Transgender Woman Will Move From Men's To Women's Prison In Minnesota Settlement

SHAKOPEE, MN — The Minnesota Department of Corrections will transfer a transgender woman to a prison matching her gender identity for the first time next week following a lawsuit and new state policy, according to authorities.

Christina Lusk, who filed the complaint a year ago, will be moved from the department’s Moose Lake men’s facility to the state’s only women’s prison in Shakopee, authorities said. She will also receive $495,000 from the department, including $250,000 in legal fees, according to officials.

“With this settlement, the Department of Corrections takes an important and necessary step toward fulfilling its responsibilities to the people in its care,” Gender Justice Legal Director Jess Braverman said Thursday in a prepared statement on behalf of Lusk’s legal team.

“Thanks to Christina Lusk’s willingness to speak out, transgender people in custody will now have expanded access to the housing and health care they need, and the legal protections they deserve.”

Lusk was harassed and denied gender-affirming healthcare by the Department of Corrections, according to Gender Justice. The department has now agreed to provide her access to a transgender healthcare specialist and will help her get surgery if it is found to be necessary by the specialist, state authorities said.

“The DOC is constitutionally obligated to provide medically necessary care for incarcerated people, which includes treatment for gender dysphoria,” department Commissioner Paul Schnell said Thursday in a new release.

“Based on the facts of this specific case, the incarcerated person will now have access to the medical care she needs, she deserves, and we have a legal obligation to provide.”

Lusk said she was sexually abused in a group cell, required to use the bathroom and change clothing among men, reprimanded for wearing women’s clothes and having breasts, and searched by men despite having approval to be searched only by women, the Star Tribune reported.

“The settlement not only ensures that she is treated with dignity, but does the same for other trans and gender nonconforming individuals within the Minnesota DOC,” said Rebecca Bact, of co-counsel Robins Kaplan LLP, in the Gender Justice statement.

Lusk is incarcerated because of a 2018 drug conviction and is set to be released in May 2024, according to the department.

Minnesota joins 10 other states and the District of Columbia in approving transfers that align with an incarcerated person’s gender identity, the department said.

“I believe we have made a big step toward allowing people to express who they truly are, and bring some sort of peace and happiness to their lives,” Lusk said in the statement. “This journey has brought extreme challenges, and I have endured so much. My hope is that nobody has to go through the same set of circumstances.”

The state’s new policy went into effect in January and allows transgender or gender non-conforming people to request placement at a facility matching their identity, according to the department, which houses 48 transgender people. Requests will be granted unless they pose a heightened risk of physical or sexual harm, according to state authorities.