Trans rights activists will go on a hunger strike unless a female transgender prisoner is moved to a women’s prison by tomorrow. File Photo Wellington woman Jade Follett is serving her 21 month jail sentence in Rimutaka Prison, for stabbing a man who had stalked and threatened her. The court heard she was 19 when the man in his 40s, who she’d met through a dating website, followed her and pestered her with text messages. When he found out where she lived and came to her Paparangi house, she chased him and stabbed him four times. Follett, then 21, admitted to stabbing the man but told police she did so to protect herself and family members. The group No Pride in Prisons says she requested more than two months’ ago to be transferred to a women’s prison. “We’ve received correspondence from Jade saying she requested transfer to a women’s facility in June, and has yet to see any action taken on behalf of the Department of Corrections,” says spokesperson Jennifer Katherine Shields. Corrections says it received a request just this weekend from a transgender prisoner to be moved to a prison that accommodates prisoners of their identified gender. It says no other transfer requests of this nature have been made this year. “The Department appreciates the significance of such requests and will treat this request with urgency,” says Chris Burns, Rimutaka Prison Director. Shields says No Pride in Prisons, the group which protested Corrections’ involvement in Auckland Pride this year, is very worried about Follett. “Although she’s a very strong woman, we know that a men’s prison is not a safe place for a trans woman.” It says research shows trans women are 13 times more likely than the general population to be sexually assaulted in men’s prisons. The group is also calling for Corrections to release data on how many trans prisoners are in the system and where they are being held. It has made a number of Official Information Act requests which have been denied, with Corrections saying to do so would mean it would have to manually review a large number of files and that it would not be an appropriate use of its publicly funded resources. Shields says it means the reality of the problem for trans people in the New Zealand prisons cannot be fully known. The group will hold a daily vigil on Auckland’s K’ Rd as part of its hunger strike, from tomorrow, until Follett is transferred. Corrections’ new transgender prisoner policy, pushed for by trans rights activists and trans supportive politicians, came into effect in February. It means: If a prisoner has a change of gender recorded on their birth certificate they are automatically put into a prison based on that gender. Upon entering the prison system prisoners are able to apply to the Chief Executive of Corrections for placement in a prison where they identify with the gender of the prisoners managed in that prison. A range of factors will be taken into account when the CE considers this application. Every application for placement will be considered on its own merits and the utmost consideration will be given before a decision is made. Some factors that will be considered are: Any risk the prisoner may pose to the safety of other prisoners and the security of the prison, based on the nature of their offending and other relevant factors; Any risk that other prisoners may pose to the safety of the prisoner making the application; and Whether it is likely the prisoner will need to be subject to restrictive management measures, for safety or other reasons. This, and other factors, will ensure that no prisoner is put in harm’s way due to their placement. If they are unsuccessful with this application, transgender prisoners will be accommodated according to the sex recorded on their birth certificate. No prisoner will be permitted to make an application for placement if they have sexually offended against a person of the same gender as the prisoners they wish to be co-located with.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 26th August 2015 - 7:59am