A transgender woman awaiting trial inside a Baltimore men’s jail facility was sexually assaulted at knifepoint by another prisoner, subjected to frequent ridicule and denied hormone therapy in what constituted cruel and unusual punishment, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week.
After the assault, Maryland corrections officials placed Chelsea Gilliam in solitary confinement for months, according to the lawsuit. She had been receiving hormone therapy for over 15 years before her incarceration, but Baltimore jail staff forced her to discontinue the treatment for the majority of her time behind bars.
