Dear New Yorkers,
It was supposed to be a better place for trans women in the jails on Rikers Island, helped by people who supported them.
In the de Blasio years, the fledgling LGBTQ+ Affairs Unit within the Department of Correction helped make life a bit easier for trans and gender-nonconforming detainees — imperfectly, but measurably.
Trans inmates were sometimes able to move to housing where they felt safer. Allies among jail staff advocated for their needs. Some inmates even held a Christmas ball inside a special unit designated for them at Rikers.
Then Mayor Eric Adams swept into City Hall promising a pro-law enforcement agenda — and the LGBTQ+ unit at the jail has been whittled down to one person.
“The program has now dissolved,” one uniformed staff member told THE CITY.
With no allies, requests for transfers of trans inmates have all but stopped. Advocates say their clients face assault and abuse every day in all-male housing.
Now, they’re pushing legislators in the City Council and the state legislature to override the agency — including at a Council hearing happening tomorrow.
Read more here.
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