MINNESOTA, USA — A transgender woman who's been housed in men's prison facilities since 2018 will be transferred to Minnesota's only female corrections facility in Shakopee, the first-of-its-kind transfer to happen in the state.
Christina Lusk, identified by the organization Gender Justice, will be transferred next week after settling a lawsuit with the Minnesota Department of Corrections. As part of the settlement, the DOC agreed to change its policy toward incarcerated transgender individuals.
The DOC also agreed to pay $495,000 as part of the settlement, which includes $250,000 in legal fees, according to department spokesman Andy Skoogman.
According to Gender Justice, Lusk is recognized as female in the state but has been "consistently misgendered by the DOC, was placed in a men’s facility where she faced ongoing harassment, and was denied the gender-affirming health care she had been receiving" since she was incarcerated five years ago.
Lusk has identified as a woman since 2008, according to the DOC, and sued the agency last year while seeking transfer to MCF-Shakopee and gender-affirming surgery.
As part of the settlement and the DOC's new transgender policy, Lusk will get access to a transgender health specialist "to determine if gender-affirming surgery is medically necessary," and "the DOC will also assist her in obtaining surgery if the specialist determines it is necessary."
“With this settlement, the Department of Corrections takes an important and necessary step toward fulfilling its responsibilities to the people in its care,” Gender Justice Legal Director Jess Braverman said in a statement Thursday. “Thanks to Christina Lusk’s willingness to speak out, transgender people in custody will now have expanded access to the housing and health care they need, and the legal protections they deserve.”
Lusk is scheduled to be released in May 2024.
"I believe we have made a big step toward allowing people to express who they truly are, and bring some sort of peace and happiness to their lives," Lusk said in part in a statement released by Gender Justice. "This journey has brought extreme challenges, and I have endured so much. My hope is that nobody has to go through the same set of circumstances."
Ten other states and the District of Columbia have approved transferring incarcerated people to facilities that match their gender identity, instead of housing them in facilities that match their gender assigned at birth.
Other aspects of the new Minnesota DOC's policy toward transgender individuals allow them to request placement at a facility matching their gender identity and the creation of a Gender Identity Committee at each facility to review requests around single-cell assignments, shower arrangements and search protocols.
In Minnesota, 48 of the currently 8,000 incarcerated individuals identify as transgender, according to the DOC.
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