Demi Minor was 27 years old, serving a 30-year sentence for manslaughter, and housed at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, New Jersey's only women's prison, when it was discovered she had impregnated two fellow inmates. Both pregnancies resulted from consensual relationships, though consensual sex between inmates is prohibited under state law regardless of circumstance.

Minor had been placed at Edna Mahan after New Jersey enacted a policy allowing prisoners to be housed in facilities that align with their gender identity. She had been transferred there in 2020 while, by her own account, still requesting access to hormone therapy and gender-affirming items. Whether she was on hormone therapy at the time of the pregnancies remains unclear. Hormone treatment, if it had been in place, would likely have made pregnancy impossible.

What Happened After the Pregnancies Came to Light

Once the pregnancies were discovered, Minor and both women were placed in solitary confinement. Prison officials classified Minor as a security threat, a designation that carried serious consequences: potential loss of access to hormones, gender-affirming items, appropriate housing, and surgery she had been waiting on.

Minor was transferred to Garden State Youth Correctional Facility, a men's prison for adults ages 18 to 30, specifically to its vulnerable housing unit. She later wrote that she attempted to hang herself in the transport van during the transfer and was placed on suicide watch upon arrival. Weeks into her time at Garden State, she attempted to remove one of her own testicles with a razor, citing abuse at the facility and prolonged delays in receiving gender-affirming surgery.

The Lawsuit That Added a New Layer

The story did not end with the transfer. A lawsuit filed later alleged that a female inmate named Lauren Mitchell had been sexually assaulted by Minor on three separate occasions while both were working prison jobs outside their cells at Edna Mahan. According to the lawsuit, Mitchell repeatedly asked prison officials to reassign her away from Minor. They did not comply.

The lawsuit named the transgender housing policy as a direct factor in enabling the alleged assaults, placing the case at the center of a broader legal and policy debate about how incarcerated transgender individuals should be housed.

How New Jersey's Policy Changed

In May 2022, the New Jersey Department of Corrections announced it would amend its transgender housing policy. Minor was transferred to the men's facility less than two months later. By October 2022, the amended policy was formally in place. Under the new rules, incarcerated people retain a presumption of being housed according to their gender identity, but that presumption can now be overridden by a list of factors that explicitly includes reproductive considerations.

Minor is not eligible for parole and is not scheduled for release until 2037. Her sentence stems from two crimes committed when she was 16, including an aggravated manslaughter in which she stabbed her foster father 24 times during a burglary, and a separate carjacking charge to which she pleaded guilty.