By John Mack Freeman
For the first time, a trans inmate has successfully challenged his or her treatment under the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Inmate Sandy Brown was held in solitary confinement for 66 days in 2014. Via Washington Blade:
She also claimed that she was “taunted and harassed” by prison employees, including one who said she “was not a real women and should kill herself.” Brown said officers entered her cell to “gawk and giggle” at her.
Brown further alleged officers on at least one occasion stared at her while she was taking a shower. “They treated me like a circus act,” she said in a statement that FreeState Legal, a Baltimore-based LGBT legal organization, released on Thursday. “They treated me like a circus act. They gawked, pointed, made fun of me and tried to break my spirit.”
Judge Denise Oakes Shaffer has ruled that the prison had violated the PREA, a law that specifically requires correctional institutions to enact policies on the treatment of trans inmates. The institution has been ordered to pay Brown $5,000 in restitution.
