The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) has moved Strawberry Hampton, a 27-year-old transgender woman, from the all-male prisons where she was held, to Logan Correctional Center, a women’s prison. This comes after a year of IDOC rejecting Ms. Hampton and her lawyers’ pleas, and opposing a lawsuit that sought this transfer. Ms. Hampton has suffered repeated abuse and sexual assaults in various male prisons. “Strawberry has fought every day to be free from sexual violence and to have the IDOC recognize that she is a woman,” said Vanessa del Valle of the MacArthur Justice Center. “This transfer, which occurred after a year of hard fought litigation and two emergency hearings, is a victory for her and a testament to her strength and courage. But IDOC has done nothing to remedy the systemic failures that created the persistent harm Strawberry has endured since she entered IDOC custody. The fight for Strawberry and for all trans women in IDOC has only just begun.”
“We are glad to see that Strawberry has been moved to a prison where she has a chance to be safe, and to receive the health care she needs. We look forward to the day when every prisoner can feel safe in all of Illinois’ prisons. The Uptown People’s Law Center is committed to continuing to work to ensure that Strawberry and all Illinois’ prisoners are safe and receive the medical and mental health care they need,” said Alan Mills, executive director of Uptown People’s Law Center. In December 2017, the MacArthur Justice Center and the Uptown People’s Law Center filed the first in a series of federal lawsuits seeking an order to protect Strawberry Hampton from repeated sexual assaults and harassment by correctional officers. In November 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Rosenstengel ordered IDOC to re-evaluate its denial of Hampton’s request for transfer to a women’s prison, and ordered IDOC to develop training on transgender issues for all staff. Within the past week, IDOC quietly moved Ms. Hampton from Dixon, one of four men’s prisons where she has been incarcerated and subjected to abuse, to Logan prison, in Lincoln, Illinois.
