Va. transgendered inmate locked down for six months

[Butterfly]

Va. transgendered inmate locked down for six months
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
December 31, 2009


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/crime/Va_-transgendered-inmate-locked-down-for-six-months-8697272-80343042.html


A transgendered woman convicted of drug trafficking has been locked down in solitary confinement for the past six months in a Virginia jail because they feared she would be raped by fellow male prisoners, a jail official said.

Maria Benita Santamaria, 35, pleaded guilty to trafficking 10 pounds of methamphetamine in August. She was arrested at a Lorton Comfort Inn in June and was held without bail.

Santamaria was born a man, but lives life as a woman and has a feminine appearance, her attorney, Cathy Alterman told The Examiner. For the past two years she has been undergoing hormone treatment in preparation for a sex change operation.

[tekla]

pleaded guilty to trafficking 10 pounds of methamphetamine in August

Lucky I wasn't the judge, I would have just shot her.