Transgender Prisoners And Transgender Inmates Essay

Transgender people in today’s society have it hard enough; going to prison is even harder due to the risks associated to someone who is transgendered. People who are transgendered risk their health and well-being while being locked up in prison. They face a variety of issues while they are incarcerated such as housing, physical, emotional abuse and most of all denial to their basic medical needs that helps express who they are through their gender.

Imagine being a woman in a men’s prison. For many prisoners, this is the case because most state court correctional decide to sentence transsexual women in transition inmates based on sex assignment, not their identity. Within most dominant U.S. cultures transsexual women in transition are defined as those whose sense of gender is so absolutely opposed to their sex assignment at birth that they individuals desire to live exclusively as the opposite sex, undergo hormone treatments to align with the opposite sex, and sometimes undergo surgery to match their sexual organs with their gender identity (Stirnitzke 291). Often people are

Regarding access to healthcare, transgender individuals often face the most obstructive barriers when attempting to receive care. Whether they are seeking access to hormones, therapy, general health services, reproductive healthcare, or specialty healthcare, transgender patients typically cannot get what they need without jumping through many hoops or hiding their identities. This occurs especially so in cases of intersecting identities -- where an individual is not just transgender, but is transgender and a person of color, disabled, gay, indigenous, undocumented, poor, etc. These intersecting identities interact in multifaceted ways to produce even more barriers for trans individuals seeking healthcare due to healthcare provider bias, insurance requirements, and doctors’ general unwillingness to help coupled with inaccessibility founded on racism, transphobia, homophobia, mental illness stigmatization, etc.

The prison system is set up to house inmates based on their gender; male or female. But, society has evolved and the standard binary system does not apply to most people today, so where does this leave the transgender inmates? Trans inmates, regardless of whether they have been taking hormones before their sentence or not, are housed in the facility that matches their biological gender rather than their identified gender. Transgender inmates, especially trans women, face many obstacles including access health care, violent attacks, and sexual assault, however, if a trans inmate has received sex-reassignment surgery, they will be housed with their identified gender meaning that prisons are housing inmates based on genitals rather than

There is not a plethora of research on the transgender inmate population. Brown and McDuffie (2009) report 750 transgender prisoners were in custody in 2007. The only reason this population is last on the list of importance is because of the limited population. Transgender inmate population pose one of the most challenging legal questions to the DOC. How far does the DOC have to go in providing medical, psychiatric, or surgical needs to those inmates who enter the correctional facility as transgender (Brown & McDuffie, 2009). There has been some successful litigation that has addressed these issues with inmates who have been diagnosed with gender identity disorders (GID). Brown and McDuffie (2009), suggest California has some of the most “comprehensive directive” that allows inmates to continue or initiate “cross-sex hormones for appropriately diagnosed inmates” (p.288). Ultimately, the transgender population pose a real threat to the correctional environment, such as, safety issues and predatory behavior by other inmates. One area of concern for transgender inmate population, because it is such a relatively new population, there are not a lot of facilities medically equipped to care for them properly (Brown & McDuffie, 2009), a lot like the elderly inmate population. This population is as equally at risk of being violated as any of the other special

Correctional providers are also encouraged to provide educational materials for transgender individuals coping with their HIV diagnosis. The second theme pertains to patient safety, which considers safety measures for transgender individuals due to their experience of being targets of violence (Phillips & Patsdaughter, 2010). The acknowledgment of safety concerns validates the experiences and concerns during incarceration. Discharge planning is the third theme ensuring that prior to discharge, individuals will receive sufficient hormone therapy until they find a community provider (Phillips & Patsdaughter, 2010). Connecting transgender

The study used three African American females, two who had previously been residents of the prison, and one who was currently serving time at the same prison. The women and the staff were both asked five questions about challenges, problems, and changes need to be made within the LGBT community in the juvenile justice system. As the women talked about their experience being apart of the LGBT community in prison, one woman talked about how residents as well as staff brought up her sexuality in a negative way. Many cruel things were said to her, which hurt, but because she was perceived as a “tough” girl, the staff did nothing. The staff was grouping her into a stereotype, which should not be acceptable, and were allowing other members of the prison to verbally abuse her. Even if a staff member has certain beliefs about the LGBT community, it is the staff’s duty to protect the residents, straight or not, from any kind of abuse. Another inmate stated that there was a double standard regarding their behavior. If other girls sat close together or held hands, the behavior was ignored. If a woman who was a LGBT member did something of the same nature, it was perceived as a boundary issue and the women would be punished. I feel this is downright unfair. Some of these women are being punished, put in isolation or detention, and treated unfairly because of their sexual

In order to reduce the risk of harm, many prisons have elected to put their transgender inmates into segregation, to keep them away for the general population (Smith, 2012). Administrative segregation is often used the most when housing transgender inmates. This form of segregation is very similar to solitary confinement, meaning that inmates are put in a single cell and left alone for hours at a time (Simopoulos & Khin Khin, 2014). When put into administrative segregation, the inmate often loses various opportunities such as being able to work, having visitation hours, exercise, specified treatment, and other activities (Smith, 2012). It is not unusual for the segregation cells to be less then desirable. Most times they dirty, unkempt and sometime even

This article is about the war on transgender women in US immigration Detention centers. These women are immigrants that are seeking refuge in the United States from their home town as immigrants, because of the torture, sexual violence, and other forms of abuse because of their gender identity. They are to be held in these detention centers awaiting asylum to the United States or they will be deported back if they fail to pass violation cases. Since the United States does not formally have a transgender detention center, these transgendered women are being put into holding cells with men. During this time the men will physically, verbally, and sexually assault them. The caretakers of these women in the detention centers also fall victim to treating them wrong and denying medical care to those who ask of it. HIV-related care and hormone replacement are two of the many medical necessities that these women are turned down from. These women are also for more prone to being put into

Humans have established their own rights in society for many, many years now. However, because some humans differ from the norms that are built in society, they are shunned and denied their rights until they conform to society’s norms. There has been numerous groups of people who have been denied their rights in America. African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and gays have been isolated simply because that is the way that they were born into this world and others do not find them “normal”. There is another group that has also been mistreated though; people who identify themselves as transgendered. A good portion of society is unknowingly misinformed about these kinds of people.

Defined as a person whose biological gender does not conform to their self-identity, transgender people are a class of society that have been subject to severe vulnerability and discrimination over the years. Discrimination and vulnerability is especially apparent when a transgender individual has been incarcerated in a facility or institution. This evaluative essay will firstly highlight and investigate the legalities through the means of acts, policies and/or procedures that limit transgender prisoners of their rights in prison in Queensland, Australia. Secondly, the current status of transgender prisoners in the state of Queensland will closely be compared and contrasted to the degrading and discriminatory values that have been incorporated into the United States of America. In conclusion, the current success of addressing the area of transgender individuals in Queensland’s prisons will be examined, along with any recommendations that can be made to wider accept and provide for transgender prisoners in Queensland.

Blight, Jake. 2006. “Transgender Inmates.” Trends and issues: crime and criminology 16 (8): 1-6. Accessed April 16, 2016. http://aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/tandi_pdf/tandi168.pdf

This paper is about the different issues transgender prisoners face in the United States. Transgender prisoners are often targeted and abused by both inmates and police officials due to being placed in the prisons of their biological sex. Transgenders are a misunderstood group of minorities in the United States. Transgenders do not receive the same health care as other prisoners and do not always receive their hormone therapy. Prisons over the U.S. are trying to find new ways to make better environments for transgender prisoners. Some prisons allow transgenders to buy female and or male products, but with no desecration from police officials it leads to further abuse within the prison and psychological damage to trans prisoner. Transgender

In the article Agnes Goes to Prison Authenticity, Transgender Inmates in Prisons for Men and the Pursuit of “The Real Deal” (Jenness & Fensternmaker, 2013), deals with transgender men living in the California Prison System. The lifestyle and daily struggle to survive as a woman trapped in a man’s body as well as emotional consequence of such a lifestyle is traumatic at best. These men not only have live as women in prison but they have lived their lives as women in their communities as well.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, also known as LGBT population have experienced a great deal of oppression worldwide. These particular individuals undergo discrimination from society, whether for reasons of ignorance, fear or intolerance, this population faces challenges in multiple areas of social justice sexual. Although the LGBT culture has made some strides in the areas of state and federal legislation, there is still a wide range of criminalization that takes place within our culture. Understanding the LGBT community and the history of their oppression may be the first step in becoming culturally competent. For many years this culture was denied their basic constitutional rights that were afforded to their equal heterosexual peers. Basic rights such as, adoption and marriage were uncommon to this culture until the 20th century.