Life After Lock-up: Tips for Trans People
http://www.bilerico.com/2011/04/an_easier_life_after_lock-up_for_trans_people.php4/27/11
Toshio Meronek
Queer prison activists like Angela Davis and Miss Major have long emphasized that trans people among those most severely mistreated by the prison industrial complex. Oppressive gender norms of the outside world are replicated inside prison walls, with discrimination on the outside translating into poor treatment within.
Some of these issues include sexual abuse by staff and prisoners at far higher rates than non-trans prisoners (a study from 2007 found 59% of trans people reported being sexually assaulted, compared with 4% of the overall prison population) and a higher likelihood to be separated from other prisoners in psychologically damaging solitary confinement (justified as "for their own good"). Thanks to various forms of oppression - from economic discrimination (it's more difficult for trans people to get non-illegal work) to harassment by police simply because of who they are - trans people are roped into the system at higher rates than non-trans people.
