Transgender prisoner in US wants sex-change operation to prevent rape

[Natasha]

Transgender prisoner in US wants sex-change operation to prevent rape

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/435879.php
4/21/11

Los Angeles, Apr 21: A transgender prisoner has made a legal appeal for a sex-change operation, saying that she is harassed and sexually assaulted by male prisoners.


Lyralisa Stevens, 42, who was born male but lives as a female, is serving 50 years to life in a California prison for killing a San Bernardino County woman with a shotgun in a dispute over clothes.

Stevens is one of more than 300 inmates in the state prison system diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder, a psychiatric condition addressed in free society with hormone replacement therapy and, in some cases, sex reassignment surgery.

[spacial]

argues in her court case that the cocktail of estrogen and testosterone-blockers the state has provided since her incarceration in 2003 are no longer adequate to combat her emotional distress.

Very sad, but this scum bag murdered someone.

[umop ap!sdn]

What a stupid crime to commit, especially over something so petty. Now she claims she is being mistreated, them's the breaks, prison is supposed to be unpleasant.

[Imadique]

Sarah7 has nailed it but I think the biggest issue here is worrying about Darklady finding this article...

[Arch]

A psychiatric condition, huh? Nice article.

The way I figure it, either SRS is medically necessary for trans people, or it isn't. If this gal is trans and needs the surgery, then the surgery is medically necessary and she should have it, even if the taxpayers have to pick up the tab. So for those of you who consider SRS necessary for yourselves or other non-prisoners, well, I think it's a bit inconsistent to say that a prisoner shouldn't have it.

Yes, it is unfair that a prisoner should get such treatment on the taxpayers' dime when a lot of us have to pay for our surgeries out of our own pockets. But it is also unfair that prisoners get some level of medical care (even if it's not that great) when lots of poor people in this country can't afford any medical care at all. Or exercise equipment, or TV, or enough to eat (even if it isn't gourmet), or clothes or shelter. The system needs to be fixed, obviously, but we already know that.

If she is trans, she doesn't belong in a male prison.

[tekla]

I'm with Arch, put her in a female prison, because they won't rape her, they'll just kill her.

[RabbitsOfTheWorldUnite]

I'm with Arch, put her in a female prison, because they won't rape her, they'll just kill her.

Indeed! The men would keep her alive just so they can have some decent sex while the women have every reason to take revenge as she murdered a woman.  I say we should throw her to the lion(ess)! Grant her wish and put her in with the female general population.
The economics of the situation:
Plan A, no SRS
50 years in jail: $25.000 per yer for a total state cost of $1,250,000

Plan B, with SRS
Surgery: $50,000
1 year in jail before death by female inmate: $25,000
Total cost: $75,000

Potential savings if we grant a muderers wish: $1,1750,000
!!!

[tekla]

Rough justice is still some justice.

[spacial]

I also understand your point Arch. If she can provide the necessary costs, as almost every other American has to do, then she should be allowed to get the surgery.

But this woman is a criminal. She has committed and terrible crime and is paying for it. That will limit her ability to earn a decent living so being able to save up. Equaly, it seems unlikely that the family of the person sh murdered will be ready to help.

Prisoners lose quite a lot from being in prison. The solution is not to go there.

I'm very sorry for her suffering as a result of not having access to surgery. I and others here, who have never broken the law, (or who have but subsequently paid their debt), will, I'm sure, sympathise. It is humiliating, frustrating and depressing.

[Cindy]

What is prison time for?

Where have we gone in society to deal with crime and punishment?

Several of the comments here, and some from close friends (sorry) are rabid dog comments. You killed, you were found guilty, you are now sentenced to 50 years of rape and torture. Is this in the USA penal code? So I suppose if you are sentenced to five  years you only have to have five years of rape an torture.

And no I'm not being miss prissy pants. WE, humans, have tried to install social structure and framework to allow people to live. We have laws and if you break them there is punishment. Often for periods of incarceration, particularly if you are poor and disadvantaged, a fine if you are wealthy and connected. Nothing if you hold power. 

There seems to be either a belief that prisons cannot stop this abuse, or the penal code condones it. Both are wrong. The law is the law. If rape is a crime then raping a prisoner is a crime. If murder is a crime then prison murder is a crime. Saying that you don't care and that they deserve 'it' means what? 

Answers none, but I really don't like the hypocrisy of a tooth for a tooth an eye for an eye. I could rant but I will restrain,


Cindy

[JohnR]

Why is she in a male prison?

[Cindy]

I can almost ask why does it matter

[Cindy]

I'm sorry I'm going to respond to my own comment.

Why does it matter?

It doesn't matter why the system is so screwed up, or even why, what matters is how do you/we deal with the problem. I'm not black, I wasn't born into poverty,  I'm highly educated, I have a above good job. So why the hell should I care? It is doubtful that I will meet any one who is in prison, although I will qualify that by saying that I have probably met more than many of you, since I'm involved in a STD clinic and a separate lymphoma clinic. I have seen the broken young men, who, presumably since they didn't have AIDS before hand and now do, must have acquired it through food poisoning. Their broken eyes and spirit confirm it.

The five year punishment; is now death.

Yes; lets have capital punishment instead. I do not know the stats, I'm sure Tekla can supply some, but as far as I know it does nothing to reduce crime, and is inhumane. Sadly the two countries that have the highest capital punishment rate are China and the USA. Both claim that each other abuse human rites. I don't think either country knows what they are talking about.

I may come over as being angry, I'm not, I'm disappointed.

Cindy

[tekla]

Even people in jail have some sort of moral code.  Even the worst members of society have some bottom line beneath which they are not going to go.  So, don't be a child molester and go to jail male jail, it's going to be a hard road.  Likewise, if to take a shotgun to a woman, and then demand to be transfered to a women's prison, it's not going to work out to be a better solution.  California's female prisons are not full of women who made a single bad choice in life and got caught, they have a lot of very, extremely violent offenders.  Biker gang girls, black, Latina and white gang-bangers, and the like.  And, being guilty of an extremely violent crime, that's exactly the population that she gets housed with.  And even they have some code.

So, I only see one way to keep her safe in prison.  24 hour solitary confinement.  Of course the downside of that is that it tends to make people insane in short order.

added: Most of the women in prison also have a background of abuse, molestation and violence at the hands of men.  And that's exactly what they are going to see this person as, A male who did great violence to a women.

[spacial]

I fully appreciate the disgraceful conditions that detained people are subjected. They are unacceptable.

My own experience was in long stay psychiatric hospitals. Many things happening there were entirely unacceptable.

These occur because of lack of funding, lack of supervision, incompetance and corruption. These things shouldn't happen. Prisoners shouldn't be raped, brutalised, terrorised or treated with anything other than respect. As should all those necessarily detained.

But with respect Cindy, that is a different issue.

That this woman is being refused funding for her surgery, by the tax payer, is no diffrent from any other (US) citizen.

That she is being denied admission to a woman's prison is because of her physical biology. It is an established component of almost every prison system, that people are separated accoding to their physical sex.

If this woman can find the resources herself, to pay for her surgery, then I would think the humane thing to do would be to move her to a woman's facility, after the surgery.

But allowing prisoners to simply opt for the facility of their choice is preposterus.

[Cindy]

Adds to my essay Tekla,

I know that these people are wrong in what they do. But how do we deal with them, or we cannot and say that society is doomed to failure. I think that is the choice. I have not lowered myself, but it was by restraint.

I'm either human or I am not.

Was every Nazi Death Camp Guard a moral human who was broken by taking authoritarian advice, or a coward who gave its life before others.

Sorry I'll  stop, I have a problem in that I can think an idea far ahead and do not always lay down my thoughts in detail for the between bits, it works for me but not always with everyone

Cindy

[Sandy]

Sarah7 has nailed it but I think the biggest issue here is worrying about Darklady finding this article...

I was thinking the exact same thing, though the entertainment value is almost too good to pass up.

What was her email address again?

*sorry*

As far as the subject goes, I'm with Kat.  Put her in with the girls.  Problem solved.

-Sandy

[Cindy]

I am now revolted,


Sorry
Cindy

[Sandy]

I am now revolted,
Sorry
Cindy

Cindy, I apologize for my flippant response.  It was not meant to upset.  I can have a dark humour at times.

Western society, and specifically US criminal treatment is, to my mind, some of the most humane.  We do not practice mob justice or Sharia law.  However, overcrowding and lack of funding is a major concern.  We have over 2 million people incarcerated!  That is the population of a major urban center.  We do not address this issue at the level it should be.

Simple incarceration for temporary offenders should not be the point of imprisonment.  There are guidelines to retrain and return, but it cannot be effective if it is not given adequate attention.

Repeat offenders and lifetime incarceration is a separate issue which I am incapable of having an adequate opinion on because in these cases the offence(s) can be horrific and my personal opinion for their punishment would go way beyond what society would allow.

I am ambivalent on the issue of the death penalty.  Again my personal opinion on the subject would vary by the case involved.  It can be proven that it is NOT a deterrent to crime so in that case it is ineffective.

-Sandy   

[jainie marlena]

Answers none, but I really don't like the hypocrisy of a tooth for a tooth an eye for an eye.


Cindy

what is petty about her having her clothes taken from her? To her the clothes are a symble of her life just as it is to all of us. To her everyone was taking her life from her just as we feel it was being taken from us. not knowing what drove her to this point is needed to fully understad why she did it. the hypocrisy of tooth for tooth for an eye for an eye caused everyone to jugde on a serfice level. Just as you jugded her serfice she was doing the same as you. the woman was taking her life so she took hers. where did this thinking come from?  We all have been tought to distroy each other with our mouths. I hope you understand what I said.