Transgender Woman Assaulted By Male Cellmate Wins Judgment Against United States For Failing To Protect Her While Incarcerated At Tucson Federal Prison Men’s Unit

A transgender woman who was assaulted by her male cellmate has won a judgment against the United States, which failed to protect her while incarcerated in the men’s unit at a Tucson Federal Prison.

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38-year-old Grace Pinson , who was listed as Jeremy Pinson in court documents, not only represented herself in a four-day bench trial in a Tucson, Arizona federal court but the transgender woman also won her case. In court documents, the transgender woman claimed that her male cellmate attempted to rape her in July 2019 and then allegedly beat her with a closed fist for several minutes. Following the attack, Pinson was taken to a hospital for treatment of nasal bone fractures.

Before the incident, the transgender woman was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2007 after being accused and convicted of writing threatening letters to politicians and a federal judge in Oklahoma. Pinson claimed that she was transferred from a Minnesota prison to the high-security U.S. Penitentiary in Tucson, AZ after filing a lawsuit seeking “gender-affirming surgery.”

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After the incident, Pinson filed a civil rights lawsuit against the United States claiming officials did not protect her while housed inside the men’s unit of the federal prison in Tucson. After claiming to have been assaulted by her male cellmate, the transgender woman sought nearly $300,000 in damages in her judgment against the United States, and after a four-day trial, she was awarded $10,000.

On June 20, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Marquez ruled in the transgender woman’s favor, closing the case and awarding her $10,000 “for her physical injuries, her pain and suffering, and her emotional distress arising from her physical injuries” endured in the Tucson Federal Prison.

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In Judge Marquez’s ruling, they found that the prison staff did not know before the incident that Pinson’s cellmate had already been threatening her. However, the judge agreed that the Tucson penitentiary was negligent in ensuring that the transgender woman’s cell had a functioning duress alarm, which is used to alert guards and other prison staff of emergencies.

In a statement on Wednesday (June 26), the Federal Bureau of Prisons said that the agency “does not comment on matters of litigation” for privacy, safety, and security reasons. However, it added, “The FBOP takes seriously our duty to protect the individuals entrusted in our custody, as well as maintain the safety of correctional employees and the community. We make every effort to ensure the physical safety and health of the individuals confined to our facilities through a controlled environment that is secure and humane.”

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