After Abuse Under State Supervision, Transgender Connecticut Teen Held in Solitary Without Charge
May 8, 2014
We look at the case of "Jane Doe," a 16-year-old transgender girl of color in Connecticut imprisoned in solitary confinement without any criminal charges. One month ago today, a Superior Court judge ordered her sent to prison after the Connecticut Department of Children and Families requested the transfer, claiming they could not safely care for her. The move is allowed under a rarely used Connecticut statute. To justify sending Jane Doe to prison, DCF cited her alleged history of violent behavior. But in an affidavit to the court, Jane Doe wrote: "I feel that DCF has failed to protect me from harm and I am now thrown into prison because they have refused to help me." She goes on to detail how she was repeatedly sexually and physically abused between the ages of eight and 15, at the hands of both relatives and DCF staff, all while she was under DCF’s supervision. Describing her confinement at an adult women’s prison in Niantic, Connecticut, Doe wrote in an op-ed for The Hartford Courant: "I’m in my room 22 hours a day with a guard staring at me — even when I shower and go to the bathroom. It’s humiliating. Women constantly scream and cry and it was hard to sleep. They moved me down a different hallway where it’s not as crazy. I tell myself that this is just a nightmare, but it doesn’t end." We are joined by Jane Doe’s lawyer, Aaron Romano, and Chase Strangio, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project.
Transcript
snip*Well, to talk more about Jane Doe’s case, we’re joined by Aaron Romano, Jane Doe’s lawyer in federal court. He’s speaking to us by audio stream from Hartford, Connecticut. And here in New York we’re joined by Chase Strangio, staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT Project.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Let’s begin with Aaron Romano. Tell us just where Jane Doe is now and what has happened to her?
AARON ROMANO: So, Jane Doe is in an adult female facility in Connecticut. There’s only one female facility in Connecticut. And because of her status as a juvenile, she has to be separated from any and all—from sight and sound from any and all adults. So she’s in virtual isolation from anyone else in that jail.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And why are they—why is the state claiming that they have so much problem being able to handle her?
AARON ROMANO: Well, you covered that a little bit here. She was in DCF supervision from the age of five and sexually abused from the age of eight through 15. So that was about seven years of sexual abuse that she suffered. While she was in a residential treatment facility, through DCF supervision, a staff member aggressively approached her, placed her in an illegal restraint. That staff member was later discharged for that illegal restraint. And she defended herself. After experiencing sexual abuse for close to seven years, a child will have a certain sensitivity to touch or approach and may interpret certain situations from a very defensive perspective. And the staff should have been well aware of that. So in response to that, DCF just wanted to pass the buck on, so to speak, to the Department of Corrections, and they wanted to just dump her on the Department of Corrections and say, "Listen, we don’t want to take care of her anymore. You take care of her."
in full: http://www.democracynow.org/2014/5/8/after_abuse_under_state_supervision_transgender
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