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   Home / News + Politics / Nation / Transgender woman sues Florida county
   sheriff’s office, alleging mistreatment while in jail

Transgender woman sues Florida county sheriff’s office, alleging mistreatment
while in jail

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   Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office headquarters – Photo: Facebook

   A transgender woman is suing a Florida county sheriff’s office for
   mistreatment she alleged she suffered during an 11-day stint in jail
   for unpaid parking tickets.
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   decided, I can’t live with this, I’m going to die in here,” she said.

   A transgender rights group heard about Bello’s situation and bailed her
   out with help from attorney Rook Elizabeth Ringer of Lento law Group.

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   punishment,” in violation of her rights under the Eighth Amendment.

   See also: California bill would end policy forcing transgender women to
   be housed in men’s prisons

   In addition to seeking damages, the lawsuit also calls upon Pinellas
   County to implement policies that will protect other transgender
   inmates from experiencing similar treatment, such as requiring them to
   be addressed using their proper names and pronouns.

   “Pinellas County’s treatment of Ms. Bello is not only shocking, and as
   we believe, unlawful, but it shows the continuing prejudice transgender
   people face in Florida and across the United States,” Ringer said in a
   statement.

   “No county official would dare place a non-transgender person in a jail
   housing unit that conflicted with their gender identity. And yet, that
   is exactly what Pinellas County sheriff’s officers and prison officials
   did with Ms. Bello for apparently no other reason than that she is a
   transgender person.”

   According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, one in six
   transgender people have been incarcerated at some point in their lives.

   Because most prisons house people based on their assigned sex at birth,
   rather than their gender identity, transgender inmates are more likely
   to suffer abuse while incarcerated. The situation is particularly dire
   for transgender women of color.
   [INS: :INS]

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   office encourages deputies to respect a person’s pronouns.

   Gina Duncan, the director of transgender equality for Equality Florida,
   told WUSF that treatment of inmates in Florida prisons can vary widely,
   depending on location.

   She says Equality Florida has tried to train local police, including in
   Pinellas County, how to deal with transgender individuals in a
   respectful manner, adding that it’s “disappointing” to hear
   mistreatment of transgender inmates continues to occur.

   “We just have to keep at it, and we have to call it out when it
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