Transgender Behind Prison Walls

Baker, Sarah Jane, Stockwell, Pam

• Publisher: Waterside Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781910979310
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

After explaining 'What is transgender?' this first book on transgender in a prison setting looks at the entire HM Prison Service regime for such people. Ranging from hard information about rules and regulations, the transition process and how to access it to practical suggestions about clothing, wigs and hairpieces, make-up and coming out, the book also deals with such matters as change of name, gender identity clinics, hormones, medication and use of prison showers and toilets. Covering the entire transition process the book contains contributions from a number of transgender prisoners as well as extracts from reports showing how those in transition still tend to attract a negative portrayal. Also included are the special security implications of related procedures and descriptions of the attitudes to transgender inmates of other prisoners and staff. It contains a number of appendices dealing with the latest 2016 HM Prison Service Instruction on transgender prisoners and a range of support mechanisms including a list of specialists in the field and other useful reference sources and contacts. It also contains Sarah Jane Baker's account of her own male-to-female transition and the difficulties she has faced behind bars. The first book of its kind. Written by a transgender life-sentence prisoner. Includes key extracts from official publications. With a graphic account of the author's own transition journey. Contains practical information and tips.

Dedication

In memory of

Vikki Thompson and Joanne Latham

This book is dedicated to all those who continue to fight for equality for trans prisoners, all those who support them, all those whose internal struggle led them to taking their own lives, but, most of all, to the memory of the thousands of transgender men and women who have been persecuted, tortured and murdered throughout the world.

Section 1

Introduction

For both prisoners and staff alike, there are at the time of writing no books available to give help, advice or information to any prisoner who identifies himself — or herself — as transgender. There is a document called Prison Service Instruction (PSI) The Care and Management of Transgender Offenders (see Appendix I to this work), which should be available in prison libraries, but from my experience, prison Governors have tended to merely pay lip service (or even refused to acknowledge) many PSI recommendations, along with some of the mandatory obligations laid down in Prison Service Orders (PSOs) — in the same way that they often ignore the full impact of the Human Rights Act 1988 (HRA) that is meant to protect us prisoners and ensure that we are treated decently. Unfortunately, the PSI, PSO and HRA are written in such ambiguous terms that there are various ways in which Governors can legally interpret them, sometimes to the shame of the prison system as a whole.

The Need for Change

Today, if you were to ask a Member of Parliament or the Ministry of Justice about how you could expect to be treated, likely as not you would receive a letter containing a sanitised and idealistic idea of what you might experience, should you be unfortunate enough to find yourself on the wrong side of a prison door.

It is my hope that this book will prove useful to all transgender prisoners, their families, and those who wish to help or manage them within the prison estate. At present, unless a Gender Identity Certificate (GIC) is produced by a prisoner, or evidence showing that they were being treated for gender dysphoria before coming into prison, a prison Governor may state, unchallenged, that prisoners who identify themselves as transgender are making a ‘lifestyle choice’. This label is, in itself, to transgender prisoners, demeaning, humiliating and highly offensive, and it allows prison staff to avoid any discrimination claims.

Whether out of malice or ignorance, many transgender prisoners are currently having their ‘legally protected characteristics’ virtually ignored by the prison authorities. Any attempts to force prisons to acknowledge their legal responsibilities are seen as acts of manipulation and strongly resisted. It is a pity obligations that are meant to protect us are seen as acts of manipulation and strongly resisted. It is a pity that in 2017 we still face such resistance.

Whilst by no means all prison officers are against the promotion of positive relationships between staff and prisoners, many do not want to be seen by their colleagues as acquiescing to any specific prisoner’s needs. In cases such as this, it has been easier for governors to treat all prisoners in exactly the same way. By refusing to accept that we are not all the same, prisons can ruthlessly use the ‘Equalities Act’ to ignore the needs of transgender inmates.

Under the current prison regime, not only are homosexuality and bisexuality still taboo subjects, especially on ‘normal location’ wings, but transgenderism is a subject that most prisoners and staff know very little about. I would never suggest that they are ignorant, but the general attitude that I have encountered is that we are anomalies, oddballs, weirdos, deviants and eccentrics. Maybe these views are born out of fear of the unknown and hopefully this book will help to reduce this fear.

Statistically, transgender people are at a greater risk of becoming murder victims or victims of violent attacks than non-transgender people. Humans have always been afraid of what they do not understand. To help combat this fear in a constructive manner I believe that the prison authorities should put more resources into a network to give both hope and support to all trans prisoners and reassure them that they are not alone.

When we are on the prison landings and serving our time, we will not have access to the support and resources that we would be able to receive outside. Fortune does not always favour the brave — and, to survive in British prisons, we have to be courageous, and aware that courage is not just about being brave. Courage is about going against the beliefs of your family, friends and enemies. Courage is about standing-up against religious bigotry and saying, ‘I stand before the world, a weak human being who would love to be strong, a person like any other, who craves love and acceptance from society and my community.’

We are in dire need of advocates for the transgender prisoners who currently face cultural resistance and marginalisation behind bars. It is my dream that we will, one day, be judged by our character, rather than by our ‘gender identity’, sexuality or the clothes that we wear.

Being transgender in our macho prison system is no soft option. Some of us ‘girls’ face ridicule, attack and discrimination on a daily basis. I am saddened that what rights we do have are seen as privileges, rather than a humane and civilised way of treating some of the most vulnerable inmates within our penal system. We face prejudice not only from other inmates but also from prison staff, who find it difficult to treat prisoners as individuals. It is easier to manage prisoners by treating them all the same, making no allowances for those who are transgender, disabled or mentally-ill.

A ‘Get Out of Jail Free Card’?

Glyn Travis of the Prison Officers’ Association did imply that some of us are not genuine transgender people, and he could be right; a few probably do pretend to be gender dysphoric, though not to have an easier time in prison, but as a device to avoid completing offender treatment programmes.

Surprisingly, even some of our trans sisters have raised their cynical heads above the parapet and sniped at some of us who began our transition behind bars. After a National Offender Management Service (NOMS) (soon to be HM Prisons and Probation Service) review of the treatment of trans prisoners, the late-Stephanie Anne Lloyd, who until her death in 2016, at the age of 70, ran Transformations, the mail order company for transgender people and transvestites was quoted as saying that, as far as she was concerned, any developments of PSI 7/2011 (now superseded by PSI 17/2016: see Appendix I) sounded like a ‘get out of jail free’ card. To add insult to injury, she added:

‘I am extremely suspicious of inmates who suddenly decide they want to become a woman when they are in prison. In my experience, only one in ten who claim to want to change are genuinely transgender. This sounds like a wish to transfer to a women’s prison, which has better, much more cushy conditions. Most of these men, I suspect, are chancers or she-males — men who like to dress as women and have sex with men as a “woman”.’ (The Sun).

After my initial outrage at this seemingly misguided, and frankly to me personally offensive statement, I realised that her views were those of a buisnesswoman in a position of privilege and wealth, who perhaps did not have to struggle to buy foundation or a new pair of tights. Jealousy and resentment of those further along their ‘journey’ is not new. Just as some older females will resent younger women, the more ‘mature’ members of the transgender community may look down their noses at those who may be more attractive and have more years ahead of them than their more aged counterparts. These are the gender politics that come with the whole gender transition process. Someone once told me that ‘men buy cars to impress other men, whilst women buy clothes, shoes and handbags to impress other women’. Not only can other trans-women be our best allies, they can also be our most venomous critics.

Being a member of a minority is difficult enough at times. Statistically, we are more at risk of being murder victims than any other member of society. Maybe we can lower these statistics by becoming more tolerant and patient with people who need no excuse to hate us. Although the perception of many trans-women that I know is that men are more vicious in their attitude towards trans-people, I have found the opposite to be true. Territorial genetic women, like men, can smile to our faces, then run us down behind our backs. The abuse from some men may be more physical, but words can be just as damaging, especially in the long term. On the whole, I have found that the majority of men and women, especially if they are parents, could not care less how we live or what we wear, as long as we are not dressed in a manner that could be considered ‘indecent’. For now, or at least until prison officers, Governors and other prisoners become more enlightened in their attitude towards trans gender issues, I would suggest that we trans-women err on the side of caution, aiming to be moderate in the way that we dress and act. We should not let our sometimes narcissistic egos triumph over good, sound reason to such an extent that we are viewed by the prison system as no more than vain, selfish and conceited prima donnas!

For those people who would question our transition, I would think that they lack empathy, little knowing of the personal sacrifices that have been made, not only by us, but often by our families and those who love us. And who, like many among us, would willingly choose to be rejected by their parents, their families, and, in some cases, even their children? Assuming that this is the only life that we will ever have, and not just a rehearsal, it is a complicated balancing act, trying to please everyone. We, like most people, just want to be loved by those near and dear to us.

However, it is up to the Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) to decide who is gender dysphoric and who is not. It can take a couple of years even for an appointment at the GIC, and a number of years before a firm diagnosis is made. The clinic has a number of requirements, the main one being that the prisoner must live permanently in the gender role that they identify with. Wearing wigs, make-up and female clothing is not a ‘whim’ or a ‘choice’, but an essential part of fulfilling the criteria laid down by the GIC. The HM Prison Service document The Care and Management of Transsexual Prisoners was clear and addressed any questions raised with humanity and common sense. It needed no review — that suggestion came from the seemingly ignorant and closed-minded bigots among the inmates and staff in our prisons.

Some of the Other Problems We Face

Some staff possibly feel uncomfortable dealing with genetic male prisoners who have the courage to adopt female clothing. But HM Prison Service has no place in determining which prisoners are gender-dysphoric. This is a medical issue and the suggestion by someone with no medical training that any transgender prisoner is not genuine is insulting to all of us. I have been physically and sexually assaulted by both prisoners and a prison officer. No-one in authority was interested in my complaints. I was told by a governor that it was my own fault because of my ‘lifestyle choice’. I knew then that I was on my own and had to become determined and assertive (but trying hard to avoid becoming aggressive), to ensure I would never again be a victim.

According to HM Prison Service, the increase in the number of transgender prisoners has resulted in inappropriate behaviour ranging from aggression to over-sexualised conduct. I would ask the service if it does not have the same disciplinary problems caused by ‘normal’ male prisoners?

I know from experience how hard it is to live on a wing where a third of prisoners seem to think I should be killed, a third want to have sex with me and the remaining third feel comfortable enough to threaten and verbally abuse me in full view and hearing of prison staff.

As a pre-op male-to-female (MTF) transgender prisoner within the male prison system, I can only speak confidently about the environment that I live in. As a serving prisoner, it is increasingly difficult to reach out to and communicate with other prisoners. Many prisons now restrict prison-to-prison communication, and this has hampered my many attempts at asking trans-men in female prisons for a more in-depth report of their experiences in jail.

As receiving gender reassignment surgery is almost impossible for a serving prisoner, I have purposely omitted to write about the surgical procedures that transgender prisoners may opt for in the ...