Following an arrest late Monday night in Miami, controversial trans makeup artist Nikita Dragun is reportedly being held in the jail’s men’s unit.
According to a report obtained by TMZ, the police were contacted after Dragun was seen walking around the Goodtime Hotel pool area nude and refusing to stop. By the time the cops got there, she had already gone back to her room. Officers and hotel security then told her that the music she was playing in her room was too loud and that she’d either have to turn it down or leave the hotel.
The influencer then splashed water from her water bottle on the officers and security guards, at which point she was arrested for “felony battery on a police officer”.
Her public arrest information reveals that she was booked as a male, and leaked video from her preliminary hearing shows Dragun on the verge of tears asking the judge to be moved within the jail.
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She asks, “Do I have to stay here in the men’s unit still?”:
just seen that Nikita Dragun is being kept in a mans prison, this is so fucking inhumane and the fact the news isn’t covering it is just even worse.
I’m not a fan of Nikita but this is a violation of human rights and her safety, they’ve even misgendered in her in the report. pic.twitter.com/qJo2SmJFhX
— Samantha (@itssamanthaaaa_) November 9, 2022
Related: Queer and Trans People Are Revolutionizing the Beauty Industry
The judge just says “I don’t make the rules up there” before noting that there is “proper accommodation for you in a separate area.” She then advises Dragun to contact the bondsman to seek her release.
Her bond is reportedly set at $5,000 not only for felony battery on a police officer, but also misdemeanor disorderly conduct and misdemeanor battery. All this for poolside nudity and getting bottled water on a cop.
The makeup artist is a complicated figure in the community, but that’s not stopping people from standing up in the face of this injustice.
Fans and critics alike are united on her behalf for perhaps the first time:
I’m not a fan of Nikita Dragun nor am I defending her actions in any shape or form but when she was put into jail and forced to stay in a men’s unit, that’s heartbreaking and dangerous. Trans Women are Women.
— little miss gaslight gatekeep girlboss (@aangeloplaza) November 9, 2022
hey mutuals, nikita dragun getting put in a men’s prison is NO excuse to be transphobic. she is a fucking WOMAN and DOESNT deserve to have her life put in danger just because she’s a terrible person. misgendering someone because you dont like them is still transphobia
— mona ★ (@ghostofmona) November 9, 2022
People misgendering Nikita Dragun on purpose after she got arrested: 🤡🤡
Trans people also commit crimes, just like other queer people and straight and cis people that does NOT give you the right to disrespect trans identities
Disrespecting 1 trans identity is disrespecting ALL— rainbow being #BlackLivesMatter 🇵🇹🏳️🌈 (@CartoonsAreMyFA) November 8, 2022
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
— hi im rue! (they/them) (@clitereIIa) November 9, 2022
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
Nikita dragun being held in a men’s correctional facility is so disgusting and unsafe. No matter how much you hate her. The things that happen to MEN in those facilities are vial, just imagine what they’d do to her
— PARTY AT MY HOUSE (@wreakerofhavocs) November 9, 2022
As much as I don’t like Nikita Dragun for controversy in the past hearing she was incarcerated into a men’s prison is horrifying
— 💜🍆Sue King Cox🍆💜 (@SueKingCoxPDX) November 9, 2022
i don’t like nikita at all and honestly fuck her anti black ass but i hope y’all realize that by them getting away with this, all the other trans women to come after nikita are gonna get put in there too, trans women are women and should be treated as such https://t.co/aZB8aMmH11
— paris ᓭི༏ᓯྀ cw: little women (@voresaiki) November 9, 2022
Related: Caitlyn Jenner misgenders trans woman and then rages against “LGBT community”
Dragun has had her legal sex marker changed to “female” for years, including on her personal identification. Her being held in a men’s facility is not only dangerous and harmful for her, but also legally dubious.
The fact that this could happen to someone so prominent speaks to the reality of all trans people in carceral situations. In 2020, NBC News found that out of 4,890 incarcerated transgender people across 45 states, only 15 people were held according to their lived gender. The other 4,875 people were forced to be classified and held as their assigned sex at birth.
However the beauty personality’s situation is remedied — and it had better be remedied — the unjust treatment of trans people throughout the American prison system deserves the same energy.