Trans and queer advocacy group No Pride in Prisons has begun its hunger strike on Auckland’s Karangahape Rd, calling for a trans woman to be moved into a women’s prison. Image: Kiran Foster It wants Jade Follett to be moved from Rimutaka Prison to a women’s facility, saying she is in a precarious position, as men’s prisons are not safe places for trans women. The group is stationed on the K’ Rd overbridge, where it has erected banners and will hold daily vigils until Follett is moved. Solidarity action has also been organised in Wellington, where a protest will be held outside Department of Corrections’ National Office on The Terrace from 5PM today. Image: Kiran Foster Follet was jailed for stabbing a man who had stalked and threatened her, and is due to be released in October. She has told the group she asked to be moved to a women’s prison two months ago. Corrections says it received a request from a trans prisoner to be moved just this weekend and is treating it with urgency. Under a new policy which came into effect earlier this year, trans prisoners whose birth certificates have not been changed can apply to the Chief Executive of Corrections to be placed in a prison matching their gender identity. “We gave Corrections until 9am this morning to transfer Jade. Because they have failed to do so, we have begun the hunger strike,” says No Pride in Prisons spokesperson Jennifer Katherine Shields. “We are calling on corrections to immediately transfer Jade to a women’s facility for her to serve out the rest of her sentence.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 27th August 2015 - 9:51am