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 (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.
pleaded guilty to trafficking 10 pounds of methamphetamine in August
Lucky I wasn't the judge, I would have just shot her.