By Taylor MacPherson

Transgender people face discrimination in prisons: Advocate

Sep 14, 2017 | 5:00 PM

Going to prison or jail is rarely a stress-free experience, but advocates agree that incarceration is often truly traumatic for transgender people who find themselves behind bars.

Laura Budd, education coordinator for the Saskatchewan Pride Network, said there are a number of special issues faced by transgender prisoners in Saskatchewan, but the most common is misgendering a transgender inmate when a governing body decides whether to place them in a facility for men or women.

“Often there’s the case of being misgendered, where they are housed with the gender they were assigned at birth instead of the gender they identity with,” Budd said. “There’s a lot of bullying and risk of physical violence.”

Budd said other concerns raised by transgender individuals in the prison system include a sense of isolation, as transgender inmates may not have access to any peer support networks. In addition, transgendered prisoners often have special healthcare requirements including hormone treatments or even surgery which may be overlooked by the correctional system.

“Are we ensuring that they continue to have that access? Those are things are basic human rights,” Budd said.

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Although Budd acknowledged that excellent progress has been made by both provincial and federal corrections in Saskatchewan in recent years, she said education for correctional staff, non-transgender inmates and the general public needs to be prioritized before the issues disappear altogether.

“We need more public information and education on respecting the rights of transgender and non-binary individuals,” Budd said. “We need to work a little more diligently within society as far as educating each other. That’s part of why our pride organizations exist.”

According to another advocate, transgender individuals have been known to hide their genders during their time in jails and prisons.

Dustin Dyck, chairperson of the Saskatchewan-based Trans Umbrella Foundation, said some transgender individuals may try to “de-transition” during their incarceration in order to appear more like their assigned gender. This is often done to avoid becoming a target and blend in with the rest of the population, Dyck said, but creates additional mental health issues which are only aggravated by the correctional environment.

“It would be very mentally draining to pretend that you’re somebody you’re not all the time,” he said.

For those who would research the issue academically, the lack of concrete data on the subject has often presented a roadblock.

Dr. Rick Ruddell, chair of policing research with the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan, said the two largest issues facing transgender individuals in prisons and jails are the fact that the group represents only a tiny percentage of prison and jail populations and the almost total absence of solid Canadian data on the subject.

“If you look at Saskatchewan, I think the correctional population is around 1,300-1,400 individuals, and if you have one individual who’s a transgender person that would create quite a challenge,” Ruddell told paNOW. “When you get groups that are that small, they really fall through the cracks of the system.”

Ruddell said the problem must be fully understood before it can be properly addressed, and accurate numbers would be a good starting place.

“The first improvement starts with a basic understanding of the scope of the problem,” he said. “There’s a real gap in our knowledge.”

Penitentiary currently updating policies

Correctional Service Canada (CSC), the federal organization that oversees the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert, said they are currently working with stakeholders and LGBT advocates to review their gender-related policies and bring them into compliance with the most recent Canadian legislation.

“We are reviewing An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (formerly known as Bill C-16) and determining how it will impact CSC,” spokesperson Jeff Campbell wrote in an email. “CSC is committed to ensuring that inmates who identify as transgender are given the same protections, dignity and treatment as others.”

With the recent legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and expression, Campbell said they are currently in the process of updating all of their policies to make sure the rights of both staff and offenders are protected.

Until the updated policies – which include special training for all staff – are put into effect, Campbell said they will continue to assess each case individually to ensure the most appropriate measures are taken. Campbell said the new policies will see inmates housed in accordance with their personal gender identity rather than by their assigned gender “unless there are irresolvable health or safety concerns.”

“It is unknown how many offenders and/or staff may be impacted by the proposed legislation,” Campbell said.

Ministry of Justice houses by gender expression

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice, which oversees the Prince Albert and Pine Grove Correctional Centres, said they house inmates in accordance with their personal gender expression rather than the gender they were assigned at birth.

“Transgender offenders are to be placed in a correctional centre or youth custody facility that corresponds with their self-identified gender or housing preference, unless there are overriding health and/or safety concerns,” Justice Ministry spokesperson Noel Busse said in a statement to paNOW.

Busse said the ministry’s admission, search, placement, case management and communication policies comply with The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, but noted “the offender’s past behaviour in the facility and potential affiliations with other offenders are also reviewed when considering placement.”

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews