A convicted killer who transitioned from male to female while in prison was awarded a large settlement with the Oregon Department of Corrections after a lawsuit claiming abuse by staff while housed in a male prison.
Zera Lola Zombie, a biological male who has been housed in the women's Coffee Creek Correctional Facility since April 2025, won the $295,000 settlement stemming from the 2021 lawsuit, according to The Oregonian.
Zombie, whose birth name was Daniel Lee Smith, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter after pleading guilty to beating a girlfriend, Samantha Lee Brown, to death in 2014. Zombie received 20 years in prison for the killing and 15 more years for a first-degree assault after a violent attack on a fellow inmate. Zombie won't be released from prison until 2049.
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.
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."
"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.
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