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A convicted murderer who transitioned from male to female while in prison has been awarded a major settlement with the Oregon Department of Corrections after a lawsuit alleging abuse by staff while incarcerated at a men’s prison.
Zera Lola Zombie, a naturalized man who has been housed at the all-female Coffee Creek Correctional Facility since April 2025, won a $295,000 settlement starting in 2021, according to The Oregonian.
Zombie, born Daniel Lee Smith, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after pleading guilty to beating his girlfriend, Samantha Lee Brown, to death in 2014. Zombie received 20 years in prison for murder and an additional 15 years for first-degree assault after a violent attack on another inmate. Zombie will not be released from prison until 2049.
2023 mugshot of Zera Lola Zombie, an inmate at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Oregon. (Oregon Department of Corrections)
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 gender reassignment surgery in prison.
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According to the report, Zombie will receive $95,000 from the settlement, and Zombie’s lawyers will receive $200,000 to cover their costs.
Zombie pleaded guilty to repeatedly sexually assaulting a fellow inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary, as well as sexually assaulting a fellow inmate at Two Rivers Correctional Facility, according to court documents.
The suit said Zombie was discriminated against on the basis of sex, that officials violated the law by housing a woman in a men’s prison, and said they failed to “follow state and Oregon laws and regulations regarding the designation and protection of the plaintiff as a vulnerable adult … assault under Oregon law and federal law.”
Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, an inmate reception center and women’s prison operated by the Oregon Department of Corrections, is located in Wilsonville, Ore., in 2019. This center was opened in 1991. (KELLY JORDAN/Statesman Journal)
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In 2023, a judge designated Zombie as an endangered species, forcing the prison to allow Zombie to remain in solitary confinement.
“On this record, it is not at all clear that, without the Court’s intervention, the defendants will avoid placing the plaintiff in custody with an inmate known to be a sex offender, or the defendants will designate the plaintiff as an at-risk prisoner,” said the order written by United States District Court Judge Ann Aiken. “The plaintiff does not have to wait for another assault before seeking preventive care.”
A spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Corrections told The Oregonian that it is committed to ending sexual abuse in its prisons.
Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, an inmate reception center and women’s prison operated by the Oregon Department of Corrections, is located in Wilsonville, Ore. It was opened in 1991. (KELLY JORDAN / Statesman Journal)
“While we cannot comment on the specifics of the charges, we take all allegations of sexual abuse seriously and are committed to dealing with them fully and responsibly, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital. “We respect our duty to protect those in our custody, and we are guided by a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and abuse. Prevention remains a priority, and we are committed to ending sexual abuse and misconduct in Oregon’s correctional facilities.”
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Zombie’s attorney, John Burgess, did not respond to a request for comment.
