A transgender inmate is suing California’s prison system, alleging she was abused and demeaned by guards and spent nine months in solitary after reporting a cellmate had raped her.
Candice Crowder sued the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Monday.
The lawsuit says Crowder was raped in 2015 in Corcoran prison but her efforts to report the attack were ignored. The suit says Crowder spent much of the next nine months in solitary.
She was sent to the California Medical Facility in Vacaville in 2016. Her suit says she met a former boyfriend who slashed her face and head while guards did nothing. She received 63 stitches.
Crowder says the guards asked if she’d sparked the attack by flirting.
The Sacramento Bee says the corrections department declined to comment.