No Pride in Prisons Holds Call-in Day to Call Out Corrections

Anti-prison queer and trans activist group No Pride in Prisons will be holding a Corrections ‘call-in’ day tomorrow, Thursday 22nd October. The group is asking people from across the country to call and email prominent members of the Department of Corrections, regarding its treatment of incarcerated trans people.

The group is taking this action in light of recent events at men’s Auckland South Corrections Facility in Wiri, where a trans woman was allegedly beaten by seven male inmates and then raped by her cellmate overnight.

“What happened in Wiri is the inevitable outcome of Corrections’ policies which place women alongside men in New Zealand prisons. This is exactly what No Pride in Prisons has always said would happen to trans women as a result of the current policy,” says spokeswoman Emilie Rākete.

The Department of Corrections updated its policy in 2014 to allow incarcerated trans and intersex people to apply for transfer to a facility which aligns with their gender identity. Their initial placement, however, continues to be governed by the sex marked on the person’s birth certificate.

According to Rākete, “the process of changing the sex on your birth certificate is both long and costly. As long as trans women’s ability to change the sex on their birth certificate is directed by financial stability and the bureaucratic convenience of the Family Courts, most women will struggle to meet its demands.”

“The trans and intersex transfer process was also proven to be absolutely inadequate when it was revealed that the Department of Corrections lost Jade Follett’s transfer request for several weeks earlier this year.”

On Thursday, No Pride in Prisons will be restating the demands it made at a recent rally:

1. That the Department of Corrections release a public statement taking responsibility for the recent beating and rape of the trans woman incarcerated in Auckland South Corrections Facility; and

2. That the Department of Corrections reform its policy around the initial placement of trans people in correctional facilities so that this placement aligns with their gender identity, and that Corrections displays its efforts in doing so.

“The Department of Corrections has failed to meet our demands within the given one-week time frame, so we’re taking further action. We will continue to take action until those demands have been met,” says Rākete.

More information on the ‘call-in’ can be found on No Pride in Prisons’ Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/679322998871619/

ENDS

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