The ACLU has filed a court petition stating that the transfer of Amber Kim, an incarcerated Transgender woman, from the Washington Corrections Center for Women to the all-male Monroe Correctional Complex, following an infraction, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The infraction dates back to March, when Kim was caught having consensual sex with a cellmate.

She is the first Trans woman in Washington to ever be moved to a men's prison — and it happened during Pride Month.

"For the three-and-a-half years I was housed at WCCW, I used my time there to learn, to grow, and to contribute positively to the WCCW," Kim said in an ACLU press release." Being singled out for exceptional punishment — and transferred to a men's prison — over a single infraction harms [not only] me but every other incarcerated Transgender person."

The ACLU argues that the state's Department of Corrections (DOC) has put Kim in harm's way by forcing her into a men's prison that doesn't align with her gender identity. In the Monroe facility, she risks experiencing physical violence, harassment, and sexual assault.

The DOC claims the women were guilty of a "504" infraction, which states that "engaging in a sex act with another person(s) that is not otherwise included in these rules, except in an approved extended family visit." The ACLU says that during Kim's time at WCCW, 33 "504" infractions were recorded there.

"None of those women were transferred to another prison as a result — except Ms. Kim. Furthermore, DOC had the option to keep Ms. Kim in close custody at WCCW but chose to transfer her instead," states the ACLU press release.

A hearing was held after the infraction. Kim and her cellmate were placed in "close custody" — an area at WCCW with heightened security, and which limits the amount of time people spend outside of their cells. Kim and the ACLU have noted how, at first, the DOC found her placement there to be suitable, but that after five weeks it claimed she was a safety risk.

A transfer to Monroe was recommended during the hearing. Kim was put in solitary confinement, while her cellmate spent two months in close custody before being moved back into her original medium-security area.

Solitary confinement is a form of torture, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The amount of time spent in such a cell can range from days to months, to years.

"People of color are disproportionately locked in solitary, as are transgender and gender-nonconforming people, young people, and people with mental health conditions," states a NAMI post titled "How Solitary Confinement Contributes to the Mental Health Crisis."

Placing a person in a cell with minimal access to all forms of human connection and engagement — for any amount of time — leads to devastating consequences, exacerbated existing mental illness or the rapid onset of mental illness, according to NAMI. Half of all suicides in prisons and jails occur in solitary confinement.