Trans woman left in men’s prison despite being ‘repeated raped’
The woman is serving a 20 year sentence for aggravated kidnapping, is incarcerated in a Texas prison.
She says she has “been raped, forced to submit to undesired sexual acts to escape violence, and/or threatened with sexual assault.”
After being denied parole last month by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, the woman is seeking to have the decision overturned.
Her co-defendant, also transgender, was released two years ago.
The woman was handed the sentence as a teenager, as her boyfriend refused to return a car they were test driving to a dealership, and drove for hours with the salesman in a passenger seat.
Lambda Legal represents the woman, and says her case shows “the injustice that runs throughout the criminal system”.
The prisoner previously said: “Somebody, somehow, needs to shed light on what is taking place here in Texas prisons.
“Officials get away with so much and disregard so many legitimate threats to people’s safety, and it needs to stop somewhere.
“I fight for my life everyday in here. Safety from rape and assault is not a privilege. It’s a right, and I hope that this assault will help make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
The federal Prison Rape Elimination Act requires US states to “take measures to eliminate sexual abuse of people in custody”.
The British Government has pledged full support to an ongoing review of the procedures surrounding the handling of trans inmates.
However, ministers last week resisted calls from peers to take emergency action to assess the location of the current transgender prison population.
Last month trans prisoner Vicky Thompson was found dead in her cell after she was also sent to a male facility. She also did not have a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Last week, a second trans prisoner, Joanne Latham was found hanged at the HMP Woodhillprison in Milton Keynes.
