Judge says transgender woman at all-male prison can only be strip-searched by female guards
March 7, 2018
The Boston Globe
By Michael Levenson
Massachusetts prison officials must only use female guards to strip-search a transgender woman incarcerated in an all-male prison and must station a guard outside her shower to prevent male inmates from entering, a federal judge has ruled.
A lawyer for the 53-year-old inmate, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, praised the ruling by US District Judge Richard G. Stearns as an important victory that would help protect her from rampant sexual harassment at MCI-Norfolk, where she is serving a four-year sentence for a nonviolent drug offense. The inmate has taken female hormones for 40 years.