If a judge approves it, Colorado could become the first state in the nation to house transgender women in jail.
A judge is scheduled to rule on a consent decree that would allow the state’s penitentiary to undergo further changes, including surgical sex changes and hormone treatment, after a class action lawsuit was filed by several transgender inmates against the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) in 2019 on allegations of discrimination, harassment, and assault, according to Fox News Digital.
According to the consent decree, a court-ordered arrangement in a legal dispute, all trans women currently or formerly in the CDOC would also need to get a $2.1 million reward, depending on the seriousness of the alleged abuse, prejudice, and harassment while in prison. Rewards could range from $1,000 to $10,000 per plaintiff.
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From left to right: Corwin Raven, Keith Rivers, Andre Karpierz, and Jordan Gallentine. (Courtesy of CDOC)According to court records obtained by Fox News Digital, several of the defendants are now serving life without parole for crime and abuse.
Keith Rivers, 46, then known as “Cupcake”, is now serving a life sentence for murdering a victim outside a bar in 1999. In accordance with the class action lawsuit, Rivers came out as trans in 2004 and has filed numerous requests for “medical care for her female dysphoria,” which have been denied, and “she longs for qualified discuss treatment related to her sex dysphoria.”
Another plaintiff, Andre Karpierz, 47, who goes by “Lavinya”, is also serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder. According to CDOC information, Karpierz is currently being held in the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility.
According to the class action lawsuit, Karpierz started receiving hormone replacement therapy in 2016 and continues to experience “intense depression related to her gender anxiety” and has lived in “constant dread of being raped in the female facilities.”
Jordan Gallentine, known as “Jane”, 33, is likewise serving jail time for “attempted death by cop” and abuse. According to the petition, Gallentine “exists in a continual state of severe anxiety and depression due to lack of mental health care, skilled care, and a persistent fear of sexual abuse and violent death.”
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Given that transgender women have a higher violent crime rate than natural women, transgender policies have received criticism. (Fox News Digital)Plaintiff Corwin Raven, 35, also known as “Kandice,” is currently serving time on two separate assault charges and is scheduled to be detained in 2026. According to court records, Raven “has attempted suicide twice and self-castration as a means of dealing with her severe gender dysphoria.”
According to the complaint, “Her many requests for transition-related surgeries have been denied by CDOC.”
A spokeswoman for CDOC told Fox News Digital in a statement they “anticipate a decision did happen immediately, but there is no specific timeline”, for its implementation.
According to court documents, the decree “substantially improves the medical and mental health care provided” to plaintiffs and guards them “from cross-gender searches… access to women’s canteen items (such as cosmetics), requires CDOC to appropriately identify” transgender inmates, “and provides improved training on transgender issues to CDOC staff, medical and mental health providers, and leadership”.
Colorado is not the first state to add surgical sex changes or transgender hormone therapy to its facilities. In a similar case that occurred in Washington last year, it was necessary to offer the same treatments to inmates. Additionally, Utah’s corrections department ruled that refusing hormone therapy discriminated against a transgender inmate this week.
The consent decree, according to Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams, is yet another step the “woke left” is “up-ending our criminal justice system.”
“We’re making accommodations for folks that we shouldn’t be making accommodations for”, Williams told Fox News Digital. “This is an outrageous situation”.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill so these people can feel better about themselves”, Williams said. “Especially if they’ve committed homicide”.
The decree would enact several changes. First, it would create two separate housing units for transgender women inmates: the “Voluntary Transgender Unit” (VTU) at the men’s Sterling Correctional Facility, and the “Integration Unit” (IU) at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility.
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Prison (Getty Images)The original lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of more than 100 trans women in CDOC, alleged the CDOC “exposed them to harassment, rape, sexual assault, and other violence”, at the hands of guards and other inmates.
The decree is “designed to bring new safety measures to protect these women from victimization in the men’s prisons,” according to one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Paula Greisen.
Greisen told Fox News Digital that the decree would also “allow the class members to transition to gender-affirming housing at the women’s facility, and ensure that necessary medical and mental health treatment will be provided.”
The transgender community is confident that the Court will sign the decree, she said, adding that “we are all confident that the Court will sign the decree.”
Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She is in charge of the Senate’s Fox News Digital coverage.
