(The Lion) — A trans-identifying male with a long history of violence is suing the state of Washington to block his transfer back to a men’s prison, Reduxx reports. He’s also seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.
Nonnie Lotusflower, 38, who was born Nathan Goninan, claims the Washington Correctional Center for Women (WCCW) violated his eighth amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment for placing him in solitary confinement for an extended period after he assaulted one inmate sexually and another physically and threatened to kill a staff member and murder her family, the website reported.
Lotusflower is serving a 10-year sentence for brutally murdering 17-year-old Jessica Franklin in 2007. This crime was committed just hours after he was released from jail for another crime. Franklin’s body showed signs of sexual assault, according to forensic examiners.
His lawsuit claims staff members mistreated him and filed false infraction reports and photo evidence in a 2021 sexual assault case against him involving a female inmate. But the allegations against the biological male were marked “substantiated” following an investigation, according to Reduxx.
Then in 2023, he received loss of privileges for 120 days after he punched a female inmate in the face in the recreation yard in April. Lotusflower asked the victim and other witnesses to provide false testimony or downplay the assault, but the incident was caught on camera.
Following these incidents, he was marked “high risk,” subjected to maximum security and then, in July 2023, referred for transfer back to the men’s prison. His complaint says all the allegations against him are false and that there’s a conspiracy to force his transfer out of the women’s facility.
Lotusflower launched a successful lawsuit against the corrections department in 2017, alleging discrimination on the basis of his gender identity and demanding surgery to support his chosen gender, Reduxx reported. The ACLU supported him in the case, which resulted in him receiving taxpayer-funded breast implants.
The state even gave him a “costly Victoria’s Secret bra” after the surgery, the website said.
His profanity-laced threats against staff members following his maximum security designation included threats of bodily harm and ending the life of one woman and her family.
Lotusflower is one of multiple problematic cases of males being housed in women’s prisons in Washington, including men with convictions for sexual assault and murder.
According to Reduxx, 150 men were being assessed for transfer as of 2021, including several violent criminals who have since been transferred.
