D.C. to Fire 3 Over Woman's Detention as a Man

Soto spent two weekend nights in a solitary holding cell in an area reserved for male suspects awaiting a court appearance July 16, when U.S. marshals took her to D.C. Superior Court. Soto told investigators that she informed the marshals she was not a man but was "mocked" and called "thing."

After her arraignment, Soto and 11 male prisoners were taken by the marshals to the men's receiving unit at the D.C. jail. Two officers who interviewed her during initial processing failed to follow proper procedures that should have detected the mix-up, according to the corrections report.

Soto was then strip-searched by two other jail officers who failed to notice she was a woman, in part because she had covered her genitals with her hand, the report said. The only thing unusual that the two officers reported spotting was "the bandage on the lower left side of her back."

"I didn't see nothing," one jail officer told investigators, "but I was still thinking male."

A male inmate who was responsible for issuing prison clothes saw Soto naked after she had been searched and yelled out that she was a woman. Authorities failed to respond, even though one officer acknowledged hearing the inmate yell out.

Before dressing, Soto entered the shower and bathed with four male inmates, the report said. She was later photographed, X-rayed and given an armband. At that point, she told an officer she was female.

"Sure you are," the officer replied, according to the report, "but your identification says otherwise."

Soto was then taken to a holding cell and interviewed by Cpl. Maria Duncan, who spoke with her in Spanish. Duncan ordered her removed from the cell and taken to an examination room, where she was pronounced by a doctor to be a woman.

Procedures "within the inmate receiving process were in place that should have made this determination sooner if they were more stringently adhered to," the report says.

The U.S. Marshals Service did not return a call seeking comment yesterday. Bell could not be reached for comment.