A transgender woman in Idaho says police mistreated her and another transgender woman while in jail, reports the Times-News.

Twenty-six-year-old Antonia Lara, who briefly shared a prison cell with Majid Kolestani, a 43-year-old transsexual Iranian refugee accused of murder, has charged the Twin Falls County Jail with mistreatment of transgender people.

The pair shared a prison cell for about a week when Lara was arrested in February for providing false information to police.

Lara and Kolestani, both pre-opt transgender women, were identified as men by their jailers and placed in a cell separate from the general prison population. Lara says jail officials were disrespectful.

“They were making comments the whole time, bringing people by the window so they could laugh at me like I was some freak show,” Lara told the paper. “These people are the people who are supposed to serve and protect.”

Kolestani is being held in the lockup while she waits to be tried for the first-degree murder of 29-year-old Ehsan Velayati Kababian, also an Iranian refugee.

Kababian died from a bullet to the head while in a parked car near the Twin Falls apartment the pair shared. Police, who found Kolestani in the apartment suffering from a gunshot wound, allege she is the murderer.

Lara says jail officials have denied Kolestani hormone treatments, a regimen she's taken for over five years, for months and have refused to provide her a bra.

“We treat them [transgender inmates] as they need to be treated, and we offer them the kind of treatment that is needed by law,” Jail Administrator Capt. Douglas Hughes said.

Kolestani, who Lara says completely self-identifies as a woman, is despondent over the loss of Kababian. Lara says she eats little, prays often, and cries frequently.

“She called him [Kababian] her husband,” Lara, who does not believe Kolestani is a murderer, said.

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to move Kolestani's trial to another county due to publicity surrounding the case.

Lara said the county suffers from transgender bias, which would make it difficult for Kolestani to have a fair trial.

“Whether Idaho wants to face it or not, we're here,” Lara said. “I think gender's a sensitive issue. When you're challenging someone's definition of normal, they get scared, and fear nurtures ignorance.”