Interview with Miss Major, Community Activist with Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project/ Transgender in Prison Committee
Most people cannot imagine what happens to a transgender person in prison. For instance, a transgender woman who is stuck in a men?s prison will be sexually abused, assaulted and degraded because of how men feel they can treat women. There is never a chance to catch your breath. At any moment that cell can pop open because some guard decides to let some idiot in to calm his nerves at your expense. Nobody wants to be assaulted and nobody wants to be degraded. The system promotes this violence and we carry the burden. And there is no help.
In prisons they also separate us from one another. To control us, they isolate us. If we complain about something happening to us, they put us in segregation. When we do get a chance to be with other girls, we bond with one another. There?s an acknowledgement across barriers such as language. When we see another girl, we give her a smile or a nod to help her keep going because we know some of what she is going through. We know that she is being abused and tortured. That?s why TGIJP?s pen pal program is so important. It helps us believe that this is not going to last forever. Because in prison, you think tomorrow will never come. They can do what they want, beat you up, throw you out, kill you and there?s no one out there who cares.
Our pen pal program hooks up transgender people inside with people on the outside, like myself, that have had a chance to get off that merry-go-round. The recidivism rate is really high. I think that 70% of the girls that get out go back in. You begin to think that it?s a done deal.
My vision is a different solution other than prison. The system is not working. It might be different if they were training, not torturing people in prison. And if people got out with a clean slate. You get out and you still have that stigma. We don’t need more prisons, we need social services, job training, livable housing.
I wish people would talk to us and realize we are no different from anyone else. We don’t want to steal and run around and hook, but if that is all that is presented to you, that’s all you can do. You have to do those things to survive, because you have to eat, and you have to have someplace to live.
There is a thread that links all people together, and if one of us is hurt, we all hurt. We all need support and encouragement for who we are. It’s difficult enough being transgender — to walk down the street and know that you have to keep your eye on everybody. It’s a scary situation. I want us to be safe wherever we go. I want that for everybody.
It is really important that we all support a trial going on right now in San Francisco. Alexis Giraldo is a Latina transgender woman who was brutally raped while incarcerated in a CA State Prison. She complained multiple times to the guards about her cellmate threatening to sexually assault her, but they did nothing and she was repeatedly raped. She went to the authorities and they locked her up and denied her medical attention for two weeks. So she is suing the prison system. It is so important for people to get involved and support this. And for people in prison who are hearing about it- stand up for your rights. You don’t have to take this anymore. Get in touch with somebody. We can at least band together and fight it. They say don’t rock the boat, I say sink it.
Category: Issue 35 – Spring/Summer 2007
Resources for Trans Prisoners
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
322 8th Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001
www.srlp.org
Transgender Law Center
870 Market Street, Room 823
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-865-0176
www.transgenderlawcenter.org
Lambda Legal Defense
3325 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1300
Los Angeles, CA 90010-1729
213-382-7600
www.lambdalegal.org
ACLU of Northern California
Attn: Alex Cleghorn or Tamira Lange
39 Drumm Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-621-2493
www.aclunc.org
Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project/ Transgender in Prison Committee
1095 Market St. Suite 308
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-252-1444
www.tgijp.org
Send legal mail to the above address, c/o Alexander Lee, Attorney at Law
by Karen Shain
In late April, five members of the state legislature and the governor struck a deal that will increase the number of beds available for state prisoners by 53,000! This deal, costing over $7.5 billion dollars over what we already pay to keep people in cages, was passed within 48 hours by both houses of the legislature and signed by the governor a week later. With the exception of a very few republicans and even fewer democrats, the largest prison expansion bill in our state’s history was passed without any public hearings or any time to oppose it! What happened?
This unprecedented expansion comes after learning that the CDCR was secretly rebuilding the death chamber at San Quentin without any approval by the state legislature. It is clear that when it comes to expanding the prison system, those in power feel no responsibility to seek public approval or even public opinion! Just like the current immigration bill that was agreed to by federal legislators using backroom deals and secret negotiations, prison expansion is something that legislators and the CDCR believe must be carried through whether or not the public agrees. Furthermore, the lease revenue bonds that will pay for this new construction (becoming over $15 billion once all the interest is paid) are supposed to be used only for public works that bring in revenue, like public parking lots or sports stadiums. It is a mystery to us how the state legislature determined that building prisons will bring in revenue! But they had to use the lease revenue bonds or bring a prison construction to the state electorate, and polls show that Californians are sick and tired of building prisons and don’t want to pay for any more construction! Finally, the California constitution calls for public comment for legislative bills. AB900 (the bill authorizing all this construction) was passed by suspending the constitution so that no public comment would be heard. (The few senators who voted against AB900 are listed below).
In the wake of this flagrant disregard for public accountability, CURB (which CCWP is part of) held a protest on May 11 outside of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez’s office in L.A. and another one on May 23rd in front of Senate President pro tem, Don Perata’s Oakland Office. CURB is also circulating a petition expressing outrage at the passage of AB900. If you want to circulate the petition write to: CURB,1904 Franklin Street, Suite 504, Oakland, CA 94612
Senators opposed to AB900: Aanestad (R), Cogdill (R), Correa (R),Denham (R), Florez (R), Kuehl (D), McClintock (R), Migden (D), Oropeza (R), Romero (D)
by Myrtle E. Green, California Institution for Women
Myrtle Green is featured on the cover of Legal Services for Prisoner’s report, Dignity Denied calling for the release of elderly prisoners. Myrtle’s situation exposes the cruelty of a system which incarcerates elders despite their eligibility for release, their deteriorating health situation and the illegal overcrowding in the California prisons. Myrtle was found suitable for parole in 2005 but GIVEN A RELEASE DATE IN 2010!! In January ?07 she had a stroke which left her blind in one eye. She sent us this statement.
“I was found suitable for parole on 12/28,/05 with a parole date of June 2010. I am now 75 years old after serving seventeen years for conspiracy. There was no murder nor any attempt made on any one’s life.
At the Board Hearing in 2005 both commissioners and the Deputy District Attorney agreed that I would not be a threat to public safety and that seventeen years was enough. My attorney filed for immediate release on 11/27/06 because of my medical disabilities and the fact that there was no matrix regarding time served for conspiracy. He asked the Board to use a matrix for “other life crimes” with a term of 15 to 17 years. The responding Board Attorney denied this request on 2/22/07. If the Board Attorney had read my Board and Decision Transcripts she would have found none of her statements were true in the denial of my request for immediate release!
I fear that I will die before 2010 and never live to see my daughter and grandchildren. They live in Jackson, MS where I plan to parole. Really, I need to leave here walking – not feet first!”
Please write the Board of Parole Hearings to support Myrtle’s immediate release. Write Myrtle to let her know she has your support.
Board of Parole Hearings
1515 K St.
Suite 600
Sacramento, CA 95814
Myrtle Green
#W32887, MA 31L
16756 Chino-Corona Rd
Corona, CA 92880-9508
by Diana Block
On November 7, 2006, California voters passed Proposition 83, also known as Jessica’s Law, by a 70% yes vote. The new law increases the penalties for sex offenses under Penal Code 290. It requires registered offenders to wear lifelong GPS bracelets to track their every movement. And it makes it illegal for all registered sex offenders to “reside within 2000 feet of any public or private school, or park where children regularly gather.” This makes it virtually impossible for registrants to live in any urban area in California. Proposition 83 also expanded the offenses which require registration as a sex offender to minor offenses such as indecent exposure (Penal Code 314).
CCWP received a letter from a woman who had pled guilty to a charge of indecent exposure many years ago. At the time, she made the plea in order to avoid a more serious conviction on prostitution charges. Now, she is imprisoned for an unrelated incident and years after the indecent exposure plea she is being told that she has to register as a sex offender when she is released! This terrible situation exposes the extremist agenda which motivated this proposition.
Many people who voted for Proposition 83 had no idea of the wide ranging impact this law would have on all sorts of people. The term “sex offender” is used to conjure up an image of a person who preys upon young children and whose behavior is uncontrollable. The fear of the incurable sex offender is being used to pass laws which criminalize increasing numbers of people and have nothing to do with keeping children and communities safe.
There have been several constitutional challenges made to the provisions of Prop 83. So far, there has been one ruling which says that the provisions of Prop 83 cannot be applied retrospectively. However, some confusion still remains as to the exact scope of this ruling. Other challenges regarding the GPS bracelet and the residency restrictions are yet to be decided. To make matters even more confusing, counties are responsible for the implementation of the law and it’s likely that various counties will enforce the law differently according to the resources available for enforcement.
Harsher laws and more punishment will not help California’s prison crisis or solve the fundamental social problems which give rise to sex offenses. We need to advocate for community-based solutions which address the social causes of individual problems and work together to develop restorative methods of change.
CCWP would like to gather information about women and transgender prisoners who are being impacted by Jessica’s law. Please write us with any stories you may know about.
Thanks to the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) for their original opposition to Proposition 83 and for contributing information for this article.