For as long as she can remember, Maribel said, she has felt that she was different. She was born a boy in Mexico, and came to the United States at 16. Two years later, she started taking hormone pills and later underwent some operations to become physically the woman she always believed herself to be.

Maribel, 40, concedes she has long lived on the margins of society, never holding down a job and bouncing in and out of jail over the years.

In March, she was charged with retail theft and sent to Cook County Jail. Despite her shoulder-length hair, fuller lips and breasts, Maribel (who agreed to be interviewed on the condition that only her first name be used) was housed with male detainees.

“It was horrible,” she said. “Sometimes words hurt more than a punch. People can be very cruel.” After two weeks she was moved to the women’s division, where she remains while awaiting trial.