A landmark settlement for a transgender woman who was brutally abused while in prison
When DeAnna LeTray, a trans woman in New York, was arrested after she called the police during a domestic incident at her home, authorities at the county jail tore her wig off, subjected her to a cavity and strip search, sexually abused her, and housed her with male inmates.
She was arrested, she said, after the responding cops misgendered and verbally abused her, stating, “We can’t let you walk the streets looking and dressed like a woman.”
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“That night, when that happened, it completely changed my life,” LeTray told City&State. When I was in jail after the assault, it made me want to die. That’s how horrible it was.”
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She’s won a landmark lawsuit in the aftermath.
After her arrest and assault in 2017, LeTray filed a lawsuit against the Watertown Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office. Both entities were mandated by the terms of the settlement to prevent discrimination and violent acts against TGNCNBI people. These settlements allow me to move on with my life despite the trauma that I experienced. “I was fortunate enough to survive,” she said. The settlement also mandates that the Watertown Police Department implement clear guidelines for the treatment of TGNCNBI individuals, including the use of appropriate names, titles It also says the department must ensure that searches and booking procedures are done in a way that respects a person’s gender identity and that disciplinary action be taken against officers in the case of sustained complaints of gender-based discriminatory profiling.
The Jefferson County Correctional Facility must also house TGNCNBI people consistent with their gender identities, with limited exceptions; conduct searches consistent with their gender identities, with limited exceptions, and ensure that jail staff respect a person’s gender identity in other contexts, including name and pronoun use.
Also mandated is medical and mental healthcare free from discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation, including access to medical care for treatment of gender dysphoria and gender-affirming items.
“It’s our position that every county and every police department should have a policy like this,” NYCLU staff attorney JP Perry said. The settlement is a result of a state bill, sponsored by Senator Julia Salazar (D), that requires correctional facilities across the state to implement policies
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Julia Salazar (D), would require correctional facilities across the state to implement policies similar to those that Jefferson County agreed to adopt.
Salazar said a resurgence of anti-trans rhetoric, inspired in part by the Trump campaign and his Republican allies, has made reform even more urgent, and she had a message for people who support other fundamental rights like reproductive freedom but oppose bills helping trans and gender conforming people.
“These fights are inextricably linked,” she said.
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