Araguz booking raises questions about Harris County jail's treatment of transgender inmates
Posted on 16 Jan 2012 at 11:27am
http://www.houstini.com/araguz-booking-raises-questions-about-harris-county-jails-treatment-of-transgender-inmates-1090979.htmlAccording to the Houston Chronicle, Nikki Araguz has been booked into the Harris County Jail after arriving 40 minutes late for a scheduled court appearance on Friday. The court date was to allow Araguz to plead guilty to charges that she stole a watch from an acquaintance last year. Under the proposed plea bargain Araguz would have paid $2,600 in restitution and served 15 days in county jail. State District Judge Vanessa Velasquez, a Republican first appointed to the bench by Gov. Rick Perry, responded to Araguz's apologies for her tardiness with, "It's too late for sorry," ordering bailiffs to escort her to a holding cell next to the courtroom.
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Araguz's booking has raised questions about the Harris County's treatment of transgender detainees. The Sheriff Department's Public Information Inquiry System listed Araguz using her male birth name on Friday. The department has since removed the name from the site's searchable database but has retained the record, listing it under the department's "special person number" (SPN) filing system. The SPN record includes Araguz's birth name. The sheriff's office has not returned calls from Houstini asking why the department is not using Araguz's legal name and if this is common practice.
