The warden at Virginia’s largest women’s prison is retiring amid allegations the prison discriminated against gay inmates and denied others access to religious services. State Sen. Frank Ruff asked the department in June to look into allegations that the prison curtailed inmates’ access to religious services and separated masculine-looking prisoners from the rest of the population at the 1,200-inmate facility in Troy, Virginia.

His request followed an Associated Press report in June that inmates — mostly lesbians — who wore short hair and baggy clothes and had more masculine features had been segregated in a wing commonly referred to as the ”butch wing” or ”little boys wing” for more than a year. Inmates and guards said the practice stopped after the AP questioned Wheeler about it. Ruff said he was particularly concerned about restrictions on inmate access to religious services.

Inmates must designate a religion and be placed on a list to attend services. The list is updated only once every three months, and if an inmate goes to segregation or changes housing units, she is removed from it.
Inmates also are turned away from church services for punitive reasons, such as their hair being too long. All lay chaplain visits have been stopped, and several programs run through the chaplain’s office have been discontinued.

”I certainly don’t want to be in the business of micromanaging prisons, but I think as a society we need to do those types of things of not barring them from service if there’s any way possible,” Ruff said.