Prison Inmate Wins $150K Verdict After Assault by Trans Cellmate
Former inmate awarded $150K after being housed with trans cellmate who allegedly assaulted her.
2 min read
A former prison inmate has won a federal civil rights case against the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC), after being housed with a transgender cellmate who allegedly sexually assaulted her. The jury awarded her $150,000 in a unanimous verdict, according to her lawyer.
Legal Battle Over Housing and Safety
Mozzy Clark filed a lawsuit in December 2024 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, alleging that corrections officers failed to take her complaints seriously when she reported harassment by a transgender-identifying inmate. Her lawyer, David Pivtorak, announced that the jury unanimously ruled in her favor, citing a violation of her constitutional rights.
Clark was housed at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in early 2022 when she was assigned a new cellmate described in the lawsuit as a “6-foot, 4-inch biological male” with a history of violence. She alleged that the cellmate stalked her, made sexual comments, and engaged in multiple instances of sexual assault.
Despite her complaints, corrections officers discouraged her from filing a formal report and only offered her suicide watch as a solution. Clark eventually filed a complaint under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act and was moved to a different cell shortly after. She has since been released from prison.
The lawsuit accused the DOC and its officials of violating Clark’s Eighth Amendment rights by failing to protect her from cruel and unusual punishment. Records obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation showed the cellmate had been denied a transfer to a women’s prison in 2019 due to his history of violence against women. The transfer was approved in late 2021, and he was later moved back to a men’s prison.
Clark’s legal team is also preparing for a state court trial in February, where they will pursue negligence claims against the DOC.
VERDICT ALERT: A unanimous federal jury in deep-blue Tacoma just awarded my client $150,000 for violation of her constitutional rights in this case. We are also scheduled to go to trial in February against the Department of Corrections in state court on her negligence claims. https://t.co/Sb5aAFnlXi
Source: OANN
