Judges rejected a transgender woman's complaint that her court-ordered placement in an all-gender treatment facility is discriminatory. (Photo by Dana DiFilippo/New Jersey Monitor)
By Dana DiFilippo
Reprinted with permission
New Jersey Monitor
A state appeals panel has sided with the state Department of Corrections in rejecting a transgender woman’s bid to transfer to a women’s prison from an all-gender facility where she was civilly committed for sex offender treatment.
The resident, identified only as S.G. in the Wednesday ruling due to her being committed civilly, said her placement in a special treatment unit on the grounds of East Jersey State Prison in Avenel violates the state Law Against Discrimination. She applied in 2023 for a transfer to the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, the department denied her request in January 2024, and she appealed to the courts.
Judge Mark K. Chase, writing for a three-judge panel, agreed corrections officials treat S.G. differently — but not because of her gender identity or expression. The Department of Corrections is required by law to house sexually violent predators separately from people serving criminal sentences, and the special treatment unit is the system’s only treatment facility for them, he noted.
“This classification is not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable. It serves the statutory purpose — protection of society and provision of treatment,” Chase wrote. “The LAD prohibits exclusion and indignity yet does not compel sex-segregated facilities for civilly committed persons.”
S.G. pled guilty in 2011 to sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl in December 2010 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Megan’s Law registration, and parole supervision for life, according to the ruling. She served her time at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center, the state’s prison for male sex offenders that’s also in Avenel, and was civilly committed by the court in 2019 under the state Sexually Violent Predator Act, the ruling says.
S.G. has identified as a woman since she was committed, the ruling says. She had argued that the department’s transgender policy backed her bid to move to an all-woman facility.
But department officials told her the policy applies only to prisons and not to civilly committed residents, according to the ruling. Department officials had to tweak the policy in 2023 after a transgender woman impregnated two cisgender women incarcerated at Edna Mahan.
At the special treatment unit, Chase noted, S.G. has her own room and a single-occupancy shower, and the department has accommodated her gender transition, Chase wrote.
“The DOC staff actively affirms S.G.’s gender identity, she participates in twice weekly process groups where her gender identity is clinically addressed, she has a supportive group of transgender peers, and DOC staff escort her to medical transition appointments and ensure that she has proper treatment for her transition,” Chase wrote.
Chase also found that S.G. did not prove her claims that she was subjected to sexual harassment and gender-based mistreatment at the special treatment unit.
