Mon 16 May 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Corrections has responded to claims - made last Wednesday evening at the Equal Justice Project forum - that prisons are unsafe for trans prisoners. Ti Lamusse of No Pride in Prisons told the audience at the forum that "Every single transgender woman going through our prisons has been sexually assaulted, including by staff, in fact, even the strip search on admission to the prison is a sexual assault.” A Corrections spokesperson has responded to the comments saying “We categorically reject the claim that “almost all” transgender prisoners are subject to sexual violation or rape in prisons. “Prisoners are strip searched in order to prevent contraband entering prisons. Drugs and weapons pose a serious safety risk to prisoners and our staff,” they say. “Strip searches are conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Corrections Act, and our staff are carefully trained to conduct them. The searches are carried out with decency and sensitivity, and every effort is made to ensure that the person’s privacy and dignity is maintained.” Lawyer and transgender advocate Kelly Ellis said during the forum that in her 25 years acting for, or supporting trans prisoners, she has not once come across a trans woman who had been in the prison system and can say they haven’t been raped or sexually assaulted. Corrections has responded to this by reinforcing their position that incidents of sexual assault are extremely rare. “We absolutely refute any suggestion that rape is a systemic issue in New Zealand prisons. Incidents of any type of sexual assault are extremely rare. “Corrections takes any allegation of sexual assault extremely seriously. We have zero tolerance for sexual assaults in our prisons. All complaints are investigate and referred to Police.” Corrections say that they “demand a high standard of conduct and integrity from all employees and staff are expected to role model positive law-abiding behaviour.” The issue of trans women being locked up in male facilities - because the gender on their birth certificate is still recorded as male - and not getting assistance in applying to change to a female prison was noted by Lamusse. This however, was not directly addressed by Corrections, who instead stated that “Prisoners are generally housed in a prison that aligns with the gender recorded on their birth certificate, including any change to their gender which has been recorded on the certificate.” The spokesperson went on to say “A prisoner that believes their placement is incorrect is able to apply to the Chief Executive for review. The Chief Executive receives advice from the Director of Health Services and the Chief Custodial Officer, and a range of factors are considered to ensure that no prisoner will be placed at risk. “To date, 13 applications from transgender prisoners have been made to transfer prisons, and all have been approved.” *The headline of this article has been corrected to better reflect the story.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 16th May 2016 - 1:18pm