Questions remain after Kalena “Peaches” Croskey, a 32-year-old Black transgender woman, was found unresponsive in her jail cell at the Birmingham City Jail on June 18, 2026. Croskey had been in custody since April 20 on charges of disorderly conduct, public intoxication, criminal mischief, and third-degree assault. According to the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, she was discovered during a routine welfare check and could not be resuscitated. The cause and manner of her death have not yet been released.
“She was family,” the organization wrote in a June 15 post. The group, which provides social services to trans people of color, said Croskey brought “light, laughter, and joy” into every space she entered. Despite the challenges she faced throughout her life, they said she never let those struggles define her. Whether she was singing Beyoncé, voguing, doing makeup, or simply making people smile, they described Peaches as someone who consistently found joy in herself and shared that joy with others around her.
The TAKE Resource Center said Croskey’s death highlights ongoing failures within the carceral system. In a Substack post, the organization wrote that “this loss is not accidental,” describing it as a tragic reflection of systemic issues inside jails and prisons. They pointed to a lack of adequate mental health care, along with negligence and broader structural failures, as factors that continue to contribute to deaths in custody.
The organization added that too many people are dying in systems that “cause harm rather than healing,” arguing that incarceration should never result in dehumanization. “Peaches was a human being,” they wrote. “She deserved dignity, respect, compassion, and access to the care she needed.”
