Strawberry Hampton accused of stealing from Elmhurst homes

Hampton, 28, is accused of stealing from multiple homes while owners were either inside or doing yard work, prosecutors said.

By Sun-Times Staff Report

Strawberry Hampton is charged with burglary — Strawberry Hampton.

A transgender woman released from prison earlier this year and is suing the Illinois Department of Corrections over her treatment while behind bars has found herself back in jail this week on new charges.

Strawberry Hampton, 28, of Englewood, was paroled in July from the all-women’s Logan Correctional Center in downstate Logan County. She had endured a two-year battle over her previous housing in other male prisons where she said she suffered horrors at the hands of male guards and fellow inmates.

Now she’s in custody again, accused of stealing from multiple homes in west suburban Elmhurst and charged with residential burglary, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

Between Tuesday and Thursday, Hampton allegedly stole items from multiple homes while the residents were either in the home or outside doing yard work, prosecutors said. She was arrested Thursday in Bensenville.

She was on parole for a previous residential burglary charge out of Cook County, prosecutors said. She’s being held on $100,000 bail at the DuPage County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 25.

DuPage County arrest records label Hampton as a male, and officials Friday night wouldn’t say whether she was in a male or female division of the jail.

Hampton’s fight garnered national attention when she filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections for alleged discrimination, sexual abuse and assault from prisoners and guards at male prisons while she was behind bars.

“On one occasion where I was physically assaulted, I was stomped, I was spit on, I was dragged, my clothes were sliced off of me with a knife,” Hampton told the Sun-Times two days after her release in July. “Basically I was treated … it was bad.”

After what she called a “tooth and nail” battle to be transferred to the all-female correctional facility downstate, Hampton was moved to Logan Correctional Center in December.