Today's Date: September 26, 2023
Statement - Canadian overseas memorials granted World Heritage status   •   Granite Wins Six Safety and Environmental Awards From NSSGA   •   ERI Featured in New York City’s “Follow Your Waste” Interactive Educational Platform   •   Pivot Bio Expands Leadership Team to Accelerate Momentum   •   Newly formed Senior Living Transformation Company partners with Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) to launch the Senior Livi   •   Strategic Education, Inc. Schedules Third Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call and Provides Registration Details for 2023 Invest   •   Lightbridge Academy Announces First Franchise Signing in Colorado, Bringing High-Quality Early Child Care to the Rocky Mountain   •   Wondershare FamiSafe 7.0 safeguarding Children with AI   •   US Marine Corps Veteran Partners with Local Nonprofit to Combat Those with Housing Insecurity with New Junk Removal Business   •   Kids Help Phone (KHP), Elevate and MaRS announce a $2 Million innovation challenge, aimed at reshaping the youth mental health e   •   Jessica Biella Named Recipient of 2023 Women in Supply Chain Award   •   Atlanta High School Entrepreneurs Benz and Popo Are Empowering Teens Globally During International Strategic Thinking Month   •   New research explores why more people don't tap into home equity to help fund retirement   •   Soluna Project Dorothy 1 Reaches Full Capacity of 50 MW, Company hits 2.6 EH/s Hashrate Milestone   •   Six Weeks After Deployment, Brandenburg Telecom Grows Bark Offering To Help Protect 3X More Kentucky Families From Social Media   •   American BioCarbon Achieves Commercial Pre-certification with Puro.earth   •   NextUp Launches "You Are NextUp" Campaign Celebrating Women in Business   •   AlphaGraphics Make It Happen Event Makeover Contest Announces Final Winners with a Combined Value of $80,000   •   Ascent Protein Partners with Susan G. Komen® with Custom Pink Packaging   •   International Green Industry Hall of Fame to Name Three Inductees in 2023 Virtual Ceremony
Bookmark and Share

ACLU Project Making Jails Safer For Gays

 

PORTLAND, ME - Most Americans can say that they’ve never had the pleasure of spending time in jail or prison. And we don’t really expect jails or prisons to be posh places, but we do expect them to keep those who end up there safe. Transgender Americans, on the other hand, face a different reality. Even a short jail experience, if you’re transgender, can be fraught with indignities, hostility, even violence or sexual assault.

The U.S. Supreme Court made it clear in Farmer v. Brennan that prison administrators who turn a blind eye to the sexual assault of transgender prisoners violate the Constitution. What the Court didn’t address was exactly how prisons and jails should go about keeping transgender prisoners safe.

A few enlightened prison experts have figured out that placement decisions shouldn’t be based on fixed rules about transgender people, such as the “genital rule” most prisons currently follow. Under this rule, a transgender inmate who has lived for many years as a woman is placed in a jail cell with other men, just because she hasn’t had genital surgery. And routine searches of transgender women are often carried out by male, rather than female, staff.

Imagine the risks these practices impose on transgender men and women. A2007 study found that “[s]exual assault is 13 times more prevalent among transgender inmates, with 59 percent reporting being sexuallyassaulted.” (emphasis added).

Recently, the jail administrators at the county jail in Portland, Maine recognized the need to do something to protect transgender detainees and drafted a policy to guide those efforts. The Maine Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU LGBT Project, along with some help from Jennifer Levi at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, were given the opportunity to comment on the draft and the result is a great success. Although there are aspects of it we’d change, the basic structure is exactly right.

It puts into place a Transgender Review Committee that takes into account gender identity (someone’s internal sense of maleness or femaleness) before classifying transgender inmates. Verbal and physical harassment are explicitly prohibited Transgender inmates are allowed to state their preference for whether they’re searched by male or female guards. Inmates can dress and use names or pronouns that fit their gender identity. It’s an extraordinary improvement over the practices in most other jails and prisons. Mainers should be proud.


STORY TAGS: ACLU Project Making Jails Safer For Gays



Back to top
| Back to home page
Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News