Today's Date: March 28, 2024
Dawson-Forté Cashmere Shareholders Sell Majority Equity Stake to Tempus Partners   •   Pushing Policy: Women Uniting for Legislative Change; Four Trailblazing women at the forefront of the Quad Caucus   •   Sila Moses Lake Manager Rosendo Alvarado to Speak at Big Bend Community College Building the Future Energy Workforce Event   •   Terragia Secures $6M to Develop Cost-Competitive, Low-Carbon Biofuel Technology   •   Argonne-Supported Critical Materials Assessment Tags Potential Supply Chain Bottlenecks   •   Gale Primary Sources Release Four New Archives Devoted to Contributions from Underrecognized Communities   •   Consolidated Credit Launches Free Webinar Series to Empower Individuals During Challenging Economic Climate   •   Key Piece of “Titanic” Movie Memorabilia Purchased By Titanic Museum Attraction   •   Impacts of Extreme Weather on Interior Design Examined in New Research   •   RICE Announces Strategic Leadership Additions, Cementing Its Role as the Nation's Largest Entrepreneurial Hub   •   80 M/other Artists Converge for MICAfest 2024 in Northampton, MA this May   •   More $10-a-day child care spaces   •   New Report Shows Massachusetts Customers Could Have Saved Hundreds of Millions in 2024 Through Competitive Energy Supply   •   Scotiabank ranks on The Globe and Mail's annual Women Lead Here benchmark of executive gender diversity for the fourth consecuti   •   Impact Communications Signs Best-Selling Book Author and Financial Advisor Coach Derrick Kinney   •   Chevron Announces Opening of Fab Labs at HBCUs   •   JAMS Diversity Fellowship Accepting Applications   •   Bill Introduced in Minnesota Would Increase Access To Genetic Testing   •   MDA SPACE INCLUDED IN THE GLOBE & MAIL'S ANNUAL WOMEN LEAD HERE RANKING   •   Paralyzed Veterans of America to honor former Senator Elizabeth Dole with 2024 Gordon H. Mansfield Congressional Leadership Awar
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