$75,000 for Transgender Maryland Prisoner Raped by Guard
On September 25, 2024, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) agreed to pay $75,000 to a transgender state prisoner who accused a guard of raping her in December 2021 at Patuxent Institution, a treatment facility in Jessup.
As PLN reported, Leyleen Lillith Aquino, 39, filed suit pro se in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in July 2022. Proceeding under her legal name, Dmitry Pronin, she accused DPSCS guard Dewayne Spencer of anally raping her during escort from the showers back to a suicide watch cell. There was no one to corroborate her claim; Olagoke Dada, the second guard that policy required for escorts, was allegedly asleep at a desk. It took several days for Aquino to get anyone on staff to forward her claim to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) coordinator for the prison, who then had her file a grievance. But that was ultimately denied. DPSCS Intelligence and Investigation Division officers also determined that her claim was “unsubstantiated.” [See: PLN, July 2024, p.60.]
After the prisoner filed her suit, the district court granted her second request for counsel in May 2023, appointing Anne J. Martin, joined by Brian D. Frey, both of Alston & Bird LLP in Washington, D.C. They filed an amended complaint in October 2023. The parties then proceeded to reach their settlement agreement, which stated that it included costs and fees for the prisoner’s attorneys; however, Martin filed a request in January 2025 for reimbursement of expenses in an amount redacted from the docket. Not unusually, the agreement specified that DPSCS did not admit to the truth of Aquino’s claims nor to any liability for them. No record could be found of any charges that might have been filed against Spencer. See: Pronin v. Spencer, USDC (D. Md.), Case No. 1:22-cv-01864.
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Related legal case
Pronin v. Spencer
| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cite | USDC (D. Md), Case No. 1:22-cv-01864 |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Settlement |