Transgender woman drops suit against Ga. prison officials

By KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Lawyers for a Black transgender woman who sued Georgia prison officials over alleged mistreatment while in custody said she decided not to proceed to trial because she feared the experience would be harmful to her. Ashley Diamond sued Georgia prison officials in November 2020, saying they had failed to protect her from repeated sexual assaults and failed to provide her with adequate medical treatment. She was released in August but continued to pursue her lawsuit. The trial was set to begin Thursday in federal court in Macon, but Diamond instead decided to dismiss the lawsuit. Her lawyers said in a news release that she feared reliving the trauma she said she experienced “would be detrimental to her recovery.”