Group calls for protection of trans prisoners

Southern Albertans are joining human rights advocates across the province calling for protection of trans citizens who end up in jail. Too many are charged and jailed for defending themselves in an assault, a Lethbridge group points out. Then while awaiting their court appearance, many are raped or brutalized.

“It’s a systemic problem,” says Jennifer Takahashi at the Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group.

Trans prisoners are in danger not only at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre, she says, but at provincial and federal prisons across the province. Most are too terrified to speak out, she adds.

“They face the risk of rape, assault and torture,” Takahashi says. “And not just by prisoners but by employees as well.”

With support from Lethbridge groups including OUT reach Southern Alberta and the U of L Student Union’s Pride Centre, she has contacted Premier Rachel Notley as well as Lethbridge MLAs Maria Fitzpatrick and Shannon Phillips.

Instead of being placed in a jail’s “general population,” the groups say, trans and twospirited prisoners should be placed in a secure block for women or for men — according to their self-identification.

British Columbia, Ontario and the federal government are already taking steps to protect vulnerable minority people in jail, they point out.

Updated policies should be created after consulting trans people who have experienced these assaults, the groups maintain.

Takahashi urges southern Albertans who see the need for change to write to Premier Notley and their own MLAs.