Trans Inmates Often Led to Slaughter, Even in Blue States

Transgender people are in every facet of life -- even prison.

Too often, because of physical and sexual assaults, and being housed in facilities according to their birth sex and not their gender identity, these inmates are not only serving time for their crimes, but they are also trying to survive their time while imprisoned.

Jane Doe, a 53-year-old trans woman of color, is trying to survive her time while serving time. And, it has not been easy for her. However, to her transgender inmates, Jane has hit the jackpot. She just recently won her lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Correction to have her moved from the men's prison, MCI-Norfolk, to the state women's prison, MCI-Framingham.

Jane has received hormone therapy for nearly four decades and has lived as a female since a teenager. However, when Jane reported to prison in October 2016, she was told she'd be sent to MCI-Norfolk until she had genital surgery. Consequently, Jane has had to endure trans-misogynistic taunts and accusations of being a "wannabe woman" by both inmates and correctional officers. She has been humiliated while being forced to live, eat, sleep, shower, and use the bathroom with male inmates. She had been strip-searched and exposed to men on a regular basis. Jane recalled an incident where "male guards forced her to stand, cuffed and naked for 30 minutes, in front of the open door to her cell, exposing her body to at least a dozen male prisoners who gawked and made crude sexual remarks about her breasts."

In 2017, Jane sued the state. The lawsuit proved that the Massachusetts Department of Correction discriminated against Jane because she is transgender, violating equal protection of the law as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment, and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to relocate Jane to a women's prison, a vital part of her treatment for gender dysphoria.

Until 2018, when Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a new housing policy for transgender inmates which would enable them to choose which facility to be incarcerated in according to their gender identity, many states, Massachusetts included, have placed inmates in prison facilities according to their anatomy at birth. This insensitive act has put many transgender inmates in harm's way.

Before Baker's bill last April allowed transgender inmates to choose their housing facilities, healthcare practitioners worried about their patients' safety. Many have regularly reached out to me for answers and/or assistance. A typical query:

"I am wondering if you might have any insight into a question.... do you know how Massachusetts defines gender of transgender inmates? If an individual is arrested and jailed while awaiting arraignment and is undergoing transition, are they jailed according to genitalia or by their identifying orientation?"

I know it's a huge question, but I was blindsided when caring for a patient who was assaulted while at Nashua Street Jail; the patient was born male, transitioned to female, had facial feminization, and breast surgery. However, due to having a penis, she is jailed with male inmates -- and shares a cell with a male. Her assault was by a male prisoner. After medical treatment, she was sent back to Nashua Street.

When I spoke to guards there, I was "assured," the person with whom "the subject had a disagreement" was moved to another unit and would no longer be in contact. They refused to comment on whether "the subject" (never using pronoun "she") would be celled with another male. The trans inmate told me, "Of course I will, no one cares about my safety.

Hopefully, with the new housing policy for transgender inmates in Massachusetts, there will be a precipitous decline in assaults against them. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, unwanted sexual activity with other inmates is 10 times higher with transgender inmates than cisgender inmates.

Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition have for years been advocating for trans prisoners with state and local governments to assure these inmates are treated with dignity by allowing trans-related healthcare, appropriate attire, trans-related legal and educational books, to name a few.

Jane Doe is serving a three-to-four year jail sentence for a nonviolent drug offense. She will serve her remaining time in MCI-Framingham, the women's facility. For Jane Doe, it was not only a fight for her life but her dignity, too.