NEW ORLEANS - A federal lawsuit says a transgender inmate was raped after being locked up with a male prisoner last year in the newly opened New Orleans jail.

The lawsuit says the victim is a transgender woman arrested last September for failing to appear in court on a disturbing the peace charge. The suit names Sheriff Marlin Gusman, a jail warden and a deputy as defendants.

The lawsuit claims she was put into a cell with a violent inmate who raped her. It also claims a guard didn't respond to screams for help.

Gusman heralded the opening of the new jail building as a milestone in reforming the violent New Orleans lockup. Critics say problems from the old lockup persisted, including failures to properly classify and separate violent inmates from vulnerable ones.