Grace Pinson, a dogged and effective jailhouse lawyer, alleged in dozens of lawsuits that fellow prisoners and staff had abused and mistreated her. Last year, she brought two cases to trial and won. As part of this settlement, Pinson will drop at least 13 additional cases that argued that the federal prison system had denied her gender-affirming care and had failed to keep her safe, among other allegations. Attorneys for the federal prison system agreed to pay Grace $95,000 — far more than the $243 or $10,000 she had won from previous cases. Her settlement money will go into a trust fund that her lawyer’s firm set up for Pinson. The money could be used toward gender-affirming surgery and a nest egg for a new life when she gets out of prison. Her 21-year federal prison sentence is scheduled to end in 2026. ✍️: Beth Schwartzapfel & 🎥: Chris Vazquez / The Marshall Project Transcript: ATTORNEYS FOR FEDERAL PRISONS: We’re paying this woman $95,000. CHRIS VAZQUEZ 1: Oh, wow. Who is she? CHRIS VAZQUEZ 2: Grace Pinson. She’s alleged in dozens of lawsuits that she’s been abused and mistreated as a trans woman in federal men’s prisons. And she’s had a lot of success without a lawyer or formal legal training. A JUDGE: I appointed her a pro bono lawyer in one of her cases. GRACE PINSON’S LAWYER: And I — a lawyer named Lisa Bivens for the purposes of this video — negotiated a settlement where Grace dropped at least 13 other cases in exchange for the money. CHRIS VAZQUEZ: Why now? GRACE PINSON’S LAWYER: To avoid having to negotiate with the Trump administration. DONALD TRUMP: On my first day in office, I signed an executive order telling federal prisons to not spend federal funds on gender-affirming care. A FEDERAL JUDGE: But I blocked that. GRACE PINSON’S LAWYER: And some rulings in Grace’s past cases could still help incarcerated trans people. A JUDGE: In one case, I ruled that the federal prison system should make housing decisions about Grace the same way they would for other women. GRACE PINSON’S LAWYER: That ruling still stands for other trans women to draw on in future cases.