Transgender Maryland Prisoner’s Suit Accuses Guard of Shower Rape
On October 2, 2023, transgender Maryland prisoner Dmitry Pronin, known now as Leyleen Lillith Aquino, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, alleging that she was raped in a state prison shower area by a guard.
Pronin, 39, was incarcerated by the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) to serve a 10-year term for a 2011 bank robbery committed with his mother’s car while she visited from her native Russia. He received a consecutive 25-year term for murdering her and dismembering her body, leaving parts to be recovered by a Chesapeake Bay fisherman. Pronin then transitioned to Aquino, a transgender female, so DPSCS was allegedly aware of the risk her gender identity posed of her sexual assault. Yet after an October 2021 suicide attempt, they confined her in the men’s wing of Patuxent, a medical unit where prisoners on suicide watch in single-person cells have access only to a suicide blanket and smock. They are also escorted three times weekly for showers by guards, who observe them while bathing.
On December 13, 2021, guard Dewayne Spencer took Aquino from her cell for a shower. Although DPSCS policy requires that prisoners be escorted by at least two guards, Spencer worked alone; the other guard, Olagoke Dada, was reportedly asleep at a nearby desk. After Aquino finished showering, Spencer handcuffed her for escort back to her cell. That’s when he allegedly shoved her into a nearby supply closet, pushed up her suicide smock and anally raped her, using a condom that he tossed down a nearby drain when he was done. Spencer also told Aquino not to say anything or he would “make her life hell.”
Nevertheless, Aquino reported the rape later that same day as Nurse Practitioner Benjamin Bradley was making regular rounds through the unit. Bradley dismissed the complaint, saying he did not believe Aquino. Regardless, DPSCS policy required him to document the complaint and inform his superiors, but Bradley failed to do either. The same thing took place the following day, December 14, 2021.
Aquino refused to shower on December 15, 2021, because she wanted to preserve evidence of the rape. Later that day, Bradley was again making rounds through the unit, this time accompanied by Dr. Sicard, a psychiatrist. Aquino again reported the rape, and Dr. Sicard submitted the complaint to the facility’s Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) officer, who then had Aquino file a grievance.
On December 16, 2021, Aquino was transported for a sexual assault examination at a local hospital, where staff noted injuries to her genitals. She was also interviewed by DPSCS Intelligence and Investigation Division (IID) officers. Aquino was then transferred to another prison and placed in solitary confinement for four days before returning to the men’s wing of Patuxent, where she allegedly faced harassment and ridicule from both staff and prisoners because of her PREA complaint. IID determined that Aquino’s rape allegation was “unsubstantiated,” and her grievances and administrative appeals were all denied.
Aquino, now represented by counsel, filed an amended complaint in the Court alleging various Eighth Amendment violations stemming from the rape, including that DPSCS officials knew she was likely to be sexually assaulted if confined in a men’s prison but showed deliberate indifference to the risk because they did nothing to prevent it. The complaint also asserted claims for unconstitutional retaliation, sex discrimination and conditions of confinement.
The case remains open, and PLN will update developments as they are available. Aquino is represented by attorneys Anne J. Martin and Brian D. Frey of Alston & Bird LLP, in Washington, D.C. See: Pronin v. Johnson, USDC (D. Md), Case No. 1:22-cv-01864.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
Related legal case
Pronin v. Johnson
| Year | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Cite | USDC (D. Md), Case No. 1:22-cv-01864 |
| Level | District Court |