De facto punishment of transgender individuals in the penal system.

[BarstowCowboy]

51. Please go back and read the OP

At no time have I proposed that mtf prisoners be forced to live on a male unit. While I would support their having the option to do so, I would understand why that would probably not be a popular choice. All I've said is that transgender prisoners should have the option to live in the general population unit of their choice, rather than being forced to live in solitary confinement. Please don't call my entire thread silly. There are real human beings who aren't guilty of anything that would merit their being sent to live in the inhumane conditions found in solitary confinement, but who languish in solitary confinement just the same simply because they didn't have the good fortune to be born in a body that matched their true identity. These transgender people have been marginalized when they were free, and then after being separated from the rest of society they are further marginalized by being locked in a prison within a prison. I don't know how much you know about the effects of solitary confinement, but there is currently a credible lawsuit in the federal courts that cites several studies that show a link between solitary confinement and mental illnesses that can last a lifetime. Now, I understand that there are some prisoners who are so disruptive and so violent that the authorities have no option other than to segregate them from the rest of the prisoners for the good of everyone involved, and I can't think of a better way of protecting people than what they've already come up with, cruel as it may be. I think the fact that transgender people aren't accommodated, and are instead sent into a living arrangement that was designed as a punishment is a travesty and a true civil rights issue that we will have to address and that we should want to address. It was Fyodor Dostoevsky who said (paraphrased) that you can judge a civilization by how they treat their prisoners. I'm finding that many people have absolutely no interest in the injustices done to prisoners in their name and with their money, and it sickens me.