NCJ Number
240304
Journal
Journal of Race, Gender and Ethnicity Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2010 Pages: 39-56
Date Published
February 2010
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article addresses the critical issue of the placement of transgender inmates into male or female prisons and holding cells based on genitalia rather than the inmate's gender identification.
Abstract
The first part of the article addresses the definition of "transgender" under the legal system. It is those "whose gender identity, their sense of maleness or femaleness, differs from their anatomical sex." The legal system, on the other hand, defines individuals as male or female based on genitalia. When faced with a transgender person, courts insist on determining gender by biological features. The second part of the article reviews the abuse suffered by transgender individuals, from the humiliation in the initial booking process to the sexual assaults suffered repeatedly in prisons, based on prison placement according to genitalia. Examples of such abuse highlight the lack of protocol in place for booking transgender individuals at the beginning of criminal justice processing. Part III of the article analyzes the possible solutions to the placement problems, including placement based on a person's self-identified gender, administrative segregation, and Category B prisons. The latter are prisons that house individuals who declare themselves to be homosexuals or appear to be transgender. The article concludes with a few proposed solutions to provide relatively "quick" relief to transgender inmates while larger policy issues are debated. Among the suggestions are a mandatory training curriculum for deputies, guards, and officers; the re-opening of Category B prisons; and making prison officials, corrections officers, and other prison employees accountable for the mistreatment of transgender inmates. 113 notes