Paul, Weiss, TLDEF and NYCLU File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Discrimination and Abuses Against Transgender Woman at Broome County Jail

Paul, Weiss, alongside the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), is representing Makyyla Holland, a Black transgender woman, in her federal lawsuit against Broome County, the county’s sheriff and officials at Broome County Jail seeking redress for violence, threats to her safety, denial of medical care and discrimination inflicted on her because she is transgender.

During the six weeks she spent in county custody, Ms. Holland, who suffers from gender dysphoria, anxiety and depression, was beaten, subjected to illegal strip searches, placed in a men’s housing unit where she suffered sexual, psychological and verbal abuse, and denied access to prescribed medications, including antidepressants and hormone treatments, triggering severe withdrawal symptoms. She was at various times placed in isolated confinement because of her transgender status, and was repeatedly denied access to clothing and grooming items provided by the jail to women in custody, among other mistreatment.

Filed on March 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, our complaint argues that the Broome County sheriff’s office and its corrections officers discriminated against Ms. Holland on the basis of her sex, transgender status and disability, and that the abuse she suffered violated her rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and numerous other federal and state laws. In addition to seeking damages, the lawsuit asks that the court affirm that transgender individuals are entitled to be housed in jail facilities consistent with their gender identity, to receive gender-affirming care and to be otherwise treated with dignity in a manner consistent with their gender identity.

The Paul, Weiss team includes litigation partners Loretta Lynch and Audra Soloway, pro bono attorney Jeremy Benjamin and associates Eric Abrams, Ryan Rizzuto, Bethany Robinson, Rebecca Lockert and William Taylor.