Colorado is poised to become the first state in the country with segregated cells for transgender women in prison, if a judge approves.
After several transgender inmates filed a class-action lawsuit in 2019 against the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) alleging discrimination, harassment and assault, a judge is scheduled to rule on a consent decree that would bring more changes, including surgical sex changes and hormonal treatment: to the state penitentiary, as Fox News Digital learned.
The consent decree, a court-ordered settlement in a legal dispute, would also require all trans women currently or formerly at CDOC to receive a payment of $2.1 million, depending on the severity of the alleged assault, discrimination 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)
Several of the plaintiffs seeking court approval of the consent decree are currently serving life sentences without parole for murder and assault, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
Keith Rivers, 46, now known as “Cupcake,” is currently serving a life sentence for murdering a victim outside a tavern in 1999. According to the class action lawsuit, Rivers came out as transgender in 2004 and has made “numerous requests for surgical treatment.” for her gender dysphoria,” which have been denied to her, “and longs for competent psychotherapy related to her gender dysphoria.
Another plaintiff, André Karpierz, known as “Lavinya,” 47, is also serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder. Karpierz is currently being held at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility, according to CDOC records.
The class action lawsuit claims that Karpierz began hormone replacement therapy in 2016 and “continues to suffer from severe depression related to her [gender dysphoria] and has lived in constant fear of being raped in the male facilities.
Jordan Gallentine, known as “Jane,” 33, is also serving prison time for “attempted suicide by police officer” and assault. According to the lawsuit, Gallentine “lives in a constant state of anxiety and severe depression due to lack of medical treatment, lack of mental health treatment, and a persistent fear of sexual assault and violent death.”
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Transgender policies have come under fire amid the disproportionate rate of violent crime among transgender women compared to biological women. (Fox News Digital)
Plaintiff Corwin Raven, 35, known as “Kandice,” is currently serving time for two separate assault charges and is scheduled to be released in 2026. According to court documents, Raven “has attempted suicide twice and attempted to castrate himself as a means to deal with his severe gender dysphoria.”
“The CDOC has denied his numerous requests for transition-related surgery,” the lawsuit alleges.
A CDOC spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement that they “anticipate [a decision] It will happen soon, but there is no specific timeline” for its completion.
According to court documents, the decree “substantially improves the medical and mental health care provided” to the plaintiffs and protects them “from cross-gender registrations…access to women's canteen items (such as cosmetics), requires CDOC to identify appropriately” to transgender inmates. “and provides better training on transgender issues to CDOC staff, medical and mental health providers, and leaders.”
Colorado is not the first state to expand its facilities to include transgender hormone treatments or surgical sex changes. A similar case in Washington last year resulted in a requirement to provide these same treatments to inmates. And this week, the Justice Department ruled that Utah's corrections department discriminated against a transgender inmate by refusing hormone therapy.
Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams called the consent decree another step the “woke left” is taking to “end our criminal justice system.”
“We're making accommodations for people we shouldn't be making accommodations for,” Williams told Fox News Digital. “This is a scandalous situation.”
“Taxpayers shouldn't be footing the bill to make these people feel better about themselves,” Williams said. “Especially if they've committed murder.”
The decree would enact several changes. First, it would create two separate housing units for transgender inmates: the “Voluntary Transgender Unit” (VTU) at Sterling Correctional Facility for men and the “Integration Unit” (IU) at Denver Correctional Facility for Women.
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The original lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of more than 100 trans women at the CDOC, alleged that the CDOC “exposes[d] “They are subjected to harassment, rape, sexual assault and other types of violence” at the hands of guards and other inmates.
According to one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, Paula Greisen, the decree is “intended to introduce new security measures to protect these women from victimization in men's prisons.”
Greisen told Fox News Digital that the order would also “allow class members to transition to gender-affirming housing in women's facilities, and ensure that necessary medical and mental health treatment will be provided.”
“These changes have the overwhelming support of the transgender community and we all trust that the Court will sign the decree,” he said.
