Transgender inmate Michelle Lamb loses federal lawsuit against Kansas prison

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a transgender woman alleging she has faced discrimination while imprisoned at the Kansas women's prison.

Michelle Renee Lamb in November sued Gov. Laura Kelly plus the warden and other staff of Topeka Correctional Facility and the Kansas Department of Corrections, primarily seeking to be transferred to general population.

After previously dismissing part of the case, U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum on Monday ended the case by dismissing the remainder of the claims.

Judge: Transgender inmate at TCF failed to show discrimination

"Plaintiff has not shown that her housing assignment subjects her to atypical and significant hardship in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life," Lungstrum wrote. "Plaintiff has failed to show good cause why her due process claim should not be dismissed."

He also said that Lamb "failed to show that she was discriminated against based on her transgender status."

Lamb, 83, has been held in restricted housing instead of general population since KDOC moved her from El Dorado Correctional Facility, a men's prison, to the women's prison in Topeka. That January 2023 move followed her gender-affirming surgery at The University of Kansas Health System.

Her convictions include first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping in Johnson County in 1970, with at least one of the kidnappings allegedly being part of a scheme to get ransom money to pay for gender-affirming surgery.

More: Transgender inmate at Kansas women's prison didn't convince judge of discrimination claim

According to court documents, Lamb was initially subject to special management based on her refusal to answer questions about her convictions during an evaluation. The special conditions continued with Lamb managed as a sex offender, even though her convictions weren't sex crimes.

Prison regulations provide for sex offender management based on circumstances of the original crime and for conduct while in prison, and Lamb has been on such management for more than two decades.

While Lamb challenged the basis for her disciplinary actions since transferring to Topeka — which include the allegedly lewd act of hugging — but the judge said this lawsuit was not the appropriate process for raising the issue.

TCF inmate urged 'radical agenda' of Republicans to be considered

In an April response to a show cause order, Lamb contended that the prison has not taken steps toward integrating her into general population, despite KDOC's statements that it was working toward that goal.

"They keep putting more restrictions on me full knowing all these restrictions are contributing to my stress, anxiety, and depression," Lamb said in a handwritten court filing. "Thus putting me at even greater risk of a stroke or heart attack. I pray this Honorable Court will intervene in this madness and order this case to move forward."

But Lungstrum said prison administrators "are entitled to great deference" in how they operate their facilities, and pointed to certain accommodations the prison has made for Lamb. He said her continued status as "other security risk" is due to Lamb's behavior.

Lungstrum said Lamb did not show anti-transgender discrimination.

Lamb had urged the court to take politics into consideration, alleging an "unspoken reason" for her restricted housing was prison staff who "belong to the extreme and dangerous Phelps religious cult that push their extreme ideology that has nothing to do with any penological interests but preach hate to transgenders like myself.

"To many conservative MEGA (sic) Republicans pushing their radical agenda against the LBGTQ community, and transgenders like myself in particular. Just think about all the hate legislation the Republican party has tried to pass here in Kansas in the past eight years."

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd .

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Transgender inmate Michelle Lamb loses federal lawsuit against Kansas prison