The Lowenstein Center for Public Interest has won a significant settlement in a civil rights case filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey that accused the East Orange Police Department and Essex County Correctional Facility (“Essex County jail”) of violating a transgender woman (“Kate”)’s civil rights while she was detained over a three-week period in February 2016.
Throughout her detention, Kate repeatedly identified herself as “legally female” and requested that she be housed with female inmates. She feared that other inmates would harass, abuse, and physically harm her if she were placed in the men’s unit. At each step in her detention, however, police and corrections officers rejected her housing requests because they followed a policy of placing inmates based on their external genitalia or assigned sex at birth. This policy subjected Kate to multiple cross-gender searches and medical examinations, conducted solely for the purpose of determining her biological sex, and forced her to be confined with male inmates.
Verbally and physically harassed by male inmates, and physically assaulted while in a “protective custody” unit at Essex County jail, Kate pleaded for help, but the correction officers ignored her.
“The abuse and humiliation that our client faced while in the custody of the East Orange Police Department and the Essex County Jail are deeply troubling and disturbing, but sadly not uncommon,” said Natalie J. Kraner, Senior Public Interest Counsel, Center for Public Interest, Lowenstein Sandler. “The policies that were followed here were in blatant disregard of Kate’s constitutional rights and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. This settlement will help shine a bright light on that, while educating the public on procedures that need to be followed to ensure the basic human rights of anyone that is incarcerated.”
As part of the settlement, Kate will receive compensatory damages from Essex County in the amount of $150,000 and an additional $25,000 from East Orange. The settlement also requires Essex County and East Orange to commit to significant policy changes by adopting and implementing the directives, policies, and procedures contained in Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive No. 2019-3 (the “AG Directive”). The AG Directive was designed to ensure that all individuals are guaranteed safety and dignity in their encounters with law enforcement, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
By adopting the AG Directive, the defendants, and Essex County jail in particular, have agreed to “[h]ouse, place, or otherwise detain individuals in line with their gender identity or expression, regardless of the gender that individual was assigned at birth and/or their anatomical characteristics unless [the detainee requests otherwise].” Likewise, when conducting a search, defendants are required to “treat a transgender woman as they would treat any other woman, and officers shall treat a transgender man as they would treat any other man, regardless of the gender that individual was assigned at birth and/or their anatomical characteristics.”
By adopting these reforms, the police and jail are satisfying their constitutional and statutory obligations with respect to the care and treatment of transgender individuals in custodial settings. The New Jersey Department of Corrections recently adopted a system-wide policy that includes housing in line with gender identity, among other reforms, pursuant to a landmark settlement agreement reached in another case, but it does not extend to county jails where thousands of people are detained. Kate’s case will require similar policy changes at defendants’ county and municipal facilities, where transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming individuals likewise deserve protection from physical abuse and sexual violence.
“We hope that this settlement will put other county jails and police departments on notice of their legal responsibility to respect the rights of transgender people and encourage them to adopt new policies ensuring that people are housed in line with their gender identity,” said Kraner.
In addition to Ms. Kraner, the Lowenstein Sandler team included Reynold Lambert, Jarrett R. Schindler, Stephanie D. Ashley, and Andrew Dubin.
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