'I'm safe here': Transgender inmate describes life at Illinois women's prison after rare transfer based on gender identity
LINCOLN, Ill. - The inmate applies a layer of gloss to her full lips, pressing them against one another and smoothing the edges lightly with her fingertips.
As the warden approaches, she tucks the tube back in the pocket of her navy-and-white uniform, which properly fits the curves of her newly feminine frame.
"Well if it ain't Ms. Hampton," the warden greets her, the jangle of his ring of keys reverberating from the walls of Logan Correctional Center, a prison for women roughly three hours southwest of Chicago in Lincoln.
At the sound of the female title preceding her surname, Strawberry Hampton's mouth widens to a lustrous smile.
Just before Christmas, the 27-year-old transgender inmate was granted a rare transfer to a women's prison in alignment with her gender identity. The move came amid her yearlong court battle chronicling allegations of abuse and sexual assault by both inmates and corrections staff at four men's facilities across Illinois.
"At the end of the day, I'm safe here, I feel good," she tells the Tribune during her first media interview since
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