Use of Solitary Confinement Faces Growing Skepticism

This past Sunday, NPR’s All Things Considered feature story focused on the growing evidence against solitary confinement. According to NPR:

“An estimated 80,000 American prisoners spend 23 hours a day in closed isolation units for 10, 20 or even more than 30 years.

Now, amid growing evidence that it causes mental breakdown, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has decided for the first time to review its policies on solitary confinement.”

The federal review follows a Senate hearing last summer led by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. Durbin was moved to call the hearing by surgeon Atul Gawande’s harrowing New Yorker article, “Hellhole,” on the psychiatric impact of solitary confinement. At the hearing, corrections experts testified that while there may be some limited usefulness for solitary confinement for short periods of time, over an extended period it is usually unnecessary and exacts huge costs, both fiscal and human. Senators heard how some states have sharply limited or eliminated solitary confinement, saving money and sparing suffering. As the NPR story notes, most inmates will ultimately return to their communities – and returning them broken from the trauma of solitary has costs for communities as well.

NCTE Joins Brief in Michelle Kosilek Case

Michelle Kosilek

The National Center for Transgender Equality is proud to have joined seven other organizations last week in filing a friend-of-the-court brief with the First Circuit federal appeals court in the case of Kosilek v. Spencer. The case, which has received significant public attention in recent months, is the latest in a series in which Massachusetts prison officials have refused to provide medically necessary treatment to transgender prisoners. In September, a federal court ordered the state to provide sex reassignment surgery for Michelle Kosilek after prison doctors determined it was the only adequate treatment for her severe gender dysphoria.

NCTE’s position in this case is driven by two core principles: First, that hormonal, surgical, and other medical treatments for gender dysphoria are medically necessary for many people and should be treated like any other medically necessary care, based on the medical needs of an individual as determined by qualified medical providers; and second, that people who are incarcerated and cannot provide for their own care have an unquestionable, constitutional right to adequate medical care. Participation in cases like this one is critical to establishing the legitimacy and necessity of treatments for gender dysphoria and ensuring all people have access to adequate health care in every setting.

NCTE Leads Effort to End LGBTI Sexual Abuse in Immigration Detention

Ana-Haydee Urda (left front) in the 2012 rally against private prisons sponsored by United Methodist Women and the United Methodist Task Force on Immigration. A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey.

Last week, the National Center for Transgender Equality, with our partners at Just Detention International  led advocacy efforts urging Secretary Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to strengthen protections against sexual abuse of LGBT people and people with intersex conditions in immigration detention. In addition to organizing over 800 individual comments and dozens of organizational comments, NCTE joined eight other national LGBT and allied groups in filing over 30 pages of public comments on the proposed regulations that address this problem, which is part of the implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

Sexual abuse of LGBT people and people with intersex conditions violates their basic human rights. The U.S. government has an obligation to provide safe and humane conditions for people in confinement. Not doing so impedes detainee’s ability to obtain lawful immigration status when eligible and to successfully adjust back into the community. Additionally, public health considerations like the widespread transmission of HIV and the growing rates of depression, anxiety and suicide ideation among immigration detainees demand swift action by the Department of Homeland Security.

Ending Prison Rape: A New Resource for LGBT and Gender Nonconforming People

More than 200,000 youth and adults are sexually abused in prisons, jails and juvenile detention facilities each year, and a disproportionate number are transgender and gender nonconforming people. Hard work over several years by NCTE and other trans, LGBT and intersex advocates paid off in May with the release by the Department of Justice of final National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape, which have the potential to be a big part of the solution. NCTE has created a fact sheet regarding the new standards, which were called for by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA), and which facilities across the country will have to follow in order to maintain federal funding or required accreditations.

LGBT People and the Prison Rape Elimination Act highlights and explains the sections most relevant to transgender people, the broader LGBT community, and those people with intersex conditions such as:

• Requiring a case-by-case consideration for housing in a male or female facility that is not based on genital status, meaning more trans women will be housed with other women.
• Limitations on the use of isolating “protective custody” to which trans people are often subjected.
• Limitations to ensure that special housing units do not become a stigmatizing and ineffective quick-fix for housing LGBT and gender nonconforming people and those with intersex conditions.
• Requiring staff training on working with transgender and gender nonconforming inmates as well as LGBT people more broadly and those with intersex conditions.
• Banning the search or physical examination of transgender inmates and those with intersex conditions solely for determining their genital status.
• New requirements for staff hiring, inmate screening, reporting and investigating abuse, and provider support to abuse survivors.

NCTE Weighs In on First-Ever Congressional Hearing on Solitary Confinement

Last week, the National Center for Transgender Equality submitted testimony to today’s first-ever U.S. Senate hearing on solitary confinement. The hearing,  “Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal, and Public Safety Consequences,” examines its ramifications for human rights.

NCTE’s testimony reflects data collected in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey and anecdotal testimony from current and former inmates about their experiences in prison and detention facilities. Transgender inmates are among the most vulnerable to violence and sexual assault, and for this reason, many prisons place trans inmates into involuntary solitary confinement. This is an unacceptable response to the problem of abuse because solitary confinement itself has devastating and often irreversible consequences for mental and physical health. The consequences of long-term isolation are so serious that it is widely recognized as a form of torture.

NCTE’s testimony says:

Restrictive, segregated, isolated custody is by its very nature punitive and damaging; placing transgender inmates in solitary protective custody amounts to punishing them for their transgender status. The use of solitary confinement as a means of protecting transgender inmates absolutely must be limited. It is not acceptable to trade the violence and cruelty of prison rape for the violence and cruelty of long-term solitary confinement.

VICTORY: Department of Justice Releases National Standards to End Prison Rape and Abuse

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape. The Standards include specific provisions that will work to protect transgender and gender nonconforming inmates in the fight end sexual abuse in prisons. These standards were built on recommendations provided by NCTE and several allied advocates.

Specific provisions to address abuse towards transgender people and those with intersex conditions include:

• Requiring a case-by-case consideration for housing in a male or female facility that is not based on genital status, meaning more trans women will be housed with other women.
• Limiting the use of isolating “protective custody” that can amount to torture.
• Limiting the use of segregated LGBTI units that are often treated as a quick fix and can stigmatize individuals.
• Requiring staff training for professional communication with and treatment of transgender and gender nonconforming inmates and those with intersex conditions to aid in assessing inmate vulnerabilities to sexual abuse.
• Banning the search or physical examination of transgender inmates and those with intersex conditions solely for determining their genital status.
• Minimizing stigma and the threat of abuse from staff by disallowing dedicated LGBTQI units and facilities.
• Requiring facilities to have multiple channels for reporting abuse without placing a time limit on when inmates can file grievances.

Why NCTE Cares About the Prison Rape Elimination Act Standards

If you have seen NCTE’s Blueprint for Equality, you know that the federal agenda we’re working on is both complex and comprehensive. Every issue on the agenda is important. Some of the issues are truly life saving, while others are simply necessary steps to full equality. All of it is important to some trans people who are facing obstacles to living fully. And one of these issues I’m really proud of working on is the National Standards to Prevent, Detect and Respond to Prison Rape.

In 2003, the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. The Republican Senate, the Republican House and the Republican President all agreed that, regardless of various positions on corrections and crimes and related issues, in the United States we all agree that sexual assault in prison is unacceptable and must be stopped. A Congressionally appointed commission and the U.S. Department of Justice spent nearly a decade studying the issue and developing national standards to address all aspects of the problem. And NCTE has provided input all along the way.

And very soon—hopefully within weeks—the U.S. Department of Justice will release standards that could help significantly decrease rape in prison. We have not yet seen the final standards, but we are hopeful that our advocacy has influenced them in terms of how trans people are classified housed and searched among other things.

NCTE in Solidarity With Cece McDonald

Last week, the National Center for Transgender Equality joined the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) and fourteen other LGBT advocacy groups in urging County Attorney Michael Freeman to drop the second-degree murder charges against Cece:

Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman has charged McDonald with two counts of second-degree murder for acting in self-defense and allegedly fatally stabbing one of her attackers. Hennepin County has dropped murder charges in three similar cases where people have acted in self-defense. NCAVP and our allies add our support to the public outcry to drop the charges against CeCe McDonald.

The pre-trial hearings end today and the trial begins on Monday, April 30th. To help Cece,  we encourage you to join nearly 15,000 other people in the Change.org petition calling on Michael Freeman to drop the charges. NCTE will continue to monitor the legal proceedings and update our blog about new developments.

Read the full statement below.

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