Transgender Inmate Given Permission To Be Moved To All-Female Jail

The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) made a rare decision and said that a transgender woman can serve the remainder of her ten-year jail sentence in an all-female prison. Deon “Strawberry” Hampton filed a lawsuit last January against the IDOC alleging that she had suffered physical, mental, and sexual abuse by inmates and guards.

She argued that being locked up with other men made her "feel inhuman" because she was not allowed to have long hair or nails. 

The IDOC said that Hampton was transferred to Logan Correctional Center after a federal court ruled that she had a strong case that her equal protection rights were violated. 

“The fight for Strawberry and for all trans women in IDOC has only just begun,” Hampton’s lawyer Vanessa del Valle said.

Photo: Illinois Department of Correction