Washington’s state Supreme Court justices will weigh in on where a transgender woman held in state prisons should be confined, as the state faces a federal probe over the issue.

The court on Tuesday heard arguments in the case of Amber Kim, who had been held in the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor before she was moved to the men’s prison in Monroe due to an infraction.

Kim argues this decision amounts to unconstitutionally cruel punishment that puts her safety at risk and sets back her transition.

The Trump administration is now investigating how Washington houses incarcerated trans people, after a lawsuit from a prisoner in the state’s women’s prison alleged a transgender woman attacked her there.

The U.S. Department of Justice told Gov. Bob Ferguson last month that it was looking into reports the state “failed to protect female prisoners from sexual and physical violence, harassment, voyeurism, and intimidation from male prisoners who identify as female.”

Kim was the first transgender woman transferred back to a men’s prison in Washington. It came after she was found to have had sex with her cellmate at the women’s prison.

“The department did something far beyond what was necessary to address any legitimate concerns it had about Ms. Kim’s conduct,” said Adrien Leavitt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington branch, who is representing Kim.

Emma Grunberg, of the state attorney general’s office, argued moving Kim to the men’s prison was a matter of safety.

A state appellate court denied Kim’s challenge last year, leading to the Supreme Court taking up the case.

Coming out as a transgender woman does not guarantee placement in the women’s prison.

The state Department of Corrections reported last month that the women’s prison held 20 transgender prisoners, while 347 transgender or non-binary individuals were held across all state prisons. Most trans prisoners in Washington’s prisons haven’t requested gender-affirming housing, said Grunberg.

The justices grilled both Leavitt and Grunberg during the arguments Tuesday at the Temple of Justice in Olympia. It could be months before a decision in the case.

Life in prison as a transgender woman

Kim is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole for murdering her parents in 2006.

She was housed in a men’s prison for years, as she wasn’t open about her gender identity. Small and effeminate, other prisoners targeted Kim, frequently calling her anti-gay slurs, according to court filings. She was reportedly attacked multiple times.

Kim came out as a transgender woman in 2016, and underwent gender-affirming procedures. But she remained in a men’s prison.

After four years, the state Department of Corrections approved her transfer to the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor. There, she didn’t experience the same harassment, writing in court papers that it was a “massive improvement in all aspects of my life.”

In March 2024, Kim and her cellmate were caught having sex in their cell. Kim insists the sexual contact was consensual.

But Grunberg raised the question of coercion, saying the cellmate “had been known to be vulnerable and to have high mental health need.”

“DOC never alleged that that encounter was non-consensual, although obviously there is a difficulty in determining true consent in the context of incarceration for any encounter,” she said.

They each got an infraction for the incident. Her cellmate remained at the Gig Harbor prison, but state officials transferred Kim to the men’s prison in Monroe, and held her in solitary confinement, according to court documents. Kim has remained in solitary confinement since her transfer in 2024, Leavitt said.

She told prison officials she doesn’t want to be placed in the general population there.

“I will face the ultimate paradox: my continued physical transition helps address my debilitating gender dysphoria, but the more female-presenting I become in appearance, the more unwanted, nonconsensual attention I will receive from the men in prison,” Kim wrote. “If I do not continue my transition, my gender dysphoria will rear its ugly head, fueling my depression and making my life miserable.”

So in December 2024, she filed a petition challenging the conditions of her imprisonment. The state constitution prohibits cruel punishment.

Leavitt said that the review the Department of Corrections underwent to move Kim back to a men’s prison wasn’t proportionate to that for the decision to move her to Gig Harbor, which took years.

Kim also says the state could’ve instead continued to house her at the women’s prison without a cellmate or in a more restrictive setting. And still could if the Supreme Court sides with her, Leavitt emphasized.

“The department has wide discretion about what to do with Ms. Kim” if she returns to the women’s prison, Leavitt said. “The department could require her to engage in behavioral management programs, clinical interventions. The list really goes on.”

Grunberg countered that holding Kim under “close custody” in Gig Harbor wouldn’t have been sufficient to reduce the risk of Kim continuing to have sex with fellow prisoners. Prisoners confined under that status can “freely mix” with people in other custody levels, she added.

Two-part test

An unrelated appeals court decision in 2021, which was based on a lack of bathroom access, set out a two-part legal test for determining if a prisoner’s confinement conditions are unconstitutional.

For one, the conditions must “create an objectively significant risk of serious harm or otherwise deprive the petitioner of the basic necessities of human dignity.”

And second, it must be clear those conditions “are not reasonably necessary to accomplish any legitimate penological goal.”

Kim’s lawyers argue the appeals decision in her case ran afoul of this test and the state constitution.

The penological interest here is “managing the risk of problematic sexual activity in the unique environment of a woman’s prison,” Grunberg said.

The Department of Corrections has argued Kim poses a safety risk, as officials believed she could impregnate a female prisoner. But Kim says she’s now infertile after gender-affirming surgeries.

Leavitt argued the department’s transfer is a punishment “disproportionate” to the infraction.

“What Ms. Kim did — engaging in sex with her roommate — is so far from that line,” Leavitt said. “None of their stated penological interests can support the cruel conditions.”

Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity.

This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit opb.org/partnerships.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/24/transgender-prisoner-policy-washington-state/