Black Trans Woman Meagan Taylor Released from Iowa Jail
July 22 2015 8:41 PM ET
Meagan Taylor
Meagan Taylor, the
22-year-old black trans woman who spent the past two weeks in a
segregated cell at Polk County Jail in Des Moines, walked out of that
facility today, according to advocates who have been calling for her
release.
"I'm ecstatic to be released," Taylor told the Transgender Law Center,
which is currently investigating the possibility of litigation
surrounding allegations that hotel workers and police profiled the black
trans woman as a sex worker. "Words cannot express the way I feel to be
out. I want to thank everyone who shared my story, and let people know
that I am going to seek justice for what they did profiling me as a
Black transgender woman."
Indeed, LGBT and social justice advocates have
rallied around the young woman's plight, seizing on her allegations that
hotel staff and police inaccurately profiled Taylor and her friend as
sex workers. While being held at Polk County Jail, Taylor was kept alone
in a medical cell, segregated from the general population, because jail officials were unsure about where to house a transgender woman.
As the hashtag #FreeMeaganTaylor began trending on social media platforms Monday,
organizers launched a fundraising campaign to pay Taylor's bail and
surrounding fees that had been escalating after she failed to pay a fine
on a five-year-old credit card fraud conviction.
The transgender pastor
who helped lead that fundraising effort — which subsequently raised
more than $4,400, expressed their gratitude in a statement upon the news
of Taylor's release.
"My tears of sorrow turned to tears of joy when I learned that Meagan was going to be released from jail," said Pastor Megan Rohrer,
who uses the gender-neutral pronouns they and them. "I want to thank
the 133 people who donated funds to help us remove the financial
barriers, and the Transgender Law Center who expedited the legal
barriers that were keeping Meagan in jail."
Taylor, an Illinois resident, was arrested July 13 shortly after checking in to the Drury Inn in West Des Moines, Iowa, with a friend who also happens to be a transgender woman.
Taylor says her ordeal began when hotel staff
began "acting really funny" around her and her friend. Soon after the
pair checked in, West Des Moines Police were knocking on their hotel
room door, responding to a staff call about "two males dressed as
females who checked into the Drury Inn" who staff worried were involved
in "possible prostitution activity."
Taylor and her friend were not actually engaged
in sex work, but Taylor was nonetheless placed under arrest when police
found an outstanding probation violation from Illinois for credit card
fraud, according to The Des Moines Register, which
first reported on Taylor's case in an op-ed by columnist Rekha Basu.
Taylor explained to the paper she had served time at age 17 for the
charge, but the probation violation stemmed from her not yet paying $500
in fines. That nonpayment resulted in a $20,000 warrant for Taylor's
appearance at a scheduled court date later this month.
Some of the funds raised in Taylor's defense went
to paying that outstanding fine, and the Transgender Law Center reports
that the Illinois warrant has now been vacated.
Police also found that Taylor had checked into
the hotel under a name different from her own — an act not considered a
crime. Police also found spironolactone hydrochlroide — a common
medication used in trans women's hormone therapy to accompany estrogen —
among Taylor's belongings, despite her not having a prescription in her
belongings. Taylor maintains that she does have a prescription for the
medication, she just wasn't traveling with it.
Taylor was charged with "malicious prosecution"
— defined as a "serious misdemeanor" for "a person who causes or
attempts to cause another to be indicted or prosecuted for any public
offense" — and possession of prescription drugs without a prescription.
She was taken to Polk County Jail, where she was reportedly patted down
by two guards: a female officer for the top half of her body and a male
officer for the bottom half, she told the Register.
Jail officials explained their decisions by saying they were aware that trans women face a heightened risk of sexual assault when placed in men's cells, but that they did not feel "comfortable" placing her with women. Trans prisoners as well as immigration detainees are often held in isolation for their own "protection," despite the act being shown to cause psychological harm.
Although Taylor initially told jail staffers she wanted to be housed
with other female inmates, she ultimately agreed to be held in
"protective custody," meaning a private medical cell without a roommate.
Check back for an in-depth feature, including a discussion with Taylor herself, tomorrow on The Advocate.
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