Transgender inmate’s transfer from N.J. women’s prison after 2 pregnancies ruled justified

New Jersey’s Department of Corrections correctly followed its own policies and considered a transgender inmate’s health and safety when it moved her out of a women’s prison, a state appeals court has ruled.
Demi Minor, 29, represented herself on the appeal and could not immediately be reached through a social media account that represents her.
The Department of Corrections, which lists her as Demi Grace-minor, transferred her in 2022 from the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for women in Hunterdon County to a men’s prison in Burlington County following several issues.
Minor initially requested, but later rescinded, the transfer, according to the appeals court ruling.
But she faced internal disciplinary measures after impregnating two women at Edna Mahan during consensual sex. The Department of Corrections cited safety measures and compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act in ordering the transfer.
Minor, the appeals decision says, had also complained she was sexually assaulted at Edna Mahan.
The corrections department was searching for out-of-state prison placements for Minor that would be in line with her gender identity, although no other prisons had accepted.
The move to the men’s prison, Garden State Youth Correctional Facility, placed Minor in a “vulnerable housing unit,” and provided her with a single cell, single shower capability and “gender affirming products and other gender-related accommodations,” the decision says.
The appeals decision uses Minor’s initials and a pseudonym, Dory.
Minor, though, represents herself on social media on a website – justice4demi.org – as a victim of the criminal justice system and what she describes as the prison system’s indifference to transgender women. The site also posts letters she receives in her dealing with prison officials.
She argued in her appeal that the transfer was arbitrary, discriminatory and retaliatory, and that corrections officials were not qualified to make housing decisions for transgender inmates.
Edna Mahan has been plagued by scandal for years, with rampant inmate assaults from officers, many who were charged criminally. Gov. Phil Murphy announced in 2021 its eventual closure and a new women’s prison.
In Minor’s case, though, the appeals court ruled the decision to put Minor in Garden State’s vulnerable housing unit was, in short, “to keep her safe,” the appeals judges said.
The appeals ruling states the Department of Corrections is bound by policies that consider the health, safety and dignity of inmates, “including transgender, intersex, and non-binary incarcerated persons…including ensuring the rebuttable presumption to live in line with their gender identity.”
Transgender inmates are assigned housing on a case-by-case basis.
The department’s Prison Rape Elimination Act committee properly considered all the factors including Minor’s discipline record, the appeals court wrote in the opinion. The decision was also constitutional because the department, “took reasonable steps to prevent her from harm,” according to the ruling.
“A correctional facility’s decision to house a transgender inmate who identifies as female in a men’s facility does not automatically violate the duty to prevent harm,” the ruling states.
Minor’s transfer is also subject to regular review, according to the ruling. Minor was moved from Garden State in September 2023. Records show she is now housed at East Jersey State Prison in Rahway, also a prison for men.
Minor has been in the state’s juvenile and adult prison systems since 2012.
She was sentenced as an adult in 2012 to 30 years behind bars for killing her foster father in Gloucester Township at the age of 16 the year prior, as Demetrius Minor.
In 2020, she informed prison officials she identified as a woman and wished to be housed at Edna Mahan, consistent with her gender identity, the decision says.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.
Kevin Shea may be reached at [email protected]