A woman from the Dominican Republic is furious after being thrown into a men's prison after medical staff believed she was born a man, and was transgender.
Fior Pichardo de Veloz, a lawyer and mother-of-three, was arrested in Florida in 2013 for an outstanding drugs case, reports the Miami Herald.
Despite the officer who arrested her correctly identifying her as female, the medical staff who assessed her wrongly identified her as male.
Doctor Fredesvindo Rodriguez-Garcia and Nurse Fatu Kamara Harris identified Ms Pirchardo de Veloz as a male inmate after they discovered she was taking hormonal pills.
Nurse Fatu Kamara Harris told jail officers that "everything fell out", in reference to Ms Pirchardo de Veloz's supposedly male genitalia. However, Ms Harris had not conducted a strip search.
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Jail officers questioned the decision, but were forced to go with the opinion of the medical staff, and place the woman into an all-male facility, reports 7 News.
Ms Pirchardo de Veloz pleaded with officers that she was female, but their response was not merciful.
They allegedly told her: "You are a woman - good luck if you are alive tomorrow."
Once inside the facility, Ms Pirchardo de Veloz was reportedly so afraid she refused to go to the bathroom. Instead, she "urinated on herself".
She was trapped in a space with 40 men, with several inmates shouting "Mami! Mami!" at her.
Ms Pirchardo de Veloz was only removed when her family travelled to the facility to question the decision. She claims prison officials laughed and took photos of her as she undressed.
Ms Pirchardo de Veloz's initial lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge. However, she appealed the decision and has now won, which allows her to pursue a trial against the medical staff that mis-gendered her.
Newshub.
