atlantic City Police Department Bomb Squad recovered the pipe bomb materials. Authorities did not specify the intended customers for the weapons, and local media reports referred to Demers simply as a “woman.”
As reported by AC Prime Time, Demers had been known locally for charity work prior to his arrest. The exact nature of his activism remains unclear.
Demers was charged with unlawful possession of a destructive device, possession of an explosive substance for an unlawful purpose, unlawful sale of a firearm, unlawfully teaching another to use an explosive, and conspiracy. In April of 2018, Demers and his female accomplice Nina House were each sentenced to five years in prison for their crimes.
Demers’ sex was recorded as female by the Atlantic County Justice Facility, though he was initially housed with men at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. In August of 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections on behalf of Demers, arguing that a “woman” named only as “Sonia Doe” had been “imprisoned for the past seventeen months in men’s prisons,” a situation that was said to constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The legal action, which used “she/her” pronouns to refer to Demers, claimed that he was discriminated against “on the basis of her gender identity or expression and on the basis of her sex,” and that he had been “treat[ed] differently than other women solely because she is transgender.”
It was further stated that Demers suffered from an “exceptional vulnerability as a woman,” which included prison staff “referring to her as male, using male pronouns to address her, and sometimes even explicitly telling her she is a man.” The lawsuit sought financial compensation for “the more than seventeen months” that the DOC “caused [him] to suffer in men’s prisons.”
Also mentioned in the complaint was Demers’ lack of access to “gender-affirming undergarments”. In one specific example, a bra owned by Demers was confiscated, and he had filed 13 grievances to the NJDOC related to his desire for women’s underwear.
Within the same month that the lawsuit was filed, the New Jersey Department of Corrections transferred Demers to Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women (EMCF), the state’s only female prison.
“Sonia Doe has spent more than 500 days in men’s prisons, facing extreme harassment, discrimination and outright violence on a day-to-day basis,” said ACLU-NJ Staff Attorney Tess Borden said in response to the decision. “Her bravery in asserting her rights, and the DOC’s quick decision to transfer her to the women’s prison, creates momentum for broad-based reforms.”
In June of 2021, the state of New Jersey reached a settlement with the ACLU-NJ and agreed to adopt major reforms to prison policies which would allow housing according to a self-declared and subjective ‘gender identity’ rather than on biological sex.
As part of the settlement, the New Jersey Department of Corrections agreed to pay Demers $125,000 in damages and $45,000 in separate attorney’s fees.
In a press release issued by the ACLU-NJ, Borden remarked: “The settlement of this lawsuit puts in place systemic, far-reaching policy changes to recognize and respect the gender identity of people in prison – with housing based on gender identity, use of appropriate pronouns, access to gender-affirming property, and much more.”
She continued: “This policy places New Jersey in the vanguard of states committed to protecting transgender, intersex, and non-binary people in prison housing determinations and continues its path toward eliminating discrimination based on gender identity.”
According to testimonies provided to Reduxx from women incarcerated at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women (EMCF), among the first men to be transferred to the prison after Demers and the ACLU-NJ were victorious in their lawsuit was a convicted woman-killer who had referred to himself as “Lucifer’s maiden servant.”
Perry Cerf was handed a 50-year sentence in 2003 for the brutal rape and murder of a sex-trafficked woman from Ecuador. Cerf, who now goes by “Michelle Hel-loki Angelina” and is recorded as female by the DOC, had been found wearing his victim’s clothes and utilizing her identification with his photo superimposed over hers.
At the time of his crime, he sent a letter to the press confessing to and boasting about the horrific slaying, stating: “Since I have a most unusual taste for blood, I drank and licked and lapped up my fill … Let it be known: I am Lucifer’s Maiden servant, sent to earth born of sin, to bring suffering and pain, darkness and evil.”
Cerf accepted a longer sentence to avoid a rape charge, and during his trial said, “Going to prison on a sex charge would be a safety concern for me.” He has since married a female inmate at EMCF, and has been reportedly terrorizing women in the facility.
Since his release, Demers has been active on the online forum Quora, a community that operates on a question and answer format.
Demers is behind at least two profiles on the site. In one Quora profile, Demers describes himself as a “Former Tactical Analyst & Warfare Development Specialist.” He also purports to be a “rape counselor” who “sits on the board of directors for several non-profits.” The 2019 legal complaint launched on his behalf similarly describes Demers as a “grief and suicide counselor” and “board member of several non-profit organizations.”
All together, Demers has replied to thousands of questions on the platform, many of which relate to the topic of transgenderism and prison policies.
To a question posted last year on whether there should be separate prison accommodations for transgender people, Demers responded: “In NJ [sic] transgender females (still having a penis) are housed with cis females, they are housed together, roam freely together, eat together, and shower together… This has been policy for over two years with dozens of trans female inmates living and co-mingling at the only female prison, Edna Mahan.”
To another Quora user who asked “What would happen if an inmate in prison got caught staring at another inmate in the showers,” Demers commented: “The females all have girlfriends and open relationships, no shame in it.”
In a recent post from April 23, Demers instructs readers to “Google Sonia Doe” in order to learn how the state of New Jersey places trans-identified prisoners.
While Demers speaks about “Sonia Doe” as though a separate entity, in a post from last year he explicitly outed himself as “Sonia Doe” and stated that he was “brought to the female prison with the help of the ACLU.”
Demers writes: “I am transgender. I was declared male at birth. I have always been a girl… It’s not a fetish or a phase. I am very feminine, and guys hit on me everywhere I go. My heart, soul, metaphysical mind and now my body are female. I love being a girl! Before I was miserable every second of every day. Trying to be something I wasn’t. It was torture.”
One Quora user asked about the issue of female inmates being impregnated by trans-identifying males. “Are transgender activists bothered by women getting pregnant by male inmates in women’s prisons?” Demers answers: “If a transgender person is on the right combination of hormones and testosterone blocking meds they can not impregnate a female. In fact, they will not ejaculate a single drop of semen.”
In addition to offering his expertise on topics related to transgenderism, Demers has also been responding to Quora inquiries of a sexual nature, including on topics such as furries, diapers, menstruation, and lesbianism.
“I’m ADBL and have no real ADBL friends. Just a few people I speak to online,” Demers writes. In his profile, he lists “Adult Babies / Diaper Lovers (fetish)” as an area of personal expertise. ADBL refers to a sexual subculture in which adults, primarily men, achieve arousal by behaving and dressing like babies.
On his older Quora profile, only three accounts followed by Demers are visible. All of them are related to the sexual fetish of adults pretending to be children or infants. One is specifically titled “Diapered Females.” Among his followers is what appears to be an adult man who calls himself “Newborn Baby Rebecca” and posts photos of himself wearing diapers.
“I love kissing girls (I’m a girl, and not a lesbian). Girls are amazing kissers, soft and gentle,” reads one comment by Demers. To the question, “If female best friends finger each other, does that make them lesbians?” he responds: “No, it does not. It makes them friends with benefits.”
Using his more recently active profile, Demers described a scenario wherein he had engaged in sexual activities with a minor. He described the situation, which involved a 17 year-old girl, as a misunderstanding that occurred after drinking at a bar.
Responding to a user who posed the question of how to prevent “male perverts who try to go into women’s washrooms and showers,” Demers replied: “There is a huge difference between the male perverts who enjoy going into and somehow get off going into female bathrooms/locker rooms, and trans women who go there just like any other female. I’m a trans female and I go into female bathrooms, do you know why, it’s because I’m a female! Even in states where it’s illegal for me to use female restrooms, I’m still going to utilize the female restroom, do you know why? Because I’m a female.”
Disturbingly, Demers also claims to have a period and use period products.
“There is nothing shameful about menstruation. I prefer pads, and when I’m on my period, I keep one in my back pocket. I’ve always got a pad or two in my purse,” he wrote on Quora.
But perhaps most frighteningly, Demers claims to have adopted a homeless teenage girl from an abusive background, and has responded to posts on the topic of kidnapping while himself warning others to understand laws related to the offense.
“I took in and raised a teenage girl, she was drug addicted, being abused by men and at home spent most of her time on the streets. She is now 22, sober, and in college. We are very close. Something deep inside just told me to help her and show her the way. If you have the same urge to intervene I would seriously consider doing so. Bear in mind the law, going against either parent is a losing battle and quick way to possible kidnapping charges. In my particular situation her mother couldn’t have been happier to be rid of her,” he states.
Demers has also claimed to be “best friends with a high ranking police administrator,” while describing an unsettling story involving kidnapping and a “closet painted black with chains hanging everywhere.”
In the story, Demers prevents an officer from conducting a welfare check on an “adult child” on the basis that the sexual bondage scenario was a form of roleplay, and therefore, consensual.
On March 14, 2022, he answered the question: “What crime did you not get caught for yet and owe prison time to the police for?” Demers replied, “If I didn’t get caught, then why would I owe time to the police?”
Thanks to the efforts of Demers and the ACLU, at least 27 men are now housed at EMCF, many of which have been convicted of violent crimes involving women and children.
Amongst them are Matthew “Marina” Volz and Adam “Ashley” Romero, two sadistic men who sexually abused Volz’ 7 year-old daughter to produce “transgender porn” involving the child.
Another male transfer, Raequan “Rae” Rollins, is said to have incited the worst instance of prison guard brutality against female inmates in recent years – following which, he was transferred out of EMCF for his safety to the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton while the women who were beaten remained.
Despite having repeatedly assaulted officers, threatening to sexually assault a female staff member, and allegedly hurling his bodily excretions at guards, Rollins filed a lawsuit following a violent show of force from prison officers which resulted in six women being extremely battered. Major media outlets reported sympathetically that he had been a victim of “transphobia”, and he was ultimately moved to Pennsylvania’s State Correctional Institution at Muncy, a facility for adult female offenders.
Still another male transfer was discovered to have impregnated two women housed at EMCF after being transferred in while serving a 30-year sentence for the murder of his foster father. Demetrius ‘Demi’ Minor had been trying to have sex with the female inmates from the moment he was transferred in, according to sources at the prison.
Additionally, multiple women have told Reduxx of the sexual harassment and abuse they have endured from the male transfers.
Kokila Hiatt, who has spoken to Reduxx on several occasions over the past year, reports becoming the target of harassment by Perry Cerf after speaking out. Cerf made false allegations against Hiatt which resulted in her being punished and placed in a lockdown unit for three days.
Last year, Amy Locane, an actress known for her role in Melrose Place, described how a 6’7″ convicted murderer named Neil LaBranche — who now goes by the name Nikita Selket — had been showering with women at the facility, causing them to feel uncomfortable and “violated.”
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