Transgender Woman In All-Male Prison Sues Mass. DOC

BOSTON, MA — A transgender woman is suing the Massachusetts Department of Correction in an effort to be moved from an all-male prison to an all-female prison.

The 52-year-old prisoner, identified in court papers only as a Jane Doe born in Puerto Rico, has received hormone therapy for nearly 40 years. She says she has been accosted and mocked by male prisoners and correctional officers at MCI-Norfolk, and hopes to be moved to MCI-Framingham.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in US District Court in Boston. It says the prisoner suffers from gender dysphoria, a disconnect between a person's gender at birth and his or her gender identity. The lawsuit claims the DOC has "refused to provide reasonable accommodations for her diagnosed condition" by forcing her to live with in an all-male population where she is harassed and addressed using female pronouns. It also claims she is demeaned and subject to humiliating strip-searches, and is in fear of spending time with the all-male population.

"In short, Jane Doe is a woman being forced to eat, sleep, shower, and live with men and without appropriate, reasonable accommodations that she needs for treatment of her Gender Dysphoria," the lawsuit reads.

The prisoner was told she would be transferred upon getting genital surgery, but the lawsuit alleges the DOC has not allowed her to receive the surgery.

The prisoner has been at MCI-Norfolk since Oct. 31, 2016. She is serving a 3-4 year sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, the lawsuit says. The Boston Globe reports she is a Level 3 sex offender with convictions in 1992 and 1995 for indecent assault and battery on a person over age 14.

Her Mass. ID card acknowledges her status as a woman, the lawsuit says.

Photo by Mass.gov