A female prisoner has alleged that a transgender inmate with male genitalia sexually assaulted her in an all-female prison.The woman claims she was assaulted in September and October 2022, while incarcerated at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, where she has been held since 2003.
She claims that prison guards did not take "corrective action" against the "sexually aggressive and harassing behavior of the transgenders," so she has filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
Local news outlet My Central Jersey reports that the department is under fire for failing to take action to protect inmates after "two female inmates became pregnant from sexual interactions with transgenders."
According to the lawsuit filed on August 29 by Somerville attorney, James Wronko, the woman claims she reported the assault by the transgender inmate (only identified by initials in the lawsuit) to staff members at Edna Mahan but was disciplined instead.
The transgender inmate she accused of sexual assault has been moved to a prison for men.
The lawsuit also claims that transgender inmates were housed with women in cells that lacked surveillance cameras. An ex-Edna Mahan inmate is suing the Department of Corrections on her own, alleging that she was coerced into having sex with a male guard.
On August 21, 2021, she claims the guard came into her cell, slapped her on the foot, and told her to "get up and come here."
The lawsuit claims that the guard took the prisoner into a bathroom, took off his body camera, undid his pants, and then demanded a sexual act. According to the lawsuit, the guard assured the inmate that her time in prison would be "really good" and that she would not "want to leave with missing teeth."
She allegedly then committed a sexual act on the guard before he was transferred to a prison for male inmates and she never saw him again.
The Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women has been the target of numerous legal actions, including these two. After revelations about guard abuse became public in June 2021, Governor Phil Murphyissued an order to shut down the prison. There has been no announcement of a new prison site, and the estimated cost of the project is $300 million. For the closure, Murphy had asked for $90 million in the current fiscal year's budget.
