BAY CITY, MI -- Amid the debate on transgender use of bathrooms and locker rooms, the Bay County Jail has been housing transgender people for years.

If you're a transgender person arrested and lodged in the Bay County Jail, your housing options vary. While there is no county- or facility-specific policy in place, the jail adheres to federal guidelines established by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003 and the Department of Justice's subsequent 2012 final rule adopting national standards.

"I would say that act in itself addresses more on that category than anything out there," said Bay County Jail Administrator Capt. Troy Stewart.

Regarding the housing of transgender inmates, the final rule states: "In deciding whether to assign a transgender or intersex inmate to a facility for male or female inmates, and in making other housing and programming assignments, an agency may not simply assign the inmate to a facility based on genital status. Rather, the agency must consider on a case-by-case basis whether a placement would ensure the inmate's health and safety, and whether the placement would present management or security problems, giving serious consideration to the inmate's own views regarding his or her own safety. In addition, transgender and intersex inmates must be given the opportunity to shower separately from other inmates."

The Bay County Jail houses male and female inmates separately. There is no opportunity for interaction between inmates of differing sexes, even in common areas, Stewart said.

Typically at the Bay County Jail, inmates are housed according to their sex at birth. If an inmate has physically transitioned into a different sex, they are housed accordingly, Stewart said.

However, an inmate -- transgender or otherwise -- can ask to be put in a separate cellblock, without a cellmate, to ensure they're not targeted by other inmates, Stewart said.

The jail this spring used its policies to house 39-year-old James/Samantha M. Reinhardt.

About 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 24, a Bay County sheriff's deputy and a Michigan State Police trooper responded to a home in the 900 block of North Huron Road in Linwood after a man called 911 to report his daughter had tried stabbing him with a knife. Bay County Central Dispatch advised police they tried unsuccessfully to call back the number after the call ended, court records show.

When officers arrived, they encountered 71-year-old George Reinhardt outside. He told them his daughter was in the house and was acting very violently, court records show. A moment later, the daughter -- Samantha Reinhardt -- exited the house and police questioned her and her father separately.

George Reinhardt said his daughter is physically a male, but identifies as female. He told police his daughter came to his house the day before, as she'd broken up with her boyfriend and had nowhere else to go, court records show.

On Sunday, Samantha Reinhardt began drinking and smoking cigarettes in the house, George Reinhardt told police. George Reinhardt added smoking is prohibited indoors because his wife is on oxygen, court records show.

When George Reinhardt told his daughter to put out a cigarette, she punched him in the right side of the head near the temple, George Reinhardt told police. The father pushed Samantha Reinhardt and she fell into a chair, but then lunged at her father, court record show. George Reinhardt again shoved his daughter and she proceed to pull him to the floor, breaking a wooden chair in the process, court records show.

When the father regained his footing, he saw Samantha Reinhardt with a piece of the chair raised above her head as though she were going to strike, court records show. George Reinhardt was able to take the object away from her and then went outside to call 911 on his cellphone, he told police.

George Reinhardt's wife gave police a similar account, adding that once her husband walked outside, she tried using her cellphone to call 911 as well. However, Samantha Reinhardt grabbed the phone from her and shoved it down the front of her pants, court records show.

Police had George Reinhardt's wife call her cellphone, which began ringing in her daughter's pants, court records show.

"I didn't know it was there," Samantha Reinhardt told police, according to court records. "Well, my mom told me I could use it."

Samantha Reinhardt told police she had argued with her parents, but denied the dispute ever got physical. She added she didn't know anything about a broken chair, though police noticed pieces of the chair embedded in the back of her pink sweater, court records show.

Police wrote in their reports, contained in court records, that Samantha Reinhardt appeared intoxicated. She claimed she drank only one beer and took eight over-the-counter cold pills.

Police arrested her and took her to the jail. At the jail, police found 18 clonazepam pills in her pants pockets. Police also had Samantha Reinhardt remove non-attached breast implants inside her bra, court records show.

Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer on Monday, April 25, arraigned Reinhardt on single counts of domestic violence, third offense, and interfering with an electronics communication device. The charges are felonies punishable by up to five and two years in prison, respectively.

Records indicate she has convictions going back to at least 2002 for domestic violence, retail fraud, third-degree home invasion, trespassing, agreeing to commit a lewd act, assault and drug offenses, both in Michigan and Arizona.

Janer set Reinhardt's bond at $10,000 cash-surety or 10 percent.

Capt. Stewart said he read Reinhardt the Prison Rape Elimination Act to determine how to house her. Reinhardt asked to be treated as a male in the jail regarding interactions with staff, but wanted to be housed in a separate cell block.

Reinhardt and Stewart drafted a memo that reads: "I, James Michael (Samantha) Reinhardt prefer to have a Male Deputy 'dress me out' prior to being housed in the jail. I also request to be placed in a cell block by myself for housing purposes only (non-disciplinary)."

"We did that because that was the most appropriate way to house him," Stewart said. "He doesn't feel comfortable being with males or females."

Reinhardt is scheduled to appear for a preliminary examination before Judge Janer at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10.

Related to the public transgender issue sweeping America at the moment, the Bay City Commission voted 8-0 on Monday, April 18, to approve its anti-discrimination ordinance, becoming the 43rd Michigan city to pass such legislation.