Allyson Hamblett The pressure continues to be heaped on the Government over Corrections’ stance on transgender prisoners. Despite a report from the Office of the Ombudsman calling for change, Corrections says it will not review its policy, where prisoners are placed in prisons according to their birth gender unless they have completed gender reassignment surgery. Auckland trans activist and lobbyist Allyson Hamblett has written to glbti-supportive National MP Nikki Kaye on the issue, saying the way transgender prisoners are treated shows that trans people do not yet have full human rights. “This is a very serious human rights issue. Gender identity is a very significant issue, and is difficult to fully explain to people whose gender identity is the same as their birth gender,” Hamblett says. She believes putting women prisoners in with male prisoners is dangerous and even torture. “Gender identity has to be specifically included in the Human Rights Act to show the Department of Corrections that trans prisoners are fully protected from discrimination,” Hamblett concludes in the letter. You can discuss this New Zealand gay community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 27th February 2012 - 11:12am