Ending prisoner rape in Michigan
LINDA MCFARLANE writes:
The Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) last week settled a class action lawsuit brought by over 500 female prisoners who were sexually abused in the state’s prisons. With the $100-million settlement agreement, hopefully the DOC will also begin to take the proactive steps needed to prevent and address the sexual violence that continues to plague its facilities.
This decision came after more than ten years of litigation, during which the courts repeatedly ruled against the state.
Although the prevalence of sexual abuse in Michigan prisons is well documented, leading officials have insisted that this type of violence is not a serious problem. In 2008, DOC Director Patricia Caruso opposed national standards being developed to address sexual abuse behind bars, stating that they would require that a “disproportionate amount of resources be dedicated to an issue that affects less than 1% of the DOC prison population.”
This claim is in blatant defiance of the facts. A 2007 national survey by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, which surveyed inmates at three Michigan prisons, found that the proportion of prisoners experiencing sexual victimization in the past year alone ranged from 4.6% to 7.9%.
Rape and other forms of sexual violence cause long-term harm to survivors and their communities. Prisoner rape survivors suffer physical injury, contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and experience severe psychological trauma. The vast majority of inmates ultimately return home, bringing their experiences and medical and psychiatric conditions with them.
See Ending prisoner rape in Michigan
Detroit Free Press -
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/ending-prison…
Women Inmates Segregated For “Looking Gay”
Virginia’s largest women’s prison rounded up inmates who had loose-fitting clothes, short hair or otherwise masculine looks and placed them in a separate cell block. That’s according to prisoners and corrections officers who talked to The Associated Press about the practice. They say dozens were moved in an attempt to split up relationships and curb illegal sexual activity at the 1,200-inmate Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy. Some straight women were sent to the wing strictly because of their appearance. Civil rights advocates called the moves unconstitutional punishment for “looking gay.” Fluvanna Warden Barbara Wheeler denied that any housing decisions were made based on looks or sexual orientation, and said doing so would be discriminatory. Inmates said life in the so-called “butch wing” or “locker room wing” wasn’t much different than other units. But both inmates and employees said the unit was locked down more often than others, and the women said they were verbally harassed by staff.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/women-inmates…
LGBT Prisoner Safety Act Passes Assembly with Bipartisan Support
Bill Sponsored by EQCA and Introduced by Assemblymember Ammiano Now Moves to Senate
Sacramento – The California State Assembly passed the LGBT Prisoner Safety Act, AB 382, today by an overwhelming margin of 64-9. The bill garnered significant bipartisan support. Sponsored by Equality California (EQCA) and introduced by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D – San Francisco), the bill is designed to prevent violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the state prison system. The bill received more Republican votes than any other piece of legislation sponsored by EQCA.
“The California Assembly sent a powerful message today that all Californians deserve protection from violence,” said EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors. “This vital bill seeks to end abuse and assault against LGBT prisoners, ensuring they receive equal and fair protection under the law.”
According to a recent study from the Cali¬fornia Department of Corrections and Re¬habilitation, 67 percent of LGBT inmates report being sexually assaulted by another inmate, a rate 15 times higher than the overall prison population.
By amending the Sexual Abuse in Detention Elimination Act (SADEA) of 2005 to include sexual orientation and gender identity on the list of factors for consideration when classifying and housing prisoners, the legislation promotes safety for and prevents assault against LGBT people in the prison system. The list of factors currently includes age, gender, type of offense, and prior time served.
“All people deserve basic protections – including those serving time in our state prisons,” Assemblymember Ammiano said upon introducing the bill. “No prisoner should fear for his or her life or be the target of abuse because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The bill developed following a Senate Public Safety Committee meeting held in San Francisco this past December and chaired by Senator and former Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles). The meeting, which was sponsored by EQCA along with Just Detention International, the Transgender Law Center, National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Transgender Gender-Variant and Intersex Justice Project, exposed the dire issues facing LGBT people in California prisons in order to produce concrete solutions. The LGBT Prisoner Safety Act is an important step toward ensuring the safety of this highly vulnerable population. Last month, the bill passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee unanimously by a 7-0 vote.
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Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the nation. EQCA has passed over 50 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/lgbt-prisoner…
California Assembly passes legislation that extends protections for the LGBT community
The bill, which will require prisons to include sexual orientation and gender identity when identifying prisoners who need protection, passed by an overwhelming margin of 65 to 9. 14 of the 29 Republican members voted for the legislation and 6 members abstained from the vote.
All of EQCA’s current legislation continues to pass their committees, including yesterday’s Assembly Judiciary Committee vote to make changing one’s gender identification more accessible for transgender persons and last week’s bipartisan vote in the Senate Education Committee to designate May 22 as Harvey Milk Day.
And this recent activity is evidence that the arc of equality always bends toward progress.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/california-as…
IGLHRC Asks the Iraqi Government to Protect Gay People
NEW YORK, April 17, 2009 – The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has sent a letter to the Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Salim, requesting that she takes specific measures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Iraqis and prevent hate crimes against those perceived to be gay.
IGLHRC’s letter, written to coincide with Ms. Salim’s visit to Washington D.C., responds to a recent wave of violent crimes against Iraqi citizens perceived to be gay.
Just hours before IGLHRC sent its letter, an Iraqi group identified as “Fazilat” (Virtue) posted flyers threatening homosexuals with death on walls in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad.
The flyers, distributed on April 17, list the names of some of the would-be targets and states that “we will soon punish all you perverts.” Residents of Sadr City say the people who were outed in these fliers have gone into hiding.
Previous acts of anti-LGBT violence in Iraq include the April 2, 2009 murder of two men in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad.
An unidentified local official described these men as “sexual perverts (Monharef Jensiyan) who were killed by members of their tribe to restore their family honour.”
Prior to death, the men’s relatives had disowned them and they were also thrown out of their tribes. So far no one has claimed their bodies and the government has not launched an investigation into the case.
These murders took place one week after Iraqi authorities unearthed the bodies of 4 men killed by gunshots in Sadr City on March 25.
The words “pervert” and “son of a bitch” (jaravah: a derogatory term to describe homosexuals) were written on the chests of the victims. As part of this new wave of violence, a coffee house in Sadr City that was frequented by gay men has also been burnt down.
Apart from these cases, IGLHRC has also received reports of the arrest, torture, and murder of several members of the group Iraqi-LGBT amid a nationwide government crackdown on gay-friendly businesses across Iraq.
Several other reports indicate dozens of extra-judicial murders of LGBT people across Iraq during the past few months.
In response to these violent murders, on April 8, 2009, IGLHRC and Human Rights Watch submitted an urgent appeal to the Special Procedures of the United Nations to ask for an investigation.
IGLHRC is also working closely with the D.C.-based Council on Global Equality to bring the plight of gay and lesbian Iraqis to the attention of U.S. government officials, who will be meeting with the Iraqi minister next week.
SEE ALSO
Shadowy Group Threatens to Kill Gays in Iraq. A shadowy group has posted signs around the Iraqi capital’s main Shiite working-class district of Sadr City naming alleged homosexuals on a list and threatening to kill them. (France 24 News, April 17, 2009)
Member of Iraqi Gay Group Pleads for Help “Before It’s Too Late”. Is there anyone to help me before it’s too late? That is the question asked by a member of Iraqi-LGBT in Baghdad, who says he is to be executed, in a letter released at the weekend by Iraqi-LGBT in London. (UK Gay News, April 6, 2009)
Iraqi Gays Sentenced to Death for Their Sexuality Face Execution. More than 100 prisoners in Iraq are facing execution – and some of them are believed to have been convicted of the ‘crime’ of being gay, the UK-based Iraqi-LGBT group revealed this afternoon. According to Ali Hili of Iraqi-LGBT, the Iraqi authorities plan to start executing them in batches of 20 from this week. (UK Gay News, March 30, 2009)
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U.N.: H.I.V. Spreading Through Prisons Worldwide
H.I.V. is spreading through overcrowded prisons around the world, mostly through rampant drug abuse, according to the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Reuters reports. The official, Antonio Maria Costa, warned of a “health bomb” that will be set off when infected prisoners are released; overcrowding is particularly bad in Africa and Central America.* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/un-hiv-spread…
