One Of Our Biggest Fears.

Is being arrested, how will be be treated in jail? Well the courts have something to say.

At a time of anti-trans sentiment, a New York lawsuit brings hope for the community

NPR

By Jaclyn Diaz

August 24, 2023

Amid waves of anti-transgender laws taking effect in the U.S., Makyyla Holland's case is helping to protect LGBTQ+ individuals incarcerated in Broome County, New York.

Holland's original complaint alleged that while incarcerated for six weeks in 2021, the transgender woman was denied access to her medication, including her hormone therapy and antidepressants; was beaten by correctional officers after refusing to take off her clothes in front of male guards; and was forced to live and shower with male inmates.

On Thursday, a settlement was announced. It includes a new countywide policy that mandates the housing of inmates consistent with their gender identity and access to gender-affirming care. Holland will also receive $160,000 as part of the deal.

That is what is “supposed” to happen here but I have heard mixed results. One trans woman reports that is what happened with her, but from other reports the correction officers went by what is between our legs than the law. But the law and what correction officers do are two different things.

Her treatment was a result of the Broome County Jail's "pervasive policies, practices, and customs of discrimination against transgender people and people with disabilities," Holland's attorneys alleged in her lawsuit.

Her experience is one shared by many transgender people incarcerated in the United States. Being forced to stay in prisons and jails that don't align with their gender identity puts transgender individuals at greater risk of assault, discrimination and abuse, NPR's previous reporting has showed.

Holland's lawsuit pointed to the similar experiences of multiple transgender women who were held in custody at the Broome County Jail.

People say you do the crime you do the time. But… we get punished up and beyond our sentences. We are victims of violence in prisons, rape, and abuse by correction officers.

"It would be difficult if not impossible to bring about the kind of wide-scale change we need through individual lawsuits. We need state law to do that," said Gabriella Larios, staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The NYCLU has been working to pass the Gender Identity Respect, Dignity and Safety Act, which would codify all the protections included in the Holland and Faith settlements into state law, said Larios.

Public Act No. 18-4 Section 8:

Sec. 8. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2018) Any inmate of a correctional institution, as described in section 18-78 of the general statutes, who has a gender identity that differs from the inmate's assigned sex at birth and has a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as set forth in the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders", shall: (1) Be addressed by correctional staff in a manner that is consistent with the inmate's gender identity, (2) have access to commissary items, clothing, personal property, programming and educational materials that are consistent with the inmate's gender identity, and (3) have the right to be searched by a correctional staff member of the same gender identity, unless the inmate requests otherwise or under exigent circumstances. An inmate who has a birth certificate, passport or driver's license that reflects his or her gender identity or who can meet established standards for obtaining such a document to confirm the inmate's gender identity shall presumptively be placed in a correctional institution with inmates of the gender consistent with the inmate's gender identity. Such presumptive placement may be overcome by a demonstration by the Commissioner of Correction, or the commissioner's designee, that the placement would present significant safety, management or security problems. In making determinations pursuant to this section, the inmate's views with respect to his or her safety shall be given serious consideration by the Commissioner of Correction, or the commissioner's designee.

Okay, that is the Connecticut law, the $64,000 question is, do they follow it?