Ashley Diamond

Ashley Diamond (born 1978) is an American transgender civil-rights activist who sued the Georgia Department of Corrections twice for housing her with male inmates and refusing to provide medical treatment she'd been receiving since she was a teenager.

Ashley Diamond
Born1978 (Age 42–43)
OccupationCivil rights activist
Years active2015-present
Websitewww.ashleydiamondofficial.com

Diamond was imprisoned in 2012 for a nonviolent offense and held in a men's facility.[1][2] While in prison she was denied medically necessary hormones she had been taking for over seventeen years, was beaten and sexually assaulted by inmates with no help from prison guards.[3][4][5] From inside the prison, Diamond partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to file a class action lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Corrections; settling for an undisclosed amount.[6][7]

In 2015 Diamond was released on parole and in 2016 received a settlement in the lawsuit, and the Georgia Department of Corrections changed its medical treatment policy for transgender prisoners.[8][9] The US Department of Justice became involved, saying that prisons must treat hormone therapy as they would any other medical condition.[10] Beth Litrell of the SPLC attributed the change to Diamond's lawsuit.[8] In 2019, Georgia adopted a new policy governing the treatment of transgender and intersex prisoners that according to The New York Times was intended to address prisoner safety issues, including assessing placement decisions using input on the prisoner's own views of their safety, and to reassess placements after sexual assault.[8]

In October 2019, Diamond was again arrested and imprisoned on parole violation charges.[8] She was again placed in a men's facility.[8] According to Diamond, by November 2020 she had been sexually assaulted fourteen times by other inmates and prison staff and had been denied hormone treatment therapy.[8] On November 23, 2020, Diamond, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the SPLC filed a federal civil rights lawsuit.[8]

Early life, work, and imprisonment

Diamond was born in 1978 to a large Southern Baptist family and raised in Rome, Georgia.[11][2] She has lived as a transgender woman since she was a teenager, starting hormone therapy at age 17.[8] She moved to Atlanta and began performing in cabarets doing Whitney Houston impersonations.[8]

Diamond was originally imprisoned in 2012 on burglary charges, for which she was sentenced to ten years.[8] She was also charged with attempted escape during an arrest.[8] She was held at Valdosta State Prison and Coastal State Prison.[9][12]

After her 2015 release, as part of her eight-year parole, she was required to return to Rome, where she had a 4:30 pm curfew and was unable to find work.[8] She became occasionally homeless and was arrested on a parole violation and returned to prison in October 2019.[8] She was first held in the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison and then moved to Coastal State Prison.[8]

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2016 Gaycation Herself Episode: "Deep South"

References
  1. "Ashley Diamond, Transgender Georgia inmate, released early from prison — LGBT Institute". lgbtinstitute.org. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  2. "Ashley Diamond". Center for Constitutional Rights. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  3. Sontag, Deborah (2015-09-24). "The New York Times". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  4. "Transgender inmate Ashley Diamond released from Georgia prison after pressure from SPLC lawsuit | Southern Poverty Law Center". splcenter.org. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  5. "Freed Trans Woman Ashley Diamond On Life Behind Bars In Men's Prison | Huffington Post". huffingtonpost.com. 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  6. "WATCH: Trans Woman Ashley Diamond Reaches Settlement with Georgia Department of Corrections | Advocate.com". advocate.com. 2016-02-12. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  7. "Transgender inmate Ashley Diamond reaches settlement with Georgia's Department of Corrections | GLAAD". glaad.org. 2016-02-12. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  8. Dewan, Shaila (2020-11-23). "Back in Prison, Transgender Woman Faces an Old Horror, Sexual Assault". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  9. "Transgender inmate sues Georgia prison officials over alleged assaults". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  10. Aspegren, Elinor. "Black transgender woman sues Georgia Department of Corrections for second time, alleging constant 'fear of sexual assault'". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  11. TEGNA. "Transgender woman: I was raped, mistreated in Georgia prison | 11alive.com". 11alive.com. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  12. Riquelmy, Alan. "Rome transgender woman files suit against state DOC from prison". Northwest Georgia News. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
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