Transgender woman, 29, awaiting trial says she was repeatedly raped by two inmates while housed with men in a federal jail
- Tavoy Malcolm, 29, was arrested and charged with wire and bank fraud in 2017
- She and Lorindo Powell ‘scammed elderly women out of $600,000’
- After arrest, Malcolm was remanded to Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center
- She said she asked authorities to be housed with females, but was denied
- At the time of her detention, she says she was undergoing sex change
- Federal officials allegedly ignored her gender identity and placed her with men
- She alleged she was beaten and raped by two men over course of two months
- After being placed with women, she alleged harassment by correction officers
A transgender woman in federal jail who was awaiting trial on charges she and a partner swindled elderly women out of $600,000 to fund a lavish lifestyle says she has been repeatedly raped by male inmates.
Tavoy Malcolm, 29, is suing the federal government for allegedly ignoring her repeated requests to be housed with female inmates while she awaited trial at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
Malcolm and Lorindo Powell, two Jamaican nationals, were arrested in 2017 after they allegedly conned several elderly women out of their life savings.
Their alleged victims included an elderly Maryland couple with dementia, a 91-year-old in the final four months of her life, and a 77-year-old woman who ended up losing her house.
Tavoy Malcolm, 29, is suing the federal government after she says she was repeatedly beaten and raped by two male inmates while awaiting trial in Brooklyn, New York
Their scam allegedly involved tricking senior citizens into thinking they had won the lottery to get their banking details.
Powell pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 51 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $770,632.50.
In August 2017, Malcolm also pleaded guilty and was sent to jail while awaiting sentencing.
At the time of her guilty plea, Malcolm said she was in the midst of a sex change, altering her gender from male to female.
Malcolm claimed that authorities ignored the fact that she was undergoing hormonal therapy and breast augmentation treatments and housed her with male inmates, according to the New York Daily News.
While in jail, she alleged that she was beaten and raped by two men over the course of two months.
She said she took on the name Tiana Miller and asked to be housed with female inmates, according to The STAR of Jamaica.
‘I served the first five months of my sentence on the “male” side because they needed some form of classification as it relates to my gender, although my documents state that I am a female,’ Malcolm told the STAR last year.
Malcolm alleged that the government ignored her requests to be housed with female inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (above) while she was undergoing hormonal therapy and breast augmentation during her transition to a female
‘I was sexually assaulted by other inmates … it was very difficult.
‘They didn’t move me over to the female side when the abuse initially happened but they did when the guys had started fighting over me and after my lawyer got involved.’
Malcolm alleged in her lawsuit that even after she was moved in with female inmates, she was subjected to harassment and abuse by male correction officers.
‘Only after plaintiff was assaulted and then raped did BOP (Bureau of Prisons) transfer plaintiff to a female housing unit,’ the lawsuit said.
‘Even after her transfer, plaintiff continued to be subjected to harassment and intimidation by BOP correction officers.’