LGBT people in prison
Encyclopedia
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in prisons often face additional challenges as inmates to those of straight, cisgender
inmates.
According to Just Detention International, 67% of all LGBT people report being assaulted while in prison, and LGBT inmates are "among the most vulnerable in the prison population." The vulnerability of incarcerated LGBT individuals has led some facilities to provide protective accommodation for such people, while in other facilities they are housed with the general population.
While much of the available data on LGBT inmates comes from the United States
, Amnesty International
maintains records of known incidents internationally in which LGBT prisoners and those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have suffered torture, ill-treatment and violence at the hands of fellow inmates as well as prison officials.
their sexual identities
while imprisoned, because inmates who are known or perceived as gay, especially lesbians and gay men with stereotypically effeminate or butch
characteristics, face "a very high risk of sexual abuse."
is a scheduled extended visit during which an inmate of a prison is permitted to spend several hours or days in private with visitors, usually family members, in special rooms, trailers or even decorated, apartment-like settings on prison grounds. While the parties may engage in sexual intercourse, in practice an inmate may have several visitors, including children, as the generally recognized basis for permitting such a visit is to preserve family bonds and increase the chances of success for a prisoner's eventual return to life outside prison.
Conjugal visits are customary in most countries. In jurisdictions where there is some form of recognition of same-sex relationships, prisoners may be permitted conjugal visits with a same-sex partner. As of December, 2008, homosexual behaviour remains illegal in over 80 countries (see Homosexuality laws of the world
). Only countries that allow same-sex conjugal visits, or where same-sex conjugal visitation rights have been addressed in law are included on this list, in addition to a sub-list of countries that do not allow conjugal visitation for any inmates at all.
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Caribbean
region
Colombia
Costa Rica
Mexico
Russia
United States
The following countries do not permit conjugal visitation for any inmate:
, LGBT people in prisons often face barriers in seeking basic and necessary medical treatment
, exacerbated by the fact that prison health care staff are often not aware of or trained on how to address those needs
. For example, two transgender prisoners filed suit in January 2008 challenging a Wisconsin
law that bars inmates from receiving hormones or sex reassignment surgery
notwithstanding Principle 9 of The Yogyakarta Principles.
However, on August 31, 2001, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
concluded that Sections 30 and 31 of the Correctional Service of Canada that has sent Synthia Kavanagh, a transsexual male-to-female who has sentenced life for murder in 1989, to the institution for males and prohibited sex reassignment surgery
for her despite the trial judge's recommendation, is the discrimination on the basis of sex and disability in Canadian Human Rights Act
.
Rates of HIV infection are nearly five times higher among incarcerated men in the United States than in the general population, according to a 2002 study by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and AIDS
is the second most frequent cause of death in US prisons. Rape
is a frequent cause of HIV transmission among prisoners, but in most US prisons, inmates are not permitted access to condoms.
and detention
. Jody Marksamer, Shannan Wilber, and Katayoon Majd, writing on behalf of the Equity Project, a collaboration between Legal Services for Children, the National Center for Lesbian Rights
, and the National Juvenile Defender Center, say that LGBT youth are overrepresented in the populations of youth who are at risk of arrest and of those who are confined in juvenile justice facilities in the United States.
Gay and bisexual men are often assumed to be responsible for the preponderance of sexual assault
s perpetrated in prisons. This has been reflected in various American judicial decisions. For example, in Cole v. Flick758 F. 2d 124 (3d Cir. 1985). According to trial documents, four "expert witnesses", all of them prison wardens, testified to the legitimacy of this concern, stating their belief that "a correlation exists between security problems resulting from prison homosexuality and long hair, and that predatory homosexuals are more likely to attack or become involved in a fight over a long-haired inmate than a short-haired one." the court upheld the right of prisons to limit the length of inmates' hair, claiming that allowing them to wear long hair could lead to an increase in attacks by "predatory homosexuals." In Roland v. Johnson,1991 U.S. App. LEXIS 11468 (6th Cir. 1991) the court described "gang
s of homosexual predators." And Ashann-Ra v. Virginia112 F. Supp. 2d 559, 563 (W.D. Va. 2000) contains references to "inmates known to be predatory homosexuals [stalking] other inmates in the showers."
According to a groundbreaking study by Human Rights Watch
, however, "The myth of the 'homosexual predator' is groundless. Perpetrators of rape
typically view themselves as heterosexual and, outside of the prison environment
, prefer to engage in heterosexual activity. Although gay inmates are much more likely than other inmates to be victimized in prison, they are not likely to be perpetrators of sexual abuse."
A related problem is that there is a tendency, among both prison officials and prisoners, to view victimization as proof of homosexuality: "The fact of submitting to rape--even violent, forcible rape--redefines [a prisoner] as 'a punk, sissy
, queer
.'" Officials sometimes take the view all sex involving a gay prisoner is necessarily consensual
, meaning that victims known or perceived to be gay may not receive necessary medical treatment, protection, and legal recourse, and perpetrators may go unpunished and remain able to perpetrate abuse on their victims:
According to Andrea Cavanaugh Kern, a spokesperson for Stop Prisoner Rape, the combination of high rates of sexual assault against gay prisoners and high rates of HIV infection in the prison population is "a life-or-death issue for the LGBT community."
While much of the data regards male prisoners, according to Amnesty International, "perceived or actual sexual orientation has been found to be one of four categories that make a female prisoner a more likely target for sexual abuse."
. Although homosexuality is "generally regarded as a factor supporting an inmate's claim to protective custody," homophobia
among prison officials and a misperception among many guards that "when a gay inmate has sex with another man it is somehow by definition consensual" mean that access to such custody is not always easy or available.
Another problem is that protective and disciplinary custody are often the same, which means that prisoners in "protective housing" are often held with the most violent inmates
in highly restrictive and isolated settings—sometimes in more or less permanent lockdown
or solitary confinement
--that prevent them from participating in drug treatment, education
and job-training programs, from having contact with other prisoners or outside visitors, or from enjoying privileges such as the right to watch television, listen to the radio, or even to leave their cells
.
In other cases, institutions may have special areas (known by such nicknames as the "gay tank," "queen
tank," or "softie tank") for housing vulnerable inmates such as LGBT people, elderly or disabled prisoners, or informers. In San Francisco, for example, transgender inmates are automatically segregated from other prisoners. Nevertheless, according to Eileen Hirst, San Francisco Sheriff's Chief of Staff, being gay is not in itself enough to justify a request for protective housing: inmates requesting such housing must demonstrate that they are vulnerable.
For financial or other reasons segregated housing is not always available. At Rikers Island
, New York City
's largest jail, the segregated unit for LGBT prisoners, known as "gay housing," was closed in December 2005 citing a need to improve security. The unit had opened in the 1970s due to concerns about abuse of LGBT prisoners in pretrial detention
. The New York City Department of Corrections' widely criticised plan was to restructure the classification of prisoners and create a new protective custody system which would include 23-hour-per-day lockdown (identical to that mandated for disciplinary reasons) or moving vulnerable inmates to other facilities. Whereas formerly all that was required was a declaration of homosexuality or the appearance of being transgender, inmates wanting protective custody would now be required to request it in a special hearing
.
. Even transgender women with breast
s may be locked up with men, leaving them vulnerable to violence and sexual assault, as occurred with the case of Dee Farmer, a pre-operative transsexual woman with breast implants who was raped when she was housed in a men's prison. Transgender men housed in women's prisons also face abuse, often more from guards than other inmates.
Cisgender
Cisgender is an adjective used in the context of gender issues and counselling to refer to a class of gender identities formed by a match between an individual's gender identity and the behavior or role considered appropriate for one's sex.Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook defined "cisgender"...
inmates.
According to Just Detention International, 67% of all LGBT people report being assaulted while in prison, and LGBT inmates are "among the most vulnerable in the prison population." The vulnerability of incarcerated LGBT individuals has led some facilities to provide protective accommodation for such people, while in other facilities they are housed with the general population.
While much of the available data on LGBT inmates comes from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
maintains records of known incidents internationally in which LGBT prisoners and those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have suffered torture, ill-treatment and violence at the hands of fellow inmates as well as prison officials.
Coming out
Many LGBT inmates who are able, even those who are openly gay outside of prison, carefully hideThe Closet
The Closet may refer to:* The Closet , Chinese film* The Closet , French film* The closet, referring to undisclosed homosexuality- See also :* Closet* Closet * In the closet...
their sexual identities
Sexual identity
Sexual identity is a term that, like sex, has two distinctively different meanings. One describes an identity roughly based on sexual orientation, the other an identity based on sexual characteristics, which is not socially based but based on biology, a concept related to, but different from,...
while imprisoned, because inmates who are known or perceived as gay, especially lesbians and gay men with stereotypically effeminate or butch
Butch and femme
Butch and femme are LGBT terms describing respectively, masculine and feminine traits, behavior, style, expression, self-perception and so on. They are often used in the lesbian, bisexual and gay subcultures...
characteristics, face "a very high risk of sexual abuse."
Conjugal visits
A conjugal visitConjugal visit
A conjugal visit is a scheduled extended visit during which an inmate of a prison is permitted to spend several hours or days in private, usually with a legal spouse...
is a scheduled extended visit during which an inmate of a prison is permitted to spend several hours or days in private with visitors, usually family members, in special rooms, trailers or even decorated, apartment-like settings on prison grounds. While the parties may engage in sexual intercourse, in practice an inmate may have several visitors, including children, as the generally recognized basis for permitting such a visit is to preserve family bonds and increase the chances of success for a prisoner's eventual return to life outside prison.
Conjugal visits are customary in most countries. In jurisdictions where there is some form of recognition of same-sex relationships, prisoners may be permitted conjugal visits with a same-sex partner. As of December, 2008, homosexual behaviour remains illegal in over 80 countries (see Homosexuality laws of the world
Homosexuality laws of the world
Laws affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people vary greatly by country or territory—everything from legal recognition of same-sex marriage or other types of partnerships, to the death penalty as punishment for same-sex sexual activity or identity.LGBT-related laws include but...
). Only countries that allow same-sex conjugal visits, or where same-sex conjugal visitation rights have been addressed in law are included on this list, in addition to a sub-list of countries that do not allow conjugal visitation for any inmates at all.
Same-sex conjugal visitation by country
ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
- Opposite-sex conjugal visits have long been permitted, but a case in the central province of CórdobaCórdoba, ArgentinaCórdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province. Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with...
has authorized same-sex conjugal visits as well. The ruling came after an inmate was twice punished with solitary confinement for having sex with his visiting partner in his cell. The inmate brought a lawsuit on the basis of a law that obliges authorities to "guarantee (the availability of) intimate relations for prisoners with their spouses or, alternatively, with their (partners)."
Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
- In Australia, conjugal visits are only permitted in the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. This includes visits by partners of the same-sex, provided they are not also incarcerated. Conjugal visits of any type are not allowed in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
- Same-sex conjugal visits, for a maximum of two hours per month, are permitted for both men and women.
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
- Same-sex conjugal visits are permitted for all inmates.
Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
- All inmates, with the exception of those on disciplinary restrictions or at risk for family violence, are permitted "Private Family Visits" of up to 72 hours' duration once every two months. Eligible visitors, who may not themselves be prison inmates, are: spouse, or common-law partner of at least six months; children; parents; foster parents; siblings; grandparentGrandparentGrandparents are the parents of a person's own parent, whether that be a father or a mother. Every sexually-reproducing creature who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic grandparents, eight genetic great-grandparents, sixteen genetic great-great-grandparents, etc...
s; and "persons with whom, in the opinion of the institutional head, the inmate has a close familial bond." Food is provided by the institution but paid by the inmates and visitors, who are also responsible for cleaning the unit after the visit. During a visit, staff members have regular contact with the inmate and visitors.
Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
region
- Conjugal visits are not permitted in the Caribbean. Marcus Day, adviser to the Association of Caribbean Heads of Corrections and Prison Services has urged the implementation of opposite-sex conjugal visitation for male inmates and the provision of condoms within prisons in an effort to stop the spread of HIV. Day attributes the spread of HIV/AIDS in prisons to "homosexual relationships among otherwise heterosexual men and homosexual rape," situations he said are rife in Caribbean prisons:"Allow men to have the women come and visit them in prison and have a private room where they can make love to each other and the desire to have same-sex relationships will be greatly reduced," claimed Day.
Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
- On October 11, 2001, the Colombian Supreme Court issued a verdict in favour of the right to same-sex conjugal visits in a case brought by Alba Nelly Montoya, a lesbian in the Risaralda Women's Prison. This was not the first case regarding same-sex conjugal visitation in the country. Marta Alvarez, another lesbian inmate, had been campaigning since 1994 for the same right, and on October 1, 1999 her case became the first ever sexual orientation-related case presented before the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights. In her petition, Alvarez had argued that her rights to personal dignity, integrity, and equality were being infringed upon by the denial to allow her conjugal visits in prison, since the Colombian National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC)National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Colombia)The National Penitentiary and Prison Institute, INPEC, is the Colombian central government agency responsible for the incarceration and rehabilitation of convicted criminal offenders, and administration of the penitentiary institutions in the country...
granted conjugal visitation rights in a discriminatory fashion to heterosexual men and women (the latter restricted to visits from husbands only), and denied this right to same-sex couples.
- While the Colombian government admitted its failure to grant conjugal visitation to Alvarez constituted "inhuman and discriminatory" treatment, it continued to deny such visits, arguing reasons of security, discipline, and morality. Alvarez was also subjected to retaliatory disciplinary measures, including being transferred to a men's prison, which ceased following a domestic and international protest campaign.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
- In August of 2008, the Costa Rican Constitutional Tribunal rejected a man's appeal in a lawsuit against prison authorities who stopped his conjugal visits to his male partner, a current inmate, ruling that gay inmates do not have the right to conjugal visits. The court recently rejected this ruling and now allows same-sex conjugal visits. http://latindispatch.com/2011/10/13/conjugal-visits-for-gay-couples-legalized-in-costa-rica/
Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
- In July 2007, the Mexico CityMexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
prison system began allowing same-sex conjugal visits on the basis of a 2003 law which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
- Same-sex long or official visits are prohibited, but short visits for friends can be organised if one is imprisoned in a so-called kolonija-poselenie. Official sex in prison is possible only during the 1-3 day long visit of a registered heterosexual spouse.
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- In June 2007, the California Department of Corrections became the only US state to permit same-sex conjugal visits when it enacted a same-sex conjugal visit policy to comply with a 2005 state law requiring state agencies to give the same rights to domestic partners that heterosexual couples receive. The new rules allow for visits only by registered domestic partners who are not themselves incarcerated. Further, the domestic partnership must have been established before the prisoner was incarcerated.
The following countries do not permit conjugal visitation for any inmate:
- United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
), New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
Health care
According to Masen Davis, Executive Director of the Transgender Law CenterTransgender Law Center
The Transgender Law Center is a San Francisco-based civil rights organization advocating for transgender communities. They are California's first "fully staffed, state-wide transgender legal organization" and were initially a fiscally sponsored project of the National Center for Lesbian Rights...
, LGBT people in prisons often face barriers in seeking basic and necessary medical treatment
LGBT issues in medicine
LGBT topics in medicine are those that relate to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people's health issues and access to health services. According to the US Gay and Lesbian Medical Association , besides HIV/AIDS, issues related to LGBT health include breast and cervical cancer, hepatitis,...
, exacerbated by the fact that prison health care staff are often not aware of or trained on how to address those needs
LGBT issues in medicine
LGBT topics in medicine are those that relate to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people's health issues and access to health services. According to the US Gay and Lesbian Medical Association , besides HIV/AIDS, issues related to LGBT health include breast and cervical cancer, hepatitis,...
. For example, two transgender prisoners filed suit in January 2008 challenging a Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
law that bars inmates from receiving hormones or sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
notwithstanding Principle 9 of The Yogyakarta Principles.
However, on August 31, 2001, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is an administrative tribunal established in 1977 by the Canadian Human Rights Act. It is directly funded by the Parliament of Canada and is independent of the Canadian Human Rights Commission which refers cases to it for adjudication under the Act.The Tribunal...
concluded that Sections 30 and 31 of the Correctional Service of Canada that has sent Synthia Kavanagh, a transsexual male-to-female who has sentenced life for murder in 1989, to the institution for males and prohibited sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
for her despite the trial judge's recommendation, is the discrimination on the basis of sex and disability in Canadian Human Rights Act
Canadian Human Rights Act
The Canadian Human Rights Act is a statute originally passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be victims of discriminatory practices based on a set prohibited grounds such as gender, disability, or...
.
Rates of HIV infection are nearly five times higher among incarcerated men in the United States than in the general population, according to a 2002 study by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
is the second most frequent cause of death in US prisons. Rape
Prison rape
Prison rape commonly refers to the rape of inmates in prison by other inmates or prison staff.In 2001, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 140,000 inmates had been raped while incarcerated. and there is a significant variation in the rates of prison rape by race...
is a frequent cause of HIV transmission among prisoners, but in most US prisons, inmates are not permitted access to condoms.
LGBT youth prisoners
According to some studies, LGBT youth are particularly at risk for arrestArrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
and detention
Detention of suspects
The detention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, remand prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing. One criticism of pretrial detention is that eventual acquittal can be a somewhat hollow victory, in that there is no way to...
. Jody Marksamer, Shannan Wilber, and Katayoon Majd, writing on behalf of the Equity Project, a collaboration between Legal Services for Children, the National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Lesbian Rights
The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national non-profit, public interest law firm that advocates for equitable public policies affecting the LGBT community, provides free legal assistance to LGBT clients and their legal advocates, and conducts community education on LGBT legal issues. It...
, and the National Juvenile Defender Center, say that LGBT youth are overrepresented in the populations of youth who are at risk of arrest and of those who are confined in juvenile justice facilities in the United States.
Physical and sexual abuse
According to Amnesty International, globally, LGBT prisoners and those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, are at risk of torture, ill-treatment and violence from other inmates as well as prison officials. Amnesty International cites numerous cases internationally where LGBT inmates are known to have been abused or murdered by prison officials or fellow inmates.Gay and bisexual men are often assumed to be responsible for the preponderance of sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
s perpetrated in prisons. This has been reflected in various American judicial decisions. For example, in Cole v. Flick758 F. 2d 124 (3d Cir. 1985). According to trial documents, four "expert witnesses", all of them prison wardens, testified to the legitimacy of this concern, stating their belief that "a correlation exists between security problems resulting from prison homosexuality and long hair, and that predatory homosexuals are more likely to attack or become involved in a fight over a long-haired inmate than a short-haired one." the court upheld the right of prisons to limit the length of inmates' hair, claiming that allowing them to wear long hair could lead to an increase in attacks by "predatory homosexuals." In Roland v. Johnson,1991 U.S. App. LEXIS 11468 (6th Cir. 1991) the court described "gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
s of homosexual predators." And Ashann-Ra v. Virginia112 F. Supp. 2d 559, 563 (W.D. Va. 2000) contains references to "inmates known to be predatory homosexuals [stalking] other inmates in the showers."
According to a groundbreaking study by Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, however, "The myth of the 'homosexual predator' is groundless. Perpetrators of rape
Prison rape
Prison rape commonly refers to the rape of inmates in prison by other inmates or prison staff.In 2001, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 140,000 inmates had been raped while incarcerated. and there is a significant variation in the rates of prison rape by race...
typically view themselves as heterosexual and, outside of the prison environment
Prison sexuality
Prison sexuality deals with sexual relationships between confined individuals or those between a prisoner and a prison employee . Since prisons are separated by gender, most sexual activity is conducted with a same-sex partner, often in contradiction to a person's normal social sexual orientation...
, prefer to engage in heterosexual activity. Although gay inmates are much more likely than other inmates to be victimized in prison, they are not likely to be perpetrators of sexual abuse."
A related problem is that there is a tendency, among both prison officials and prisoners, to view victimization as proof of homosexuality: "The fact of submitting to rape--even violent, forcible rape--redefines [a prisoner] as 'a punk, sissy
Sissy
Sissy is a pejorative term for a boy or man who violates or does not meet the traditional male gender role. Generally, sissy implies a lack of the courage and stoicism which are thought important to the male role...
, queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
.'" Officials sometimes take the view all sex involving a gay prisoner is necessarily consensual
Consent (criminal)
In criminal law, consent may be used as an excuse and prevent the defendant from incurring liability for what was done. For a more general discussion, see Dennis J. Baker, "The Moral Limits of Consent as a Defense in the Criminal Law," 12 New Criminal Law Review ; Dennis J...
, meaning that victims known or perceived to be gay may not receive necessary medical treatment, protection, and legal recourse, and perpetrators may go unpunished and remain able to perpetrate abuse on their victims:
According to Andrea Cavanaugh Kern, a spokesperson for Stop Prisoner Rape, the combination of high rates of sexual assault against gay prisoners and high rates of HIV infection in the prison population is "a life-or-death issue for the LGBT community."
While much of the data regards male prisoners, according to Amnesty International, "perceived or actual sexual orientation has been found to be one of four categories that make a female prisoner a more likely target for sexual abuse."
Segregation
For their own safety, LGBT people in prison are sometimes placed in administrative segregation or protective custodyProtective custody
Protective custody is a type of imprisonment to protect a prisoner from harm, either from outside sources or other prisoners. Many administrators believe the level of violence, or the underlying threat of violence within prisoners, is a chief factor causing the need for PC units...
. Although homosexuality is "generally regarded as a factor supporting an inmate's claim to protective custody," homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
among prison officials and a misperception among many guards that "when a gay inmate has sex with another man it is somehow by definition consensual" mean that access to such custody is not always easy or available.
Another problem is that protective and disciplinary custody are often the same, which means that prisoners in "protective housing" are often held with the most violent inmates
Prison riot
A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners in attempt to force change or express a grievance....
in highly restrictive and isolated settings—sometimes in more or less permanent lockdown
Lockdown
There are several definitions for the term lockdown, the most common of which pertains to a state of containment or a restriction of progression....
or solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
--that prevent them from participating in drug treatment, education
Prison education
Prison education, by Daryl Kuissi also known as Inmate Education and Correctional Education, is a very broad term that encompasses any number of educational activities occurring inside a prison. These educational activities include both vocational training and academic education...
and job-training programs, from having contact with other prisoners or outside visitors, or from enjoying privileges such as the right to watch television, listen to the radio, or even to leave their cells
Prison cell
A prison cell or holding cell or lock-up is a small room in a prison, or police station where a prisoner is held.Prison cells are usually about 6 by 8 feet in size with steel or brick walls and one solid or barred door that locks from the outside. Many modern prison cells are pre-cast. Solid doors...
.
In other cases, institutions may have special areas (known by such nicknames as the "gay tank," "queen
Queen (gay slang)
In gay slang, queen is a term used to refer to flamboyant or effeminate gay men. The term can either be pejorative or celebrated as a type of self-identification.-Drag queen:...
tank," or "softie tank") for housing vulnerable inmates such as LGBT people, elderly or disabled prisoners, or informers. In San Francisco, for example, transgender inmates are automatically segregated from other prisoners. Nevertheless, according to Eileen Hirst, San Francisco Sheriff's Chief of Staff, being gay is not in itself enough to justify a request for protective housing: inmates requesting such housing must demonstrate that they are vulnerable.
For financial or other reasons segregated housing is not always available. At Rikers Island
Rikers Island
Rikers Island is New York City's main jail complex, as well as the name of the island on which it sits, in the East River between Queens and the mainland Bronx, adjacent to the runways of LaGuardia Airport. The island itself is part of the borough of the Bronx, though it is included as part of...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's largest jail, the segregated unit for LGBT prisoners, known as "gay housing," was closed in December 2005 citing a need to improve security. The unit had opened in the 1970s due to concerns about abuse of LGBT prisoners in pretrial detention
Detention of suspects
The detention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, remand prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing. One criticism of pretrial detention is that eventual acquittal can be a somewhat hollow victory, in that there is no way to...
. The New York City Department of Corrections' widely criticised plan was to restructure the classification of prisoners and create a new protective custody system which would include 23-hour-per-day lockdown (identical to that mandated for disciplinary reasons) or moving vulnerable inmates to other facilities. Whereas formerly all that was required was a declaration of homosexuality or the appearance of being transgender, inmates wanting protective custody would now be required to request it in a special hearing
Hearing (law)
In law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer, such as a government agency.A hearing is generally distinguished from a trial in that it is usually shorter and often less formal...
.
Transgender issues
Transgender prisoners are especially vulnerable in US prisons due to a general policy of housing them according to their birth gender regardless of their current appearance or gender identityGender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
. Even transgender women with breast
Breast
The breast is the upper ventral region of the torso of a primate, in left and right sides, which in a female contains the mammary gland that secretes milk used to feed infants.Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues...
s may be locked up with men, leaving them vulnerable to violence and sexual assault, as occurred with the case of Dee Farmer, a pre-operative transsexual woman with breast implants who was raped when she was housed in a men's prison. Transgender men housed in women's prisons also face abuse, often more from guards than other inmates.