Washington must house prisoners by sex after Clark’s $150,000 verdict
The verdict follows a transfer request first denied over a history of violence against women and later approved, while Clark’s state negligence claims remain scheduled for trial.
Washington should house prisoners by sex, and a federal jury has now put a price on what happens when the state refuses to. On Nov. 9, 2026, Clark’s attorney David Pivtorak announced that a unanimous federal jury in Tacoma had awarded his client $150,000 for violating her constitutional rights. Pivtorak added: “We are also scheduled to go to trial in February against the Department of Corrections in state court on her negligence claims.”1 According to Clark’s lawsuit, DOC assigned her a cellmate transferred from a men’s prison in early 2022. Clark filed suit in U.S. District Court in Tacoma in December 2024, naming the state, the Department of Corrections and several corrections officers and supervisors2. A woman in a state prison cannot choose her cellmate. The state chooses for her, and the verdict shows what that choice can cost.
Transfer approved after warning signs
The placement did not come out of nowhere. Records obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation show the cellmate was denied a transfer to the women’s prison in November 2019 because of a history of violence against women. That request was approved in late 20212. KIRO 7 reported that the lawsuit says the inmate, identified as C.W., was incarcerated at the men’s prison, assaulted a corrections officer, then claimed to identify as a woman and was transferred to the women’s prison3. Washington must reverse that decision.
Clark describes ignored complaints
Clark alleges that the cellmate stalked her, threatened her and made repeated sexual comments, and that the harassment escalated to sexual assault on multiple occasions. She says the inmate would wake up with hands on her legs, breasts and genitals. The complaint alleges that prison officials ignored Clark’s concerns and discouraged her from filing official complaints, even warning her of potential retaliation3. According to the suit, staff offered suicide watch as the only option to get her away from the cellmate. Clark was moved to her own cell several weeks after she filed a complaint under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act2. A woman should not have to file a complaint under federal law to get away from a man in her cell, and suicide watch should never be the exit the state offers her.
Women need sex-based cells
Women’s prisons should keep sex-based cells, and the state should not assign male inmates to them because they identify as women. Custody takes away a woman’s liberty, not her claim to bodily privacy. The state should protect women’s bodily privacy in custody. Sex-based housing is how the state keeps that promise.
Case-by-case review cannot erase sex
The Department of Corrections’ posted explanation says that multidisciplinary teams review every transfer request, and that each situation is considered on a case-by-case basis. The same explanation calls it a common myth that people who are transgender will commit crimes of assault against vulnerable populations3. Case-by-case review did not stop the placement that put Clark in a cell with an inmate she says assaulted her. A review process does not change that result.
Washington must house by sex
In May 2026, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into Washington over its policy of housing trans-identified males in women’s prisons. Then-Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon put the principle plainly4. Washington DOC and the Legislature should end cross-sex prison placements and house every inmate by sex.
Sources
- @TheDavidPiv on X, 2026-11-09: 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 n, 2026-11-09
- Former inmate who says transgender cellmate assaulted her wins federal case against WA prisons, attorney says - MyNorthwest.com
- Former female inmate files lawsuit claiming sex assaults from inmate who identified as a woman – KIRO 7 News Seattle
- WA woman wins $150,000 in lawsuit saying trans pedophile prisoner sexually assaulted her behind bars | The Post Millennial
FAMILY BRIEF The news and network for the American family.
