Prisons and Jails Put Transgender Inmates at Risk
During the many months she spent in immigration detention centers and a county jail, Estrella Sánchez, who is seeking asylum, became used to mockery from guards, taunts from fellow inmates and a deep sense of isolation.
Ms. Sánchez, a 28-year-old transgender woman from Mexico, was held in immigration detention for nearly a year, beginning in 2012. She was placed in solitary confinement for a month, solely because of her gender identity. At every place she was held, inmates directed slurs at her in front of guards, who routinely laughed. The harassment she faced in detention was a cruel reminder of the abuse she suffered in Mexico, which she had hoped to escape when she came to the United States in 2005.
*In the United States, transgender people are routinely subjected to harassment, but few are as powerless as those in prison. As more have become vocal about their safety and their rights, prison systems that segregate inmates along conventional gender lines are facing mounting challenges. While a few have changed housing policies, the vast majority have not.
Transgender people are much more likely than the population at large to be imprisoned at some point in their lives. They are at high risk of police discrimination and abuse; many transgender women have been searched or arrested on suspicion of prostitution based on little more than their appearance.
*The Justice Department ruled in April that policies barring transgender inmates from beginning new hormone treatment are unconstitutional, and most states allow the treatment for prisoners in principle. However, 44 percent of transgender prison inmates in a 2014 survey reported being denied hormones."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/opinion/prisons-and-jails-put-transgender-inmates-at-risk.html?_r=0
