A female inmate at a women’s prison in Colorado has filed a legal complaint against the Department of Corrections (CDOC) arguing that the placement of trans-identified male convicts in the facility violates women’s constitutional rights. Meshel Sirio first lodged her complaint in October 2025 after convicted killer James Keith Sack was transferred into the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility (DWCF). Sack now goes by the name Je T’Amour A. Sack and is listed as a female in CDOC records.
The lawsuit states that there are currently 18 known men who have been transferred in to the women’s facility, “including men who have been convicted of brutally violent crimes against women.” The trans-identified male transfers are “routinely kept in cells and other intimate spaces with women prisoners.”
“Sirio must share all of the common spaces at DWCF, such as dayrooms, with men. The only place she can escape being in the presence of men is in her cell and then only during those times a man has not been assigned to share her cell. When a man is assigned to Sirio’s cell, there is literally no place in all of DWCF that Sirio can isolate herself from men, some of whom, have a history of brutal violence against women.”
“While she uses the toilet and shower, Sirio must endure listening to the slapping sounds and groans men make while they masturbate… The men walk in front of Sirio in their underwear or robes, and she can clearly see the outline of their erect penises.”
“On information and belief, men have impregnated women at DWCF… [and] staff has helped at least two of these women to obtain induced abortions… one of the women inmates who became pregnant while at DWCF remains pregnant at this time.”
The suit also alleges at least one instance of male violence against an unnamed female inmate occurred, but does not offer specific details.
Sirio’s lawsuit states that she was made to share a cell with two convicted trans-identified male killers: Sack in 2024, and Devin Downey in 2025.
“Mr. Sack—a man convicted of the brutal murder of a woman—now claims to be a woman, and CDOC has placed him in the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility (DWCF), where real women, including Sirio, have been forced to share their cell and other living spaces with him. For reasons that should be obvious, this is egregiously unconstitutional and must stop.”
The lawsuit is currently active and ongoing.
According to court documents, on November 1, 2009, police were called to Sack’s home. When they arrived, they found him naked and lying on top of his wife, surrounded by a pool of blood. In his hand was a ten-inch filet knife which he had used to kill 26 year-old Yesenia Avila. According to prosecutors, he stabbed his wife to death because she was considering leaving him. Sack, who was 38 at the time, ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 36 years in prison.
The lawsuit cites the Colorado Female Inmate Protection Statute (CFIPS), which states “male and female prisoners, except husband and wife, shall not be put or kept in the same room.”
“Locking men and women together at DWCF is abusive to the women inmates. Not only is this a blatant violation of the CFIPS, but it also creates an unreasonable risk of harm to which Defendants have been deliberately indifferent.”
In what may be a first in a lawsuit filed by a female inmate against gender identity policies, Sirio’s complaint directly references and challenges the world’s leading transgender medicine lobby group, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). WPATH guidelines regarding the treatment of “gender dysphoria” form the basis for which violent male criminals are being transferred to women’s prisons internationally.
The complaint refers to WPATH as “an extremist political advocacy group posing as a healthcare organization” and cites a recent Supreme Court ruling which allowed states to ban “transgender healthcare” for minors, including surgeries and puberty-halting drugs. Sirio challenges the authority of WPATH’s protocols which ultimately led to men being transferred into the DWCF while quoting Justice Thomas: “Recent revelations suggest that WPATH, long considered a standard bearer in treating pediatric gender dysphoria . . . bases its guidance on insufficient evidence and allows politics to influence its medical conclusions.”
Sirio’s complaint further alleges she was made to share a cell with another man at DWCF. Devin Downey was sentenced to 42 years in prison in February 2013 for a conviction of second-degree murder.
The killing was said to be motivated by revenge for what Downey framed as an attempted sexual assault.
Downey told detectives that Pedro Solis-Astorga approached him from behind in a wooded area of Fountain Creek Park while he and another man, William Baros, were smoking marijuana. Solis-Astorga allegedly had one hand down his pants, asked Downey’s name, and reached out as if to touch his shoulder. Downey framed this as an attempted sexual assault.
Downey admitted to at least two prior consensual homosexual encounters at the same park. A witness told police he believed Downey might be a prostitute. The park was described as a known meeting place for gay sexual encounters.
Baros shot the man once, then handed the gun to Downey. Downey said Solis-Astorga turned and ran. Fearing they would get into trouble if the man escaped, Downey shot him several more times in the back. Solis-Astorga’s body was found the next morning.
Sirio’s lawsuit states that she lives in fear, both of the men at DWCF, and of retaliation against her by prison staff for complaining about the situation. “Prior to being incarcerated, Sirio was a victim of violence perpetrated by men,” reads the complaint. “As a survivor of such violence, being locked up together with several men traumatizes her. She lives in constant anxiety and fear for her physical and emotional safety. She fears violence, sexual assault, and harassment. She lives in constant dread that she will be required to share a cell with a man again.”
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