Strawberry Hampton, a transgender woman currently serving a ten-year sentence for residential burglary at Dixon Correctional Center, the fourth male prison she’s been transferred to within the year, filed new claims against the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) on July 17 stating that she’s been sexually and physically assaulted by inmates and prison guards, and requesting she be transferred to Logan Correctional Center, a women’s prison.
In April, the IDOC filed to dismiss Hampton’s complaints, stating that she had “failed to exhaust [her] administrative remedies as required prior to filing.” Mills resisted this, calling the motion absurd. He added that Hampton has “done everything required by law, and gone well beyond the minimum required, going so far as to email lengthy documentation to the Director. The IDOC’s attempt to deny Ms. Hampton her day in court is beyond reprehensible.”
Months of this abuse has resulted in serious mental harm to Hampton, who in addition to being diagnosed with gender dysphoria by IDOC staff in 2012 was designated “seriously mentally ill.” Hampton claims that the abuse she continues to suffer gives her flashbacks to past abuses, resulting in high anxiety and severe depression.
Hampton’s transfer would be one of the first times a transgender woman was assigned to a women’s prison. In 2016, the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) report showed that there were no transgender detainees at the women’s prisons, but 28 transgender women were housed by the 24 male prisons.
