Transgender People in Prison
Prepared by the TGI Justice Project
Note: People with Intersex Condition in Prison
Intersex people are born with external genitalia, internal reproductive organs, and/or endocrine system that are different from most other people. While not all intersex people identify as transgender, many intersex people experience similar abuse and harassment in prison as do transgender prisoners, based on their unique bodies. For more information, please see Intersex Society of North America.
While no one has it easy in prison, transgender, gender variant and intersex prisoners all too frequently experience particular kinds of abuse, harassment and discrimination based on their gender expressions and/or anatomies, as well as their race, HIV-status and other factors. This is due in part to most states’ practices of housing prisoners according to external genitalia (as best it can be determined for some intersex prisoners), generally poor health care inside prisons, racist/white supremacist prison regulations and attitudes of staff, and a lack of oversight over prison staff in general. Most TGI people in prison are low-income TGI women of color, who experience oppression based on their race, class, and gender, among other factors. TGI people in prison have reported the following as examples of this unaddressed human rights crisis:
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Sexual Assault & Rape. People on the MTF-spectrum in men’s prisons are particularly at risk for sexual assault and rape because they occupy one of the lowest rungs in the male prison hierarchy. Thus, they are frequently subjected to sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape. Prison staff are sometimes the perpetrators, but more frequently they are guilty of failing to protect TGI prisoners from obvious risk of sexual assault or rape from other prisoners.
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Sexual Harassment. TGI prisoners in all prisons are at risk for sexual harassment. Prison staff frequently order unnecessary strip-searches to satisfy their “curiosity” over TGI people’s genitalia. Post-op and intersex prisoners, even in women’s prisons, are especially at risk for this type of sexual harassment.
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Physical Assault. TGI prisoners in all prisons are at risk for physical assault from staff and from other prisoners. TGI people’s gender or sexual difference, coupled with society’s general disdain for TGI people, make them inviting and seemingly “accountability-free” targets. For people on the MTF-spectrum in men’s prisons, physical assault often accompanies sexual assault or rape, or is meted out in retaliation for reporting abuse and harassment. For TGI people in women’s prisons, physical assault is more likely from male guards who assume excessive force is necessary to subdue “more masculine women.”
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Verbal Humiliation. Staff in both men’s and women’s prisons frequently verbally demean and humiliate TGI prisoners. Being called “faggot”, “dyke,” as well as racial slurs are everyday occurrences. Ironically, most verbal humiliation is based on TGI people’s perceived homosexuality.
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Medical Neglect. All prisoners suffer from medical neglect by the state’s poor prison health care system. However, the ignorance of most medical providers with regards to TGI health care compounds the problem for TGI people in prison. Prison health care staff lack training as to the long-term effects of hormone therapy (or its sudden discontinuance) and the follow-up care that is necessary, and they are ignorant about other non-transition-related health care needs of TGI prisoners (gynecological exams for post-op transwomen, for example). Prison health care for transgender prisoners frequently does not meet the minimally-accepted professional standards of care.
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Lack of Access to Hormones. California’s policy is to provide hormones for those previously receiving hormones via a doctor’s prescription before entering prison, and for those who have a diagnosis of “gender identity dysphoria” (GID). However, the state, like most other states, is under no obligation to start hormone therapy for transgender, gender variant, or intersex (if applicable) prisoners. Thus, if a TGI person was receiving hormones on the black market before imprisonment, they are denied hormones in prison. Furthermore, if a TGI person was on hormones but they were discontinued by county jails on their way to prison, the state is under no obligation to resume hormone therapy. To date, the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation has provided hormone therapy to only one person the FTM-spectrum, and only after outside organizations threatened to sue on his behalf.
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Discrimination. Policies in men’s prisons against cosmetics and women’s clothing rob women-identified TGI people of their right to their gender identity if they wish to have long hair and makeup. The CDC forbids wearing clothing of the “opposite sex,” so MTFs who have developed breasts are denied bras and people on the FTM-spectrum can be made to wear prison-issue dresses to further humiliate them. MTF prisoners who have developed female physical characteristics are frequently forced to shower in open showers and are strip-searched alongside male prisoners, humiliating them and exposing them to high risk of sexual assault. FTMs and gender variant people in women’s prisons are frequently punished for violating rules against “homosexual contact” for incidental contact with other prisoners because staff are more likely to assume they are sexual predators. When TGI people defend themselves against attack, they are given especially harsh punishment and are often sent into isolation “for their own protection.” Intersex prisoners are sometimes housed in isolation because their bodies defy prison gender categories.
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Ignorance and prejudice from the larger social justice movement. This human rights crisis is further magnified by the ignorance and prejudice of the mainstream anti-prison industrial complex movement, and larger movements for social justice (including mainstream gay & lesbian organizations). Unfortunately, there are only a handful of organizations and people nationwide who work to support TGI people in prison.
For more information, contact:
The TGI Justice Project
1095 Market Street, Suite 308
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel: (415) 252-1444
Fax: (415) 252-1554
GSA Beyond the Binary
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