Transgender prisoner finally feels ‘safe’ in women’s prison

A transgender prisoner has said she finally feels “safe” after she was recently transferred to a women’s prison after serving time in four men’s prisons.

Strawberry Hampton’s transfer was granted after she filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) documenting allegations of sexual harassment and abuse by both prison guards and inmates in men’s prisons.

“At the end of the day, I’m safe here, I feel good.”

– Strawberry Hampton

Her transfer was granted in December, and since then, Hampton has been moved to Logan women’s prison in Illinois.

“At the end of the day, I’m safe here, I feel good,” she told the Chicago Tribune. “I don’t have to worry about someone trying to attack me for being a woman.

“The women here accepts me all the way. When I’m walking down the hall, everybody hug me, everybody scream my name. They treat me like a regular woman.”

Hampton also told the Chicago Tribune that, when she arrived at the women’s prison, the warden took her aside and told her she was wanted there, and that she could “thrive.”

Life as a transgender woman in men’s prisons was ‘very scary’

The violence she experienced in three separate men’s prisons in Illinois before her transfer caused her to self-harm and attempt suicide. She told the Chicago Tribune that it was “very scary” and “mentally and emotionally draining.

“Why should I hide who I am?”

– Strawberry Hampton

“You got no help, you got nobody to protect you. The people that’s supposed to protect are the ones that’s hurting you,” she added.

She also revealed that  most inmates in the women’s prison didn’t know she was transgender, but she decided to tell them anyway, saying: “Why should I hide who I am?”

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