Transgender Woman Says She Was Repeatedly Raped By Two Inmates While Housed With Men In A Federal Jail
Tavoy Malcolm, a transgender woman currently being held in federal jail awaiting sentencing, claims she’s been repeatedly raped by male inmates.
The 29-year-old is suing the federal government for allegedly ignoring her repeated requests to be housed with female inmates while she awaited the trial portion of her legal case at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
Malcolm and Lorindo Powell were arrested in 2017 after they allegedly conned several elderly women out of their life savings. The total is reported to be $600,000.
Malcolm and Powell allegedly tricked the senior citizens into thinking they had won the lottery to get their banking details.
Powell pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $770,632.50. Malcolm also pleaded guilty and was sent to jail while awaiting sentencing.
According to the New York Daily News, during the time of her guilty plea, Malcolm said she was in the midst of a sex change and claimed authorities ignored the fact that she was undergoing hormonal therapy and breast augmentation treatments.
“I served the first five months of my sentence on the ‘male’ side because they needed some form of classification as it relates to my gender, although my documents state that I am a female,” Malcolm told The STAR of Jamaica last year.
“I was sexually assaulted by other inmates … it was very difficult,” she continued. “They didn’t move me over to the female side when the abuse initially happened but they did when the guys had started fighting over me and after my lawyer got involved.”
Malcolm alleged that after she was moved in with female inmates, she was subjected to harassment by male correctional officers.
“Only after the plaintiff was assaulted and then raped did BOP (Bureau of Prisons) transfer plaintiff to a female housing unit,” the lawsuit reads. “Even after her transfer, plaintiff continued to be subjected to harassment and intimidation by BOP correction officers.”