Transgender woman questions jail policies after arrest

A Fayetteville woman is questioning the Benton County jail policies regarding transgender inmates after she was booked in to the facility, following an arrest.

Lisa Stuart was taken to the Benton County Sheriff's Office after a police officer stopped to talk with her while she was sitting in her car on a street in Centerton. She says when the officer ran her plates, he found an outstanding warrant from a missed court date.

She says after the Benton County deputy conducted a pat down, her personal belongings were being logged, and the deputy found Lisa's business card for the Transgender Equality Network, where she is the vice president.

Stuart says the deputy asked if she used to be a man, and she replied by saying "I think the question you're trying to ask is 'Am I transgender?' and the answer to that is yes, I am transgender."

Stuart says she has met all the legal requirements according to the state of Arkansas to be classified as a female.

She was placed in a holding cell alone, instead of in the female waiting area.

During her time at the jail, deputies followed procedure by taking photos of her tattoos. A female officer took photos of tattoos on both her shoulders, but a male officer took her in to a restroom to photograph her upper thigh tattoo.

"I feel like having the male officer photograph the tattoo on my thigh was completely unnecessary, and I don't know why they decided to do that. It's not like it was a strip search..." Stuart said.

She said the same male deputy referred to her as "him" to another deputy.

A spokesperson for the Benton County Sheriff's Office says they classify all inmates based on genitalia.

"It's our job to protect everybody in this facility so that is why that is in place. We have to identify that, and the way we do that is through genitalia," said Sgt. Shannon Jenkins with BCSO.

Stuart says she would like to see the sheriff's office undergo transgender inclusion training so "the next time they have a transgender person come through, they know how to handle that in a way that is as smooth and respectful as possible, for that person but also as smooth as comfortable and simple as possible for the sheriff's office."

By Katie Davidson.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

The Gayly. 10/27/2018 @ 1:01 p.m. CST.