Black Transgender Woman CeCe McDonald to be Housed in Male Prison

Minnesota will initially house new inmate CeCe McDonald as a male.

By Jorge Rivas Jun 04, 2012

CeCe McDonald, the young black transgender woman who accepted a plea deal and pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter last month will be incarcerated by the state of Minnesota as a male. McDonald was arrested after she stabbed a white male who was part of a group of that physically and verbally attacked her with transgender and racial slurs.

The plea agreement calls for a sentence of three years and five months in prison, according to the Star Tribune.

Upon sentencing, McDonald, 24, will be taken into custody by the state Department of Corrections and housed as a male "because he is being housed as a male with Hennepin County," corrections spokeswoman Sarah Russell told the Star Tribune on Monday. "We will intake him as a male at St. Cloud prison."

Russell went on to add the state will make its own determination of McDonald’s gender.

"We will assess him as any other offender would be assessed," Russell said. "The assessments include, but are not limited to, screening for potential vulnerability to sexual assaults, tendencies to act out with sexually aggressive behavior and any disabilities" as defined by federal law.

The Transgender Law Center gathered testimonies from former prisoners, sheriffs, and others, about the risks that many prisoners face and found that sexual violence is an "ever present fact of life for far too many transgender prisoners." [PDF]