A Trans Woman Was Moved Back To A Men's Prison. Now She's Suing.

LOADING ERROR LOADING The first transgender woman to be removed from women’s housing in a Washington state prison filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, alleging that the state Department of Corrections’ decision to forcibly place her in a men’s prison violated the state constitution’s prohibition on cruel punishment. courtesy of friend of Amber Kim A team of prison officials, required to review trans prisoners’ housing placement at least every six months, wrote in a July 2021 report that Kim reported feeling ready to give up on life while at the men’s prison but began looking forward to the future after transferring to the women’s facility. “DOC’s baseless transfer decision defies its own well-found reasons for placing Ms. Kim at nearly four years ago,” her lawyers wrote. “Life doesn’t stop because people are in prison,” Starr Lake, who was incarcerated at WCCW for more than 20 years and briefly overlapped with Kim, previously told HuffPost. “The difference between Ms. Kim’s treatment and that of her cisgender roommate is a stark illustration of DOC’s cruel treatment of Ms. Kim, exposing her to physical violence and serious mental health consequences,” Kim’s lawyers wrote, accusing DOC of “punishing Ms. Kim for her status as a transgender woman.” In June, guards came to Kim’s cell and told her she was going into solitary confinement, she wrote in the declaration.