New Jersey is instituting new protections for transgender prisoners — including a mandate that they’re to be housed based on gender identity — as part of a historic legal settlement signed today with attorneys for a transgender woman who spent 18 months in four men's prisons.
The settlement also includes a requirement that staff use appropriate pronouns for prisoners, a guarantee that gender-appropriate undergarments are provided, and a prohibition on pat-down searches of transgender women by male officers.
The settlement, which was negotiated by attorneys at the ACLU of New Jersey on behalf of the transgender woman who was incarcerated, comes as New Jersey prisons are under renewed scrutiny. The Corrections Commissioner resigned earlier this month in the wake of revelations about sexual and physical abuse at the state's only women's prison.
The state Department of Corrections characterized the settlement as part of overall cultural change in state prisons. According to the ACLU, only a few other states have similar policies to those now adopted by New Jersey.
"This policy places New Jersey in the vanguard of states committed to protecting transgender, intersex, and non-binary people in prison housing determinations and continues its path toward eliminating discrimination based on gender identity," said Tess Borden, ACLU of New Jersey attorney.
Transgender women in prison suffer physical abuse at a high rate, advocates say. In 2019, the plaintiff -- who is referred to in legal papers by the pseudonym Sonia Doe -- was moved out of men's prisons after intervention by the ACLU.
"When I was forced to live in men’s prisons, I was terrified I wouldn’t make it out alive. Those memories still haunt me," she said. "Though I still have nightmares about that time, it’s a relief to know that as a result of my experience the [New Jersey Department of Corrections] has adopted substantial policy changes so no person should be subjected to the horrors I survived."
The Department of Corrections will also pay Doe $125,000 in damages, plus legal fees.