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A prisoner in Oregon, who transitioned from male to female while incarcerated, has been granted a substantial settlement following allegations of mistreatment. This comes after the individual, now known as Zera Lola Zombie, filed a lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Corrections, citing abuse by staff during their time in a male facility.
Zera Lola Zombie, who was born Daniel Lee Smith, has been residing in the women’s Coffee Creek Correctional Facility since April 2025. The settlement, reported by The Oregonian, amounts to $295,000 and is a result of a lawsuit initiated in 2021.
Zombie’s criminal record includes a conviction for first-degree manslaughter, having pleaded guilty to the 2014 beating death of a girlfriend, Samantha Lee Brown. The sentence was 20 years in prison, with an additional 15 years for first-degree assault after a violent incident with another inmate. Zombie is not expected to be released until 2049.
A mugshot from 2023 depicts Zera Lola Zombie as an inmate at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, underscoring the ongoing journey within the correctional system. Zombie publicly identified as transgender in 2020 and subsequently began hormone therapy. By 2022, Zombie was actively pursuing gender confirmation surgery while still in prison.
The Oregonian reported that Zombie came out as transgender in 2020, and began taking sex change hormones. In 2022, Zombie began the process of seeking a sex change surgery in prison.
According to the report, Zombie will receive $95,000 from the settlement, while Zombie’s attorneys will receive $200,000 to cover their fees.
Zombie claimed repeated sexual assaults by a cellmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary, and further sexual assaults at the hands of a different cellmate at Two Rivers Correctional Facility, according to court documents.
The claim said Zombie was discriminated against based on gender, that officials broke the law by housing a female in a male prison, said they failed to “follow both federal and Oregon rules and laws concerning the designation and protection of plaintiff as a Vulnerable Adult-In-Custody … at high risk for both physical and sexual assault,” housed an inmate with a known sexual predator, refused to provide legally-mandated counseling and failed to report the sexual assaults per Oregon and federal law.
The Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, a women’s prison and prisoner intake center operated by the Oregon Department of Corrections, is located in Wilsonville, Ore., in 2019. The facility opened in 1991. (KELLY JORDAN/Statesman Journal)
In 2023, a judge designated Zombie as a vulnerable person, forcing the prison to allow Zombie to live in a single-person cell.
“On this record, it is not at all clear that, without the Court’s intervention, defendants will refrain from placing plaintiff in a cell with an inmate known to be a sex offender, or that defendants will designate plaintiff as a vulnerable inmate,” said an order written by United States District Court Judge Ann Aiken. “Plaintiff need not await another assault before obtaining preventative relief.”
The Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, a women’s prison and prisoner intake center operated by the Oregon Department of Corrections, is located in Wilsonville, Ore. It opened in 1991. (KELLY JORDAN / Statesman Journal)
“While we cannot comment on specifics of litigation, we take all allegations of sexual assault seriously and are committed to addressing them thoroughly and responsibility, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital. “We uphold our duty to protect those in our custody, guided by a zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse and harassment. Prevention remains a priority, and we are dedicated to eliminating sexual assault and misconduct in Oregon’s correctional facilities.”
Zombie’s attorney, John Burgess, did not return a request for comment.