Beauty YouTuber turned influencer Nikita Dragun was arrested on Monday after a disturbance at a hotel, and for some reason she was placed in the men’s unit of a jail. As a trans woman. Fkn outrageous.
Dragun was arrested at the Goodtime Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida after splashing cops with a water bottle. Police were called because she was allegedly “walking around the pool area naked” and caused a disturbance.
She was arrested for felony battery on a police officer, misdemeanour disorderly conduct, and misdemeanour battery and was taken to Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Dragun appeared in court via video on Wednesday and it was revealed in a viral recording of proceedings that she was held in the men’s section of the prison, despite being a woman.
Nikita Dragun, a trans woman who has been fully transitioned for YEARS, is currently being held in a men’s jail. In the video she pleads the judge to transfer her to a women’s unit. This is horrifying beyond comprehension. Trans women need protection & safety, get her out NOW. https://t.co/SXUvV1bXRG
— hannah (@antifamouss) November 9, 2022
FYI, Dragun came out as trans in 2015 and has been open about her journey getting her gender legally changed and the challenges that have come with it.
“Do I have to stay here in the men’s unit, still?” she tearfully asked judge Mindy Glazer in her bond hearing.
“Yeah, I don’t make the rules up there,” Glazer responded.
Dragun posted a $5000 bond and has since been released from prison, but her reps have called out how “disturbing” it was that she was jailed with men in the first place.
“The situation with Nikita, who is legally female, being placed in a men’s unit of a Florida jail is extremely disturbing and dangerous,” her publicist Jack Ketsoyan said in a statement to Miami’s Local 10 News.
“This decision made by the Miami-Dade County Corrections Department directly violates their protocol, which mandates that transgender inmates are classified and housed based on safety needs and gender identity. Nikita has been released and is now safe. Thank you for respecting her privacy during this time.”
It’s worth noting that even if Nikita hadn’t legally changed her gender, she should still have been housed in the women’s unit because that is how she identifies.
Netizens online have called out the situation as being incredibly transphobic, with some noting that while Dragun has a problematic history and is controversial AF, it doesn’t mean her human rights should be abused.
“You really don’t need to state how much you don’t like Nikita Dragun before sympathising with her for being placed in a men’s prison,” one user wrote.
you really don’t need to state how much you don’t like Nikita Dragun before sympathizing with her for being placed in a men’s prison
— . (@clitereIIa) November 9, 2022
nikita dragun is facing a human rights violation by being put in a men’s jail — i don’t think that in this moment, whether or not you personally like her is the point
— matt (@mattxiv) November 9, 2022
Others expressed concern at the treatment she would receive at the hands of men in prison.
So nikita dragun has been put in a men’s jail and I think it is an important to remind folks that this kind of treatment is tantamount to sentencing a trans woman to be serially raped. Its a blatant violation of her 4th amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment
— Katra la Pavona, the Femme in Yellow 🏳️⚧️ (@Katrafiy) November 9, 2022
Dragun is safe now, and is yet to release her own statement.
