WILKES-BARRE — A transgender woman awaiting trial on prostitution charges on Tuesday filed documents seeking a bail reduction, arguing she is not getting adequate medical care and is being subjected to "derisive comments" by inmates and guards.

Dakota Antar Barnes, 23, of 425 Main Road, Hanover Township, alleges officials at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility have failed to provide her prescribed hormone treatments, and that as a transgender woman she feels in danger in the jail.

"(Barnes) was assigned to male inmate housing at LCCF due to her male anatomy, with no consideration of her female identity," says the application filed by attorney Wojciech Jankowski. "Defendant feels unsafe in the male inmate housing at LCCF due to derisive comments about her identity from both inmates and corrections officers."

Luzerne County Correctional Services Division Head Mark Rockovich said Barnes was placed in administrative segregation as a result of Tuesday's filing and that she will meet today with a Prison Rape Elimination Act coordinator to discuss her situation.

"We'll make a determination on housing at that time," Rockovich said.

The housing issue could be further complicated because when Barnes was booked into the jail on July 29, she was lodged in administrative segregation, then subsequently requested to be put in the general population, he said.

"When she was originally seen, he was saying he identified as a male. Now obviously Dakota Barnes is identifying as a female," Rockovich said.

Wilkes-Barre police busted Barnes near Carey Avenue and Academy Street during a prostitution sting in September 2015 after she allegedly agreed to perform oral sex on an undercover officer for $35. Court records show police again busted Barnes in a prostitution sting a month later at Carey and Susquehanna avenues. Charges in that incident are still pending.

Barnes failed to appear in court for a preliminary hearing in December, resulting in a bench warrant being issued for her arrest, according to Tuesday's filing.

A judge lifted the warrant in January and released Barnes on $5,000 unsecured bail.

Barnes subsequently moved and changed her address with the public defender's office, which failed to update its database, Jankowski wrote. Notice of Barnes' trial date in June went to her old address as a result, and a judge issued another bench warrant when she failed to appear, the filing says.

When Barnes was arrested on July 27, a judge set her bail at $10,000 — an amount Jankowski argues is "excessive and contrary to the Constitution of Pennsylvania."

The filing asserts that, if released, Barnes will appear as required and comply with any court orders.

BREAKOUT

The question of housing transgender inmates has been a thorny issue across the country. In March, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memorandum holding that transgender inmates, who are at substantial risk of sexual violence, cannot be housed solely based on their "external genital anatomy."

Decisions about housing such inmates should take into account the inmate's safety concerns and be made on a case-by-case basis, according to the department.

Luzerne County Correctional Services Division Head Mark Rockovich said Luzerne County Correctional Facility's policy is to interview inmates as they come in and make a determination on housing based on their answers.

While it's theoretically possible an anatomically male individual could end up in the female housing unit, jail officials — as well as other inmates — do have concerns about such an arrangement, he said.

"I'm not very much in favor of it," Rockovich said. "We do have the issue that if they have functionable male parts, technically they could possibly impregnate an inmate, which is a concern for us. So we would have to take each (one on a) case-by-case basis."