A transgender Georgia inmate who is suing the state prison system for safe housing and hormone treatment said she was sexually assaulted again, according to a news report
Attorneys representing Ashley Alton Diamond, 36, of Rome, are asking prison officials to move her or to present a plan to keep her safe, The Telegraph reported.
At an April hearing, U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell asked to be informed about Diamond's status while incarcerated, Chinyere Ezie, Diamond's lawyer, told the Macon newspaper.
As a result, the judge received a report this month that prison officials are investigating whether Diamond was assaulted by her cellmate while at Rutledge State Prison in Columbus, the newspaper reported.
Baldwin, who was born a male but identifies as a woman, was incarcerated at Baldwin State Prison in Milledgeville in February when she filed her federal lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections.
She contended then she had been sexually assaulted in several prisons since being convicted in Floyd County on theft, burglary and other charges in 2012.
Diamond had received hormonal treatments for 17 years before incarceration, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Macon by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In the suit, she alleged she was told she had lost her right to be female and was denied treatment intended to suppress her male characteristics. Diamond also said guards warned her she would have to “learn to fight” to survive in the prison system.
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