Oregon to pay $295,000 settlement to trans inmate in men’s prison after alleged abuse
Trans prisoner (Image: Getty Images)
Oregon officials have agreed to pay $295,000 to settle a federal lawsuit brought by transgender inmate Zera Lola Zombie, who alleged abuse while housed in a men’s prison and was later transferred to a women’s facility.
It comes as the US Supreme Court lifted the block on moving trans women inmates to men’s prisons, despite multiple reports of violence risks.
Zombie filed the lawsuit in 2021 over her time at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla, eastern Oregon. She was then moved to women’s prison Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, in Wilsonville, near Portland.
Under the settlement, Zombie will receive $95,000, with attorneys receiving the remaining $200,000.
In court filings, Zombie alleged she suffered “ongoing harassment and verbal, mental, and psychological abuse by both prisoners and staff as a result of her sex, gender, and gender identity”, after transitioning while in prison around 2020, reports The Advocate.
Her lawyers also alleged guards had “paraded” her around the prison in her undergarments, and said she was strip-searched and forced to provide a urine sample in front of guards during a drug search.
Judge-ordered protections
In 2023, US District Judge Ann Aiken ordered Zombie be classified as a vulnerable party and told guards to stop some practices, including cavity searches. The order also said prisoners and staff at men’s prisons could not see her without her clothes.
A judge also issued a temporary restraining order in 2023 and ruled she was likely “repeatedly subjected to abuse, including sexual assault, by male inmates with whom she is housed”.
Court filings also describe Zombie saying she was “terrorised” by a cellmate and told to “get over it” by a guard.
Case details and response
Zombie is 41 and is serving a sentence until 2049 after being found guilty of manslaughter and first-degree assault after the death of a girlfriend in 2014.
The case has drawn attention as part of a wider debate over the placement of transgender prisoners and the obligations of corrections agencies to prevent sexual abuse in custody, including disputes over search practices and protective measures.
Amber Campbell, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Corrections, said: “We take all allegations of sexual assault seriously and are committed to addressing them thoroughly and responsibly,” adding that the department is guided by “a zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse and harassment”.
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