Ann Cammett,
"Queer Lockdown: Coming to Terms with the Ongoing Criminalization of LGBTQ Communities"
(page 6 of 9)
Protective custody—also known as administrative segregation—is not
necessarily safer, is much more restrictive, and often leads to the loss
of privileges valued by inmates. The consistent use of isolation and
solitary commencement—and the resulting devastating psychological
impacts—have also been documented. Transgender prisoners are punished
simply for being more at risk.[51]
Lesbian women, or women who transgress gender boundaries, are also
singled out for sexual abuse and mistreatment in the form of coercive
repression and sexual violence. Prisons are gendered institutions of
oppression, and lesbians are subject to significant dangers, both in the
marginalization of them as women and as gender transgressors. Not
Part of Her Sentence[52]
details the pernicious presence of sexual
abuse against incarcerated women. In this report, Amnesty International
documents categories of women who were likely targets for sexual abuse.
Perceived or actual sexual orientation is one of the four categories
that make a female prisoner a more likely target for sexual abuse, as
well as a target for retaliation when she reports that
abuse.[53] The
irony is that the lesbian prisoner—long stereotyped as a violent
predator within the prison system—is at heightened risk of harassment
and sexual abuse within its walls.[54]
One such example of how sexual identity can subject a woman to
further abuse or torture by prison guards is the case of Robin Lucas,
who is African American. Prison guards taunted Ms. Lucas about her
same-sex relationship by saying, "maybe we can change your mind." She
was originally incarcerated for credit card fraud and placed in a
special Housing Unit of the Pleasanton Federal Detention Center in
California. Despite complaining to authorities about harassment and
threats around her sexual orientation and her placement in a unit
generally housing men, her pleas went unheeded. Three inmates unlocked
her cell, handcuffed, raped, and sodomized her, causing very severe
injuries. Her attackers told her to keep her mouth shut and threatened
her with further attacks if she alerted the authorities. The guards
implicated in the abuse were simply transferred to another facility; no
disciplinary action was taken. None of the guards or inmates was ever
charged with a crime. A civil lawsuit was later settled in Robin Lucas's
favor.[55]
Despite the furor raised over the grotesque violence suffered
by Ms. Lucas and many others, the problem of gendered violence rages on
in women's prisons. Recently, ten women imprisoned in Michigan's Scott
Correctional Facility in suburban Detroit won a $15.4 million jury award
in a sexual assault lawsuit for the rapes, sexual harassment, and verbal
abuse they suffered at the hands of prison guards.[56]
Finally, it is likely that queer defendants are subject to
discrimination throughout their engagement with the judicial system,
including vulnerability to harsher sentencing in criminal
court.[57]
Addressing systemic bias and hostility within the court system is of
central importance to queer people. This bias, exhibited by key players
in the legal system, such as attorneys, judges, court personnel, and
juries, make the courthouse a hostile environment for many in queer
communities.[58]
This type of bias, however, has rarely been objectively
studied or addressed. The limited research that has been conducted on
anti-queer and anti-trans bias, however, has yielded some startling
findings.[59]
There have been at least two comprehensive statewide studies on the
issue of bias against queer people within the legal system. One study
conducted by the Judicial Council of
California[60] found that
thirty-eight percent of gay and lesbian respondents reported feeling
threatened by the courtroom setting because of their sexual orientation
or gender expression. The California study also found that one out of
five court employees heard derogatory terms, ridicule, snickering, or
jokes about gays or lesbians in open court, with the comments being made
most frequently by judges, lawyers, or court employees. A second
statewide study, conducted by the State Bar of Arizona,[61] found that
seventy-seven percent of judges and attorneys reported that they heard
disparaging comments about gays and lesbians. Forty-seven percent of
those reporting hearing these disparaging comments also reported hearing
them in open spaces of the courthouse.[62]
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