‘Transgender’ male accused of preying on inmates in women’s prison
Several female inmates spoke out about a male pedophile in a Minnesota women's prison who allegedly has exposed himself and composed rape poetry.
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Tue Sep 15, 2026 - 4:58 pm EDT
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(LifeSiteNews) — A male pedophile who got himself incarcerated with women by identifying as “transgender” is using his access to expose himself to them and subject them to his rape poetry, according to the testimony of inmates who say prison officials fail to do anything about it.
Reduxx reported that Daniel Patrick Benz has a 20-year criminal record that includes robbery, assault, and child sexual abuse (a 6-year-old girl he molested on multiple occasions) but was released in September 2024 and re-arrested this past June after a vehicle stop revealed he was in possession of multiple firearms and ammunition (illegal due to his criminal record) and had apparently broken into several storage units with the tools also in his possession.
In 2023, during his previous sentence, he declared himself transgendered, changed his legal name to Danielle Marie Whitebird, and petitioned to get himself transferred to MCF Shakopee, a women’s facility, to which he was returned after his latest arrest. He retains full, unaltered male anatomy, yet a “replacement birth record” he obtained identifies him as female.
Several inmates have spoken to Reduxx about Benz’s behavior. “They put Danny in the same unit as me,” one said. “Since he has been in the unit, he has been showing his penis to us, having women read his poems that are about rape. He is across the hall from (redacted) and she told someone that he showed his penis to her, too. He got aggressive after I confronted him. I keep telling everyone to report him, but they are scared of going to seg.”
“I was working cleaning the unit, and he was housed in RSVLT upper B. His room was right next to the bathroom I was cleaning,” attested another, who filed a complaint. “He called my name and asked me if I wanted to see his dick. I said no, and he said, ‘Well, can I read you something?’ and he started reading out of his book where he writes poems. What he was reading me was gross. He mentioned things that consist of rape and being in charge.”
“I do not feel safe at all, especially since I filed the report,” added the complainant, identified only as Jane Doe. “I know there are other girls who are afraid to come forward. An officer came to speak with me and all he asked me was, did Danny leave the unit immediately after what he did to me. I do not think they are taking this seriously. I just saw Danny in the courtyard this morning and I was really uncomfortable.”
“It is unclear what measures, if any, the Minnesota DOC (Department of Corrections) took to address his sexually aggressive behavior,” Reduxx noted, adding that female inmates fear that if they speak out about the situation, they will be punished with placement in solitary confinement.
Minnesota began allowing “transgender or gender non-conforming individuals” to request placement to opposite-sex facilities in 2023, claiming at the time requests would not be granted if they “would pose a heightened risk of physical or sexual harm to that person or those housed in the preferred facility. But this and other cases documented in the years since indicate that promise has not been kept.
In recent years, there has been growing concern around the world over placing men who claim to be women in female prison populations that has proven to be a means of both securing lighter treatment during incarceration and gaining easy access to women to prey upon. Transgender status also has the potential to be exploited to avoid incarceration entirely in some cases, as seen in Wales when a man who identified as a woman received a suspended sentence keeping him out of prison despite physically assaulting two partners within days of each other on the grounds that he would be “vulnerable” behind bars. LifeSiteNews reported in 2023 that a Correctional Service Canada (CSC) report found sex crimes account for almost half of gender-confused male inmates in Canada.
In May 2023, investigative journalist James O’Keefe released an interview with U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons psychologist Dr. Linda Noelle, who says that “male and female prisoners “both play the victim card” to obtain gender “reassignment” surgeries at taxpayer expense. “And then they go through (the far-left American Civil Liberties Union), and then the ACLU sues the (U.S. Department of Justice)” when demands for subsidized transition procedures are initially rejected, Noelle told O’Keefe. “And the DOJ, unfortunately, under Merrick Garland, it rolls over. It doesn’t go through the courts, so they just pay people off.”
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In May 2024, Hector Bravo Ferrel, a U.S. Army Iraq veteran who served the California Department of Corrections for 16 years, spoke out about his decision to resign in protest of leaders allowing male inmates to exploit “gender-affirming” policies. “They were like kids in the candy store because they knew they were going from a men’s prison to a females’ prison,” he said.
TOPICS
TAGGED AS
- Daniel Patrick Benz
- Danielle Marie Whitebird
- Lgbt
- Minnesota
- Minnesota Department of Corrections
- Transgender Inmates
- Transgenderism
- Women's prisons
