San Diego sheriff's deputies booked a transgender woman into a cell with three men, one of whom beat her so severely she fractured her jaw, according to a new lawsuit filed against the Sheriff's Department.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents as Kristina Frost, required multiple surgeries and has not yet fully recovered, her lawsuit alleges.

“Sadly — and predictably — one of the men in the cell viciously attacked Ms. Frost,” the suit states. "Her punches of hers with a clenched fist to Ms. Frost's face resulted in serious bodily injury, including a broken jaw, which has thus far required two surgeries to repair."

The Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to questions about the lawsuit or the incident at the jail.

The lawsuit also names Sheriff's Deputy Mason Cassidy as a defendant. He says that he was one of the people believed to have made the decision to move Frost to the cell with three men.

Cassidy did not respond to a request for comment through the Sheriff's Department press office.

The decision to move Frost to a three-man cell appears to violate a training statement issued by the Sheriff's Department in February that says "a detainee must be taken to a facility that matches the detainee's gender identity."

The first sentence of the bulletin reads: “It is the policy of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to receive, assess, house, and provide safe and humane custody to all persons, including transgender, intersex, and non-binary persons. Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioned (LGBTQ+) community are among those most at risk of incidents of sexual abuse.”

It is not clear from the complaint what led Frost to be detained by the agents.

When she was arrested and booked, Frost was wearing women's clothing, the lawsuit states. California DMV records and her driver's license identify her as a female, the lawsuit states.

"Despite this, police officers repeatedly misrepresented Ms. Frost's gender, both in person and in official reports documenting the assault that gave rise to this case," the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit filed in US District Court earlier this month, Frost was supposed to be a booking and release defendant, meaning she was charged with a misdemeanor and should not have been in custody for a prolonged period of time.

But after arriving at Men's Central Jail on November 25, 2020, Frost was moved from one holding cell to another with three men already inside it. She was kept in isolation and eventually fell asleep, but she was woken up by a man beating her, the suit says.

According to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, one or more officers observed the assault and did not immediately try to stop the attack.

"Ms. Frost saw one or more officers stop outside the cell before entering to intervene," the suit says. “The officers ended up taking the assailant out of the cell and putting him alone in another holding cell.”

Frost then spent more than 12 hours in custody without receiving medical care, according to the court complaint.

After being released, she went to a hospital and was diagnosed with two fractures in her jaw. She required two surgeries and had her mouth closed with bandages, according to the lawsuit.

"Ms. Frost continues to suffer from these injuries and now she must wear dentures," the lawsuit states.

The 12-page lawsuit accuses Sheriff Bill Gore and his superior command staff of fostering a dangerous environment throughout the San Diego County prison system.

The lawsuit notes that San Diego County had the highest death rate among California's largest counties, with more than 140 inmates dying behind bars between 2009 and 2019, findings published in a six-month investigation by The San Diego Union-Tribune two years ago.

Sheriff's Department officials have disputed the methodology of the jail death rate statistics, saying San Diego County jails are not outliers compared to comparable jail systems in the state.

The lawsuit also cites specific details about the inmates profiled by the Union-Tribune, including cases that resulted in multimillion-dollar legal settlements paid for by San Diego County taxpayers.

"Ms. Frost's assault was the foreseeable result of department personnel ignoring critical information, failing to protect persons in the county's care, and failing to adequately monitor persons in the county's care and custody," the statement says. demand.

San Diego County has yet to respond in court to the federal lawsuit, which has been assigned to Judge Roger T. Benitez. The case was brought by San Diego attorney Trenton Lamere.