A female inmate held in a women's prison in New Jersey told Reduxx that she was physically assaulted by a transgender man, who identifies as a woman, after being sexually harassed by him on several occasions.
Shakira Reed (the inmate) stated that for refusing to have sex with Jermain Gibson (the transgender man), he hit her repeatedly on the head until she was left with a broken nose and two black eyes:
I was attacked because I did not want to have sex with him.
Due to the severity of the assault, Reed was transported to a hospital where she received medical attention. Witnesses to the attack corroborated the facts and said that Reed's blood was "everywhere."
Gibson is serving a five-year prison sentence for various robbery-related charges.
Assault after weeks of sexual harassment
Reed said that she had reported the sexual harassment several times to prison officials. However, Gibson was never punished. An unnamed female inmate told Reduxx that she witnessed Gibson constantly harassing Reed:
I lived in the wing with both of them. Gibson continually harassed Reed and would often speak in his man's voice because he thought it was funny when he was asked not to because it had made the women uncomfortable (...) During the days leading up to the actual incident, he kept egging her on. When it actually took place, I could hear it. I didn't see it, but it was so loud we heard them down the wing, and this took place in the rec room. We could hear Shakira yelling: Stop hitting me!
Prison officials gave Reed and Gibson 90 days in "lockup." During that time they will be held in separate cells and separated from the other inmates.
The witness expressed the fear felt by the other inmates because of the recent "events" in the prison:
The recent events here are just unimaginable and, honestly, if I wasn't living them, I wouldn't even believe them. People need to know what this has been like for us, because no one has ever come to ask us how we feel about them being here. This is misogyny within misogyny.
Transgender inmate impregnates two women
Gibson's assault against Shakira is not the first case of sexual harassment at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women (EMCF), which is supposed to be "women-only." Currently, more than two dozen transgender men are held there. According to Reduxx:
Multiple women have provided testimony to Reduxx over the past year detailing how they have experienced continuous sexual harassment by the male transfers to EMCF.
In 2022, a man impregnated two women in prison. In light of this fact, New Jersey Department of Corrections executive director of external affairs Dan Sperrazza told NJ.com that "consensual sex with another incarcerated person" likely led to the two women becoming pregnant, this information was reviewed by The Daily Wire.
These pregnancies occurred a few months after New Jersey began implementing new gender equality practices in its prison system. One of these reforms books inmates into prisons based on the gender with which they identify.
