Placement of B.C. transgender woman in men’s jail challenged

Human-rights tribunal to consider case

VANCOUVER — A lawyer for a transgender woman who was forced to stay in a men’s jail says his client hopes her human-rights case against the British Columbia government will change policies for other inmates.

Dan Soiseth said his client Jaris Lovado, who now goes by Bianca, was incarcerated at the Surrey Pretrial Centre for five months last year before being moved to a women’s facility after filing multiple complaints.

The Justice Ministry tried to have Lovado’s complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal dismissed, but the tribunal ruled the case is worthy of a further hearing.

B.C. Corrections has a policy of housing inmates according to their self-identified gender unless health and safety concerns cannot be resolved.

The ministry told the tribunal that during a previous stay at the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, Lovado engaged in inappropriate relationships with female inmates and posed a safety risk to women who might have experienced trauma.

It also said Lovado displayed a “male persona.”

“We don’t know exactly what that means,” Soiseth said.

Soiseth, who represents the Community Legal Assistance Society, said there was no evidence provided of any safety concerns and that it’s not unusual for inmates to have relationships.

He said the main issue is that Lovado, who was serving time for fraud-related charges and breaching conditions of release, faced discrimination as a transgender person and her needs were not met until she complained.

Lovado was moved to the women’s facility in Maple Ridge last September after she agreed to meet behavioural expectations.

The tribunal’s written decision stated Alouette Correctional Centre initially declined to accept Lovado as a transfer based on information from BC Corrections that she had been living in the community as a male.