The Unfair Experiences of Transgender Inmates - 1900 Words

In 1994, the US Supreme Court addressed prison rape for the first time when they ruled that Dee Farmer, a transgender female inmate, was a victim of cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Though prison officials knew Dee Farmer was a trans woman, they housed her in a male facility, where she was repeatedly beaten and raped, and subsequently contracted HIV. Farmer argued that prison officials knew that she was vulnerable and at risk for assault but failed to do anything to address the issue. The US Supreme Court ruled that the prison officials violated the Eighth Amendment by â€Å"commit[ing] an act or omission accompanied by ‘deliberate indifference’ to a substantial risk of serious harm to an inmate† (Maruri, 2011, p. 819). Since 1994, several cases related have pushed the issue of transgender inmates in the national conversation. Most recently, Chelsea Manning, who was charged with releasing confidential US military documents came out as transgender over the course of her trial. This helped to focus attention on the experience of transgender inmates in prison . Through the lens of the prison industrial complex, I will explore the experiences of transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming inmates (TIGNC), a population subjected to gross human rights violations as wards of the State. Although the term â€Å"transgender† is most commonly used to someone who does not identify with their sex assigned at birth, those who identify as intersex or who do notShow MoreRelatedIs Labelling Gender Dysphoria A Psychological Illness Constructive?997 Words   |  4 Pagesand other parts of South Asia (Nanda, 1990). This is likely due to the fact that these groups experience a level of acceptance within their societies that is not present for non-cisgender individuals in Western culture. If this is indeed the case, and transgendered individuals in our society experience distress based on a lack of social acceptance, ra ther than based on the condition itself, it is unfair to call it a psychopathology. A condition can not be called a disorder solely on the fact thatRead MoreCommunity Engagement Papers1947 Words   |  8 Pages In this report, I will talk about my community engagement that pertain to LGBT books for prisoners. the main goal here was to get books sent to the LGBT prisoners in the United States. The target of people they send to are queer and transgender. This program has been able to run because of the volunteers and the outside donations that they receive from the public through their advertisement on Facebook, word of mouth and throughout the community engagement with college students and through the