JINHA

NEWS CENTER – Baltimore trans woman Deairra Michelle Venable, released from jail on Friday, said that police held her in a crowded cell with male prisoners for four days, among other transphobic abuses.

Police say they arrested 486 people in their crackdown on the Baltimore protests and uprising in the wake of the police killing of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. One of thehundreds arrested was Deairra Michelle Venable, a 30-year-old black trans woman.

Deairra was arrested on April 27and not released until May 1. During those four days, police strip-searched her in front of male inmates; took away her bra and forced her to wear a non-opaque shirt; and held her in a crowded cell with 12 male inmates. Guards denied estrogen to Deairra, causing her to experience nausea and hot flashes over the course of the four days, as guards and inmates ogled and verbally abused her.

Although Deairra's identification lists her as female, police placed her in a male cell when they found that she had been born as a male. When she was finally brought before a judge, he repeated the same transphobic abuse, remarking that she didn't look like a woman and insisting on referring to her as "he" throughout the hearing. Deairra transitioned when she was in high school and has lived more than half of her life as a woman.

Deairra's lawyer, Mirriam Seddiq, noted that Deairra's extremely high bail of $100,000 seemed designed to keep her in the denigrating conditions for as long as possible. Deairra earns $300 a week working in a hair salon. Although friends managed to scrape together money for her bail, police held her for four days, claiming that her paperwork was not finished.

Deairra's lawyers are exploring a lawsuit for the treatment.

(mc)