The state of Oregon has settled a federal civil rights lawsuit and agreed to pay a male inmate $295,000 after he was assigned to share a jail cell with a sex offender.
Zera Zombie, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, is currently incarcerated at the women’s state prison, Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, according to The Oregonian. Zombie, 41, will receive $95,000 from the state of Oregon, and another $200,000 to cover attorney costs following alleged harassment and sexual assault at two different men’s prison facilities, The Oregonian states.
Zombie, whose real name is Daniel Lee Smith, is serving 35 years in prison for first-degree manslaughter in the 2014 killing of Samantha Brown and first-degree assault following a violent 2014 attack on a fellow inmate at the Umatilla County Jail, according to The East Oregonian. While Zombie’s gender is classified as female in the lawsuit and Oregon Department of Corrections records, he was held at the Oregon State Penitentiary and Oregon State Correctional Institution, which are both men’s prisons, according to KOIN. (RELATED: Four Women Accuse Lesbian Running For Congress Of Unwanted ‘Sexual’ Advances)
Zombie has been taking female hormones since 2020 and began the process to receive gender-affirming surgery in October 2022, according to The Oregonian. In 2021, Zombie filed a lawsuit alleging that in October 2020, he was assigned to share a jail cell with a man who was serving a 40-year sentence for violent crimes against women, according to KOIN. Zombie claimed his cellmate “terrorized [him] repeatedly” while he was incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary, his lawyer John Burgess wrote in a court filing.
Trans killer housed in Oregon women’s prison wins high-dollar legal settlement in sex abuse suit https://t.co/W12jIYkd4v pic.twitter.com/1LejluWqgJ
— New York Post (@nypost) April 24, 2026
Zombie also alleged that a corrections officer told him he would “get over it,” Burgess stated in the same filing. The prisoner, not identified, is accused of physically and sexually assaulting Zombie on a daily basis while they shared a jail cell, KOIN reported.
While corrections staff were made aware of the allegations, they failed to protect Zombie, according to the lawsuit. In addition, Zombie claimed he was harassed by other prisoners who purportedly called him a “rape rat,” according to The Oregonian.
Zombie was transferred to Two Rivers Correctional Institution around August 2022, The Oregonian reported. In December 2022, Zombie was assigned to share a jail cell with another known sex offender, according to KOIN. Zombie alleged that he was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by his cellmate, but prison staff ignored his concerns and failed to provide him with legally mandated counseling.
Zombie had to share meal and medication times with the offender even after he was moved to a different cell, according to The Oregonian. Zombie’s cellmate was serving a 10-year sentence for first-degree sexual abuse at the time of the alleged incident.
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken issued a temporary restraining order in 2023 after learning Zombie had been assigned to share a jail cell with a known sex offender. Aiken said she needed to prevent further harm following the repeat abuse Zombie had experienced at the two prisons. She denied Zombie’s request to be moved to a women’s prison.
Aiken previously ordered the Oregon Department of Corrections to classify Zombie as a vulnerable person, keep him housed in his own cell, and not require him to shower or dress in front of male prisoners or staff, The Oregonian reported in September 2023.
Zombie is not set to be released from prison until June 2049, according to state records cited by The Oregonian.