Protect Trans NYers in Jails and Prisons

I’m writing to demand that you help save lives by supporting the Gender Identity Respect, Dignity, and Safety Act.

Incarceration is dehumanizing for anyone, but Transgender, gender nonconforming, non-binary, and intersex (TGNCNBI) people are especially likely to experience harassment, degradation, and violence. This is disproportionately true for those who are Black, Indigenous or other people of color.

TGNCNBI people in the New York State carceral system regularly face vicious physical, verbal, and sexual harassment and they are nearly ten times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general prison population.

The vast majority of TGNCNBI people are placed in facilities that do not match their gender identities, exacerbating the violence and degradation they face. And when TGNCNBI people are attacked by other people who are incarcerated or when they report violence from correctional staff, they are often put in involuntary protective custody, which is functionally the same as solitary confinement.

The Gender Identity Respect, Dignity, and Safety Act, S.2860 (Salazar) / A.709-A (Rozic), would increase safety for TGNCNBI by requiring that prisons and jails:
- Presumptively house people consistent with their gender identities, unless they opt-out, with a list of reasons that cannot be used as the basis for a denial;
- Ensure that staff at facilities respect a person’s gender identity in all contexts, including name and pronoun use and during searches;
- Mandate access to clothing, toiletry items, and grooming standards consistent with a person’s gender identity; and
- Place a 14-day limit on involuntary protective custody.

Ensuring that TGNCNBI people are presumptively housed according to their gender identities and treated with respect when they are incarcerated will not only decrease violence in prisons and jails, it will also save lives.

I’m calling on you to pass the Gender Identity Respect, Dignity, and Safety Act without delay.