Over the past few years, LGBTQ+ folks have been targeted by a flood of harmful legislation, some of which extends to threaten their very existence. Though the modern experience of queer folks in society is immensely challenging on its own, these struggles are further intensified for incarcerated queer folks. Through means of violence, restrictive care, and cruel punitive measures, the prison system poses a disturbingly dangerous threat to incarcerated queer individuals.
While LGBTQ+ individuals represent a small portion of the U.S. population, they come into contact with law enforcement at disproportionate rates. The National Center for Transgender Equality reports that transgender people are over twice as likely (2%) to be incarcerated, with black transgender women being ten times more likely to face incarceration. Based on these numbers, it is reasonable to say that the justice system undeniably targets queer individuals at a staunchly higher rate than cishet individuals. Rather than recognizing the oppression of queer individuals, the system is actively and continuously targeting the community, imprisoning folks who already face alarming levels of violence outside the walls of prison.
Once incarcerated, queer individuals face a traumatic reality marked by staggering levels of sexual violence and harassment. The Sentencing Project highlights an alarming statistic: a staggering 40% of transgender inmates across federal and state penitentiaries endure sexual victimization at the hands of both staff and fellow inmates. These individuals often suffer repeated assaults and, shockingly, can be treated as commodities for sexual exploitation. Furthermore, the prison system lacks the necessary safeguards to protect queer inmates, compelling many survivors to remain silent, their voices stifled by a system that fails to ensure their safety and well-being.
Along with horrific physical, sexual, and emotional violence, incarcerated queer folks are consistently denied medical care by the system. Healthcare within jails and prisons is already an underfunded sector, and unfortunately, gender-affirming care is one of the system’s lowest priorities. Studies show that a quarter of trans folks report being denied medical care in prison with access to gender-affirming procedures, such as top and bottom surgeries, being completely inaccessible. This issue is not merely a refusal of essential medical care; it's a forcible erasure of identity, exacerbating existing mental health conditions and plunging folks into extreme despair. Due to the system’s negligence of queer health care, queer inmates are forced to confront traumatic bouts of gender dysphoria and an onslaught of suicidality. Instead of treating queer inmates physical and mental health needs, penitentiaries continuously reprimand and abuse inmates, further decreasing their already miserable quality of life.
The system compounds the mental health struggles of queer inmates by implementing punitive measures like solitary confinement, intensifying their psychological torment. A study presented by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that queer inmates are placed in solitary confinement 5% more frequently than their cishet counterparts. As a result of being forced into segregated housing, inmates are far more likely to experience serious psychological distress. The unjustifiably cruel practice of confining queer inmates into isolation poses an undeniable threat to their well-being.
The treatment and conditions of incarcerated LGBTQ+ folks are abhorrent. The lack of protections for queer inmates coupled with systemic hostility is appalling. A system rooted in oppression and intolerance is not designed to protect queer inmates but rather punish and harm them for simply existing in their truths. Queer people deserve safety, especially in such an extremely threatening environment. The system has repeatedly failed to protect at-risk communities in prison, and reforms must be enacted to ensure the safety and care of the system’s most vulnerable prisoners.
References
Bureau of Justice Statistics. Use of restrictive housing in U.S. prisons and jails, 2011–
12 summary, October 2015.
https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/urhuspj1112_sum.pdf.
Just Detention International. Call for change protecting the rights of LGBTQ
detainees, February 2009. https://justdetention.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/10/Call-for-Change-Protecting-the-Rights-of-LGBTQ-
Detainees.pdf.
McCauley, Erin, Kristen Eckstrand, Bethlehem Desta, Ben Bouvier, Brad
Brockmann, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein. “Exploring Healthcare
Experiences for Incarcerated Individuals Who Identify as Transgender in a
Southern Jail.” Transgender health, February 1, 2018.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5831751/.
National Center for Transgender Equality. Prison and detention reform - national
center for transgender equality, 2012.
https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/NCTE_Blueprint_
for_Equality2012_Prison_Reform.pdf.
Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Ph.D. and Emma Stammen. “Incarcerated LGBTQ+ Adults
and Youth.” The Sentencing Project, December 16, 2022.
https://www.sentencingproject.org/policy-brief/incarcerated-lgbtq-adults-
and-youth/.
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