A prominent Oregon civil rights group filed a federal lawsuit today accusing the state Department of Corrections of harming a transgender inmate by denying essential medical care and exposing her to harassment.



The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon Foundation filed the suit on behalf of Two Rivers Correctional Facility inmate Michale James Wright. The suit argues the state is exerting cruel and unusual punishment by denying Wright's requests for hormone treatment, despite an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria.



The lawsuit also accuses state officials of placing Wright in segregation or solitary confinement for weeks and sometimes months at a time.



Wright, who goes by "Michelle," has requested medical care, including hormone therapy, nearly 100 times, according to court documents. All of her requests have been denied or ignored, the suit alleges.



She has repeatedly attempted suicide, the documents say. She has tried to castrate herself three times while in custody.



"I have been aware for quite some time that I am a female inside," Wright said in a video recorded from prison. "It came to a point when I had completely stated that I can't not live as who I am anymore. I have to. I've been threatened to not pursue it by staff."



The lawsuit is the latest in a national wave of cases. Since August, transgender prisoners have filed similar lawsuits in Florida, Delaware, Missouri and Nebraska. In Georgia last year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed documents siding with a transgender prisoner who accused the state of illegally cutting off the hormone treatment she'd been taking for 17 years.



Federal officials said in those documents that failure to provide individualized and appropriate medical care for inmates suffering from gender dysphoria violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.



The corrections department policy prevents officials from commenting on pending litigation, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Craig.



But she noted that the department "has been proactive in addressing the needs of incarcerated transgender people" and "looks forward to its continued work on these issues and to responding to the specific complaints raised in the litigation in court."

Wright is one of at least a dozen Oregon transgender prisoners who has been denied access to medical care, said Mat dos Santos, the legal director for the civil rights group's Oregon chapter.



"What's happening at the Oregon Department of Corrections is unconstitutional and it's inhumane treatment of people and it has to stop," dos Santos said in an interview. "Unless they make significant changes in the way staff approach transgender prisoners, people are going to keep getting hurt and people are going to die. It's that serious."





Wright, 25, was arrested in 2013 and convicted for attempted armed robbery. The earliest she could be released is November 2018.



She has identified publicly as a woman since she was 16. In 2011, she talked with counselors at Outside In, a downtown Portland organization that helps homeless youth, about her gender identity. Then, according to court documents, she was raped and stopped seeing her counselor.



She was arrested in January 2013 and imprisoned at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. According to court documents, the intake officer noted Wright had seen counselors about her gender but had not received a formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria.



In November 2014, dos Santos said, a Corrections doctor diagnosed Wright with gender dysphoria. She asked for hormone treatment, the suit says, but did not receive it.



A month later, Wright attempted suicide and was found unresponsive in her cell. She was treated at a nearby emergency hospital then returned to custody.



Both Wright and her mother continued to ask department officials to provide Wright with hormone treatment, dos Santos said, but the state declined or ignored their requests.





The suit says she asked prison system doctors and counselors. It says she asked a caseworker and even a state committee aimed at addressing the needs of transgender and intersex inmates.



Every official ignored her or denied her request, the lawsuit alleges. Officials also denied her requests for counseling and feminizing products such as hair removal cream, the suit says.



A mental health professional who evaluated Wright referred to those requests as "quality of life issues" and suggested Wright -- described with male pronouns -- should focus on addressing depression and "emotional regulation when others might treat him in a way he sees as offensive," according to court documents.



While at Snake River Correctional Institution, she attempted suicide twice, according to court documents. In May 2015, she cut her wrist with a razor blade, the suit says. Two months later, she swallowed 14 razor blades. That October, she tried to castrate herself.



During a July 2016 stay in solitary, Wright again attempted to castrate herself by tying a rubber band around her scrotum. The band was not discovered for five days.



Officials then transferred her to the Disciplinary Segregation Unit, according to court documents, "ostensibly for suicide watch." While there, the suit alleges, staff mocked her and called her a "freak" and other vulgar names. Ultimately, she has spent 445 days in segregation, dos Santos said.



Corrections officials transferred her to Two Rivers soon after. There, she again asked for medical help, the suit says, but did not receive care. She made another castration attempt.



In September, the state's "gender non-conforming committee" denied her request for hormones and recommended that she participate in treatment to decrease her self-harm and increase her ability to tolerate stress, according to court documents.



"They are putting the cart before the horse," dos Santos said. "They are saying we need you to be calm and collected and have all of your issues handled prior to providing you with a treatment. But all of her issues stem from not having treatment, not having access to life-saving medical care."



As of Monday's court filing, Wright still has not received hormone therapy, dos Santos said.



In a video released from prison, Wright said she had decided to file the suit "for all of us to be treated equally for who we are as an individual, so that we can feel better about ourselves, be able to live healthier and more productive lives when we get out of incarceration."





-- Casey Parks

503-703-6355

cparks@oregonian.com; @caseyparks