Sexual Violence In Prison Inmates

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.

Prisoners that are incarcerated go through many hardships during the course of their sentence. The mistreatment that inmates in prison encounter is unjustifiable in many cases. Amongst the inmates mistreated, transgender prisoners are challenged in many ways with abuse, misconduct, and discrimination. Transgender individuals are people who do not identify themselves with the gender that was assigned at birth. The high-risk profile of being a transgender inmate in prison strikes for deep concern and something needs to be done.

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

Chair holder and Executive Director of Just Detention International, David Kaisner and Lovisa Stannow, in their article, “The Rape of American Prisoners”, divulge into the harrowing statistic of inmates across America. Kaisner and Stannow’s purpose is to shed light on the frequency of inmate-on-inmate rape, staff sexual misconduct, and what ensues afterwards. They adopt an empathetic yet informative tone in order to convey to their readers that these treacherous deeds in fact occur on a daily basis, and many times, the violators do not receive the proper punishments.

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

Large differences were found based on sexual orientation. Of male heterosexuals, 3.5 percent reported victimization by another inmate and 5.2 percent reported victimization by staff. For bisexuals, 24 percent of males reported victimization by another inmate and 18 percent by staff. Homosexual or gay males reported 39 percent victimization by other inmates and 12 percent by staff. Bixexual female inmates reported higher inmate c=victimization (18 percent) than heterosexual inmates (13 percent) or lesbian inmates (13 percent). Lesbian inmates and bisexual female inmates reported an 8 percent rate of victimization.

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

The focus of this research is strictly based on the amounts of violence our prison systems in the United States have on a regular basis. This research is designed to look at all aspects of violence in the prison system and if it is being controlled properly. The amount of physical, emotional, and psychological damages that occurs in many of the victims of this prison violence plays a major roll in creating a heavily, violent prison environment. Other key factors that leads towards violence includes gender, security level, and community outreach. This issue is important because there are over two million people incarcerated in these violent prisons. Each day more and more people are sent to these prisons. Since so many people are continuously

Another ethical problem is that in correctional facilities it is not spoken openly about transgender rights and what can be done to ensure safety for all no matter their gender identity. In an article written by Asmar detailing the experience of Hill, a transgender who identifies herself as a woman in a male prison, was raped by her cellmate. Whenever she asked for help or reported what happened to her, the staff did not believe her. For instance, when she was violently raped by her cellmate she wrote a letter to a nurse who was handing out medications. The nurse’s response to her note was unethical and unprofessional as she asked her if it was real and that “…it better be real” (Asmar, 2015). There are many concerns with the nurse’s response.

Serving a prison sentence for certain crimes is a just punishment, but being denied a necessary medical treatment is torture. The amount of harassment and sexual assault a man experiences in a male prison can be quite high but, the amount of abuse a woman would receive in a male prison is far more tremendous. 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

Prison Rape is no mystery in today 's society. The American media has depicted prison assault as a joke in movies and in music, yet have not understood the degree of how risky this crime is. A few cops even utilize this system as an intends to get an admission from a suspect. A noteworthy obstruction in settling Prison assault is the famous under-reporting of the crime. Just sixteen percent of prison assault casualties report their exploitation. Purposes behind under reporting are apprehension of results, disgrace, blame, shame, and decline to remember agonizing subtle elements. This paper investigates prison assault and its mental and physical mischief to prisoners, as well as to society.

While it may not seem like such a large problem, simply being transgender puts them at risk for sexual harassment or abuse. Prison Rape Elimination Act or PREA has recognized that transgender people have higher risks of being sexually harassed or abused, thus they mandate that these prisoners be assigned to make or female housing. In an article called Transgender Prisoners Face Sexual Assault it says, “PREA also mandates...transgender prisoners be assigned to male or female housing on a case-by-case basis that gives ‘serious consideration’ to the prisoner’s sense of where he or she would be safest.” Stating that based on how the prisoner’s sense of where he or she feel that they would be safer, it should be up to them to decide where they decide to be housed. Why was this situation brought up? In a Pittsburgh jail, Allegheny County Jail, a transgender woman named Jules Williams, was a victim of sexual and physical assault and harassment multiple times while detained there. While Williams identified as a female, she was processed and incarcerated with men. The jail and staff refused to protect Ms. Williams, who was begging to be put into protective custody. Therefore, going against PREA and failing to meet the obligations for transgendered people from the abuse and placing them in unsafe conditions, they were

Correctional institutions are the institutions that serve as rehabilitation centers with aims of correcting offensive acts. The most common corrective institution is a prison that serves not only as a corrective facility but also serves as a venue to instill vocational skills and academic knowledge to inmates. Correctional institution set ups have similar shape or characteristic as that of an organization with a chain of command right from the top to the bottom (Blackburn, n.d)

Notably, female inmates are less likely to report a sexual victimization in the first 24 hours of their admission into a correctional facility when compared to male inmates (Tewksbury and Connor 2014). Other vulnerable inmate populations to staff sexual misconduct are inmates that do not identify as a heterosexual. Non-heterosexuals were twice as likely to be sexually victimized by staff persons than heterosexuals. Specifically, about five percent of prison (5.4%) and jail inmates (4.3%) reported a staff person as their perpetrator of sexual victimization (Beck, 2013). Transgender prison inmates are highly susceptible to staff sexual misconduct (17%), with an even greater rate of transgender jail inmates that have reported sexual misconduct by staff persons (23%) (Beck 2014). Although staff-on-inmate sexual relations are high, such relationships have been described as consensual, if not romantic (Warren et al. 2010). However, from 2007 to 2012, rates of willing sexual relations with staff persons have reduced in prisons and jails (Beck,