Southern Poverty Law Center files suit on behalf of Rome transgender woman

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The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed suit on behalf of Ashley Diamond, an incarcerated transgender woman from Rome who claims the state’s prison system has denied her necessary medical treatment and failed to protect her from sexual assault.

Diamond, currently serving a 12-year sentence after her probation was revoked in 2012 on theft charges, says Georgia Department of Corrections staff has ignored its own policy on the treatment of transgender prisoners.

They’ve also left her vulnerable to sexual assault, she claims. One prison employee told the 36-year-old Diamond that “she brought her assaults upon herself by being transgender,” the suit states.

Held at Baldwin State Prison, Diamond asks a judge to force the DOC to provide her medical treatment for gender identity disorder, house her at an appropriate facility for her safety and award compensatory and punitive damages.

Gwendolyn Hogan, public relations and information coordinator with the DOC, declined comment.

“Ashley has attempted suicide,” said Chinyere Ezie, lead attorney on the case. “Ashley has attempted to castrate herself. These actions are a result of her being denied medical care.”

The SPLC filed the lawsuit Thursday, the day after Diamond opted to dismiss a similar suit she filed herself. The new suit, filed after Diamond obtained legal counsel, repeats several allegations she’s previously made.

Diamond claims her unwanted transition from female to male and the sexual assaults began after her 2012 incarceration. Living as a woman since she was 17, Diamond began changing into a man because she no longer had hormone treatments despite mental health personnel recommending the therapy.

The DOC over the past few years has transferred Diamond to multiple prisons.

She alleges sexual assaults occurred at several of them. The assaults stopped once she was moved to Rutledge State Prison, a medium security facility, where Diamond asked for treatment. She was told no such therapy was offered, and was later put in solitary confinement for a week for “pretending to be a woman,” the suit states.

Transferred to Valdosta State Prison, Diamond states the sexual assaults resumed. She continued to report the assaults, though DOC staff did nothing, the lawsuit says.

Diamond filed suit in September, and she was relocated back to Baldwin State Prison. A doctor there has confirmed her gender identity disorder and said her hormone therapy must begin to prevent dire consequences. Diamond, however, remains unsafe and without medical care, according to the suit.

Diamond’s gender identity disorder isn’t merely cosmetic; A review of her suicide and castration attempts shows the severity of the case, Ezie said.

“It’s really about feeling like themselves,” the attorney added. “At the end of the day, there’s not much more important than that.”

Source: Rome News

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