MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — A transgender woman incarcerated in a Minnesota men’s prison has filed a lawsuit accusing the state’s corrections department of discrimination and violation of state human rights law.

Christina Lusk, a 56-year-old woman serving time for drug possession at Moose Lake Correctional Facility, is a ‘socially, medically and legally’ woman, but is not recognized as such by the Minnesota Department of Corrections. , the advocacy group Gender Justice said in a lawsuit filed on behalf of Lusk. Lusk told prison officials that her placement in a dormitory at the prison put her “in direct line of fire for violence” and that she did not feel safe.

Although the state of Minnesota recognizes Lusk as a woman, the state Department of Corrections placed her in a men’s prison, exposing her to discrimination and harassment, according to the lawsuit. Authorities denied Lusk’s request to be placed in Shakopee Women’s Prison, a ruling by Gender Justice said the Department of Corrections was made based on genitalia rather than legal or medical criteria.

“The denial of health care, the failure to house transgender people in appropriate facilities, and the confusion of transgender people in state custody is dehumanizing and degrading,” Gender Justice said in announcing the lawsuit filed Monday, 6 June in Ramsey County District Court.

Lusk was designated male at birth and started hormone replacement therapy after coming out as transgender in 2008, according to the lawsuit. She changed her name in 2018 and was consulting with doctors about gender-affirming surgery at the time of her 2019 arrest.

The Correctional Service’s Transgender Committee recommended that she be placed in Moose Lake in a single cell or dormitory and allowed to shower on her own. At times, she was housed with up to seven men, according to the lawsuit. She filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights in 2020.

While incarcerated, Lusk requested gender-affirming surgery, but corrections officials denied her request to have it while incarcerated, despite doctors approving her for the procedure before she was incarcerated. go to jail, according to the trial. Lusk is due out in 2024.

The Corrections Department making decisions about where to detain Lusk and denying her gender-affirming surgery is unconstitutional and violates Minnesota human rights law, says Gender Justice in their lawsuit, which seeks damages- interests and for Lusk to be treated as a woman by the state prison system.

In a statement, the Minnesota Department of Corrections said it is “committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of incarcerated transgender people” and explained that it is considering accommodations for transgender inmates on a case-by-case basis. The department said it screens transgender people upon entering the prison system for potential vulnerability to sexual assault, as well as medical and mental health issues. The department did not comment specifically on Lusk’s case.