News & Resources: Sexual Minorities Face More Violence in Prison

1) Ending Abuse of Transgender Prisoners – TransEquality.org (October 2018) – The National Center for Transgender Equality guide for improving conditions in jails and prisons for LGBTQ inmates. Topics include national standards, legal protections, tools, and strategies.

https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/EndingAbuseofTransgenderPrisoners.pdf

2) How Many Transgender Inmates are There? – BBC (August 2018) – The BBC investigates controversial claims by a feminist group, Fair Play for Women, that transgender male-to-female inmates pose a threat to born-female inmates because the former group comprises a large proportion of persons convicted of sex crimes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42221629

3) Women’s Prisons a Breeding Ground for Sexual Harassment – ThinkProgress.org (August 2018) –  Members of gender minorities are especially at risk for abuse in women’s prisons, where verbal abuse is a constant and they are seen as having chosen to be different. The article presents cases of mistreatment disclosed in a lawsuit against a state prison.

https://thinkprogress.org/sexual-harassment-abuse-womens-prisons-me-too-5231b62c1785/

4) Sex-segregated Jails and Prisons – International Journal of Prisoner Health (2018) – Trans women in jails and prisons often need transition-related health care. The study analyzes interviews with trans women inmates about their experiences with prison health services to uncover a hostile prison culture geared to undermining these respondents’ feminine identity and putting obstacles to accessing needed care.

https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-02-2017-0011

5) Incarceration as a Health Determinant – American Journal of Public Health (July 2018) –  Discusses health issues commonly reported among sexual- and gender-minority persons in prison, and their social determinants.

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304500

6) Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Incarceration – ebook (2018) – Sexual and gender minorities are at high risk for abuse in prison. This chapter summarizes some of the relevant academic research.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jX1aDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT240&dq=abuse+of++gender+minorities+in+prisons&ots=wDb9f42DdA&sig=MVKsSs6ioGt-f8Q9jyg9LWtEQ6U#v=onepage&q&f=true

7) Sexual Minorities in Conflict Zones – ScienceDirect (June 2017) – Little academic research exists on how sexual minorities are affected by the social and institutional breakdowns associated with war. This article offers a summary of the available literature.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2017.06.006

8) Institutionalization and Incarceration of LGBT Individuals (June 2017) – What are the unique physical and mental-health affects on LGBT people from imprisonment and institutionalization?

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54509-7_13

9) Standing With LGBT Prisoners – (2014) – This site provides summarizes the National Center for Transgender Equality’s “An Advocate’s Guide to Ending Abuse and Combatting Imprisonment.”

https://transequality.org/issues/resources/standing-lgbt-prisoners-advocate-s-guide-ending-abuse-and-combating-imprisonment

The entire guide is available here: https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/JailPrisons_Resource_FINAL.pdf

10) Black & Pink LGBT Prisoner Survey (2014) – Black & Pink describes itself as “an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and ‘free world’ allies who support each other. Our work toward the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the specific violence of the prison industrial complex against LGBTQ people, and respond through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing.” In 2014, the group conducted a detailed survey to which over 1,200 prisoners responded and that can be downloaded from their website. It documents the systematic abuse LGBT inmates face from both prison authorities and other inmates.

http://www.blackandpink.org

11) LGBT People and the Prison Rape Elimination Act – NCTE (July 2012) – Coerced sex is commonplace in US prisons. In 2012 the US Department of Justice implemented rules addressing this issue under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). Did PREA prove effective when it comes to protecting sexual-minority inmates?

https://transequality.org/issues/resources/lgbt-people-and-prison-rape-elimination-act

12) Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Policy and Prison Sex – A detailed literature review covering
(I) Consensual Sex and the Prison Environment
(II) Sexual Victimization (Includes BJS Reports / Rates of Nonconsensual Sexual Activity)
(III) Prison Policies and Effect on LBGTQ Inmates – Post PREA
(IV) Conjugal Visitation
(V) Other Research