Griffith v. El Paso County, Colorado

While housed in the men’s unit in the El Paso Jail in Colorado as a pretrial detainee, Darlene Griffith, a transgender woman, was subjected to sexual harassment and assault, misgendering, and denial of access to commissary items like women’s underwear and lipstick. The MacArthur Justice Center joins Ms. Griffith’s fight in an effort to hold jails and prisons accountable for how they treat transgender people in their custody. 

Alongside the near constant harassment and assault, Ms. Griffith was also subjected to a harassing and abusive strip search conducted by a male officer despite Ms. Griffith begging for the female officer present to conduct the search. Ms. Griffith suffered under these conditions – which exacerbated her gender dysphoria and caused her extreme emotional distress – for more than a year before the jail moved her to a women’s unit.  

While incarcerated at the El Paso Jail, Ms. Griffith filed a 16-count complaint, but the district court dismissed it in one fell swoop, relying on an overreading of a more than 25-year-old decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Tenth Circuit that is out of step with all other courts on the issue of the proper level of scrutiny to apply to equal protection claims by a transgender plaintiff. Additionally, Ms. Griffith alleged several other constitutional and disability claims that we think merited further review. 

The MacArthur Justice Center, alongside Mari Newman and Andy McNulty of Newman McNulty, represents Ms. Griffith in her appeal to the Tenth Circuit. Ms. Griffith’s appeal is supported by several amicus briefs filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, a group of disability rights organizations, and a group of law professors and other scholars.