Transgender Visibility Day
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
March 31st marks International Transgender day of visibility. Today, we take a moment to acknowledge the existence of transgender people inside U.S. prisons, and recognize that they are not getting the care they need and are unduly targeted by guards, other inmates, and the system due to their gender expression. Trans individuals are almost always housed in prisons that match the gender of their birth certificate, not that of their identity and lived experience. A recent study showed:
only 10 out of 1000 trans women in the Federal Prison system were placed in women's prisons.
15 of 4,890 incarcerated transgender people in state prison systems were placed according to their current gender identity.
Washington state holds only 2 out of 106 trans individuals to reside in prisons that match their identity.
This practice places individuals in unsafe situations where abuse based on their gender identity is common, and the psychological toll of being told you are something you aren’t is exhausting.
Not only are incarcerated trans people not allowed access to gender-affirming living spaces, they are not given access to vital gender affirming care either, creating serious mental and physical illness risks.
In February, the federal prison system released a new policy stating that they would stop providing any gender affirming medical or social care, while using deeply offensive and transphobic language. Specifically, trans individuals will no longer have access to surgery, clothing, or toiletries that would affirm their identities. Those on hormone medications will be forced to taper their prescriptions until they have none. This policy marks a turn for the worse in the area of humane prison policy.
Although gender affirming care and placement has not been extended to the majority of those that need it, it has technically been available, allowing room forward progress. This policy and the language it employs marks a hard shift into directly expressing harmfully normative and transphobic values that we will likely see trickle down to multiple state systems as well.
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Authored by Ella Foskett
