A transgender woman from Philadelphia who has spent the last four years in men’s prisons filed a federal lawsuit this week, alleging ongoing sexual harassment and abuse at the hands of corrections officers and other inmates.
Niara Burton, 28, filed the suit Sept. 26 against the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, three current and former prison superintendents and eight corrections officers. She is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and attorneys from Saul Ewing, LP.
Burton contends her equal-protection rights and her right to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment were violated. She is seeking injunctive relief requiring her transfer to a women’s prison and mandating the state DOC enact and enforce policies to prevent sexual abuse and harassment of transgender inmates.
Burton was sentenced in November 2012 to 25-50 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder, arson and abuse of corpse. The charges stemmed from the 2012 killing of a Chester County man in the now-defunct Omni Hotel in Old City.
Throughout her incarceration, Burton has been housed only in men’s prisons. She has presented as a woman since she was a teenager and has been on hormone therapy, which she has continued to receive in prison, since she was 16.
According to the Prison Rape Elimination Act, a federal standard for addressing inmate sexual assault, individual evaluations are to be made about whether to house transgender inmates in facilities that match their gender identity. The state DOC’s website says it has “developed policy and procedures in accordance” with PREA.
“The DOC policy says that these decisions are to be made on a case-by-case basis,” said ACLU’s Sara Rose, one of Burton’s attorneys. “Every six months or so, she has met with someone who’s asked her whether she feels safe and things like that and she’s always said no. But nothing ever happens after that. There may have been a perfunctory review, but we don’t think there’s ever been any kind of meaningful review.”
Since 2012, Burton “has been subjected to pervasive sexual harassment and abuse because of her gender-related appearance, gender identity and transgender status — including being raped by another prisoner and forced by a guard to perform oral sex,” attorneys wrote in the complaint.
She has been transferred a number of times and, at each facility besides Graterford — including Camp Hill, Fayette, Huntingdon, Albion, Somerset and Frackville — has encountered officials who partook in and allowed harassment because of her gender identity, attorneys state.
According to the suit, at some facilities she was forced to shower in group stalls with no dividers and in one was denied a shower when she wouldn’t walk to the facility without a towel. PREA requires facilities to implement policies that prevent transgender inmates from showering, using the bathroom or changing clothes within view of non-medical staff of the opposite gender from that with which they identify, attorneys note in the suit.
PREA guidelines also state transgender inmates should be searched by officers matching the inmate’s gender identity, unless there are extenuating circumstances. According to the suit, male corrections officers performed pat-downs during which they groped Burton.
Burton contends corrections officers referred to her as “faggot,” “he/she” and “it”; intentionally called her “Mr. Burton,” while only referring to other inmates by their surnames; and made remarks about her breasts and other body parts, among other instances.
According to the complaint, a corrections officer at Albion forced her to perform oral sex on him and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She did report the abuse to the DOC’s sexual-abuse hotline, but received no response.
In May 2015, while at Somerset, Burton says a masked inmate entered her cell in the Restricted Housing Unit, where she was housed due to a minor disciplinary infraction, and forced her to perform oral sex on him and then choked and raped her. The two corrections officers on duty did not ensure the door was locked, the suit states.
Burton reported the rape to DOC officials and state police, according to the filing. She utilized the sexual-abuse hotline a number of times in the last four years, to no avail, Rose said.
Burton also filed a written request for a transfer to a women’s prison last year but did not receive a response from the Somerset superintendent, Rose said.
She is now housed at Frackville. According to the complaint, as a result of the sexual abuse and harassment, Burton regularly suffers nightmares and anxiety attacks that cause chest pain.
Rose noted that transgender women are at increased risk of sexual violence; she pointed to a federal Bureau of Justice report that found, within one 12-month period, 40 percent of transgender inmates reported sexual abuse by other inmates and guards, which was about 10 times the rate of other inmates.
“This is not just about Ms. Burton, but all transgender inmates in the DOC system,” Rose said. “There’s clearly a very high risk of sexual abuse for trans inmates and we want to make sure the DOC is taking steps to protect those inmates from sexual abuse and sexual harassment.”
The defendants have the opportunity to respond to the complaint or file a motion for dismissal.