denounces sexual assault and lack of hormonal treatment

(Trends Wide) — A transgender woman is suing the Maryland Department of Corrections in federal court, arguing that she was improperly held in a men’s prison for three months in 2021 and 2022, where she was sexually assaulted and denied access to hormone treatment.

The document also alleges that the plaintiff, Chelsea Gilliam, was then transferred to a different facility, but was improperly placed in solitary confinement there for about three months because of her gender identity.

The lawsuit, filed this week in the US District Court in Maryland against the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, alleges that the department violated Gilliam’s constitutional rights by having her “housed with men, without protection from assaulted, harassed, held in solitary confinement, and by denying her the medical treatment she needed.”

The lawsuit argues that Gilliam “suffered harm, including exacerbation of her gender dysphoria and physical and emotional distress, and continues to suffer harm from the defendants’ actions, including anxiety and depression.” The term gender dysphoria is used to explain the psychological distress that results from a mismatch between the sex assigned at birth and the gender with which that person identifies, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

“I’m filing this lawsuit today because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to any other trans woman in the state of Maryland,” Gilliam said at a news conference on Wednesday. “I want the state of Maryland to be held accountable for what happened.”

The lawsuit covers Gilliam’s detention at the Baltimore City Correctional Center from December 2021 to February 2022, and at the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center from February to May 2022. She was in pretrial detention at both facilities, after being arrested on an assault charge, according to Eve Hill, Gilliam’s attorney.

Both facilities fall under the department’s Division of Corrections.

“I would say they treated me like an animal, but it was worse than that. Because people love and respect their animals,” Gilliam said at the news conference. “I was treated like an alien by inmates and staff from the moment I walked into Baltimore City Corrections one joke day.”

What the lawsuit says

Gilliam was diagnosed with and began treatment for gender dysphoria in about 2003, when she was 17, the lawsuit said. She lived exclusively as a woman for more than 14 years and legally changed her name to Chelsea in 2009, she added.

In addition, she received hormonal treatments for her gender dysphoria for 18 years before being imprisoned.

Despite Gilliam’s “female gender identity, feminine appearance, and years of hormone therapy,” she was incarcerated in the Baltimore City Correctional Center with male inmates “and forced to shower with men…despite the Known risk of sexual assault by male inmates and in contravention of defendants’ own policy,” the lawsuit reads.

On one occasion, Gilliam was threatened with a knife and sexually assaulted by an inmate while she was showering at the facility, according to the lawsuit.

However, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services took no action on the assault, the lawsuit stated. Although she was promised accommodations such as showers and separate recreation time for male inmates by staff from the Division of Corrections, these were not fulfilled.

Gilliam was also denied hormone treatment during his time at the facility, according to the lawsuit.

Department policy says that incarceration of a person with gender dysphoria “shall be made on a case-by-case basis with serious consideration of opinion regarding their safety and the inmate’s biological appearance and presentation.”

In February 2022, Gilliam was transferred to the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center, where she was placed in solitary confinement “solely for being transgender,” according to the lawsuit.

When given the chance to balance the situation, “the defendants were only offering to relocate her to the general population of the men’s prison, not to a women’s facility,” the lawsuit explained. They also demanded that he sign a waiver saying that he would not hold the public security department responsible if something happened to him in the men’s prison, she added. She rejected that proposal and remained in solitary confinement until she was released in mid-May 2022, according to the document.

Gilliam feels that what happened was “punitive, as if she had done something wrong and was being maliciously punished for that perceived wrong,” according to the lawsuit. Gilliam “suffered anxiety and depression as a result of her time in administrative segregation.”

Gilliam was released in May 2022 and is currently on supervised probation, the lawsuit detailed.

The lawsuit claimed that the department violated Gilliam’s rights under the 14th Amendment by failing to protect her from violence and provide her with proper medical care, and by discriminating against her on the basis of gender.

The lawsuit also noted that the department unlawfully discriminated against Gilliam because of her condition: gender dysphoria is a disability that a federal appeals court ruled last year is protected from discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The suit seeks punitive and compensatory damages. It also asks the court to order the department to provide gender dysphoric inmates with appropriate and necessary medical care, and to “house gender dysphoric inmates in accordance with their gender identity.”

“She was subjected to mistreatment and even torture, in violation of the United States Constitution and federal disability rights laws,” Hill said. “Chelsea Gilliam is bravely standing up to fight this injustice and make sure that other transgender people who interact with the criminal system don’t go through the same thing.”

In addition to the state department of public safety and correctional services, the lawsuit names the department’s secretary and acting assistant secretary, as well as other department employees, including custodians at both facilities, as defendants.

Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said in an email to Trends Wide that he cannot comment on the lawsuit in question, but said that he takes the protection of those who are incarcerated “very seriously, and we Urgently Treated: Protecting the Dignity and Safety of Every Incarcerated Person”.

“The department met with advocacy groups and worked tirelessly on the complex issues surrounding the incarcerated transgender population, and is committed to updating its policies as necessary based on recommendations from correctional and medical professionals to ensure the safety of all. at our facilities,” Vernarelli said.

No attorneys have yet been assigned to represent the other defendants involved in this lawsuit.