Transgender Inmate Stages Hunger Strike Against San Francisco Jail’s Housing Policy

Note: This was written as an assignment for my Public Relations course. Some dates, quotations, and other small details have been fabricated in accordance with assignment rules.

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On the 37th day of her hunger strike, Athena Cadence told her pro-bono Transgender Law Center lawyer, “I can’t take this much longer.” She wanted out, and she wanted out now. "Men stare at us a lot," she said. "They stare at us in bed."

Athena, a transgender woman and U.S. combat veteran, was housed in a tiny segregated section of the San Francisco Jail. The section, which held Athena and two other transgender inmates, was bordered by the men’s unit. Men — both inmates and jail staff — would routinely misgender, threaten, and harass Athena as they walked by the special section. The constant abuse left her feeling afraid and humiliated.

Since June 1, Athena has refused all solid foods, only consuming rehydration salts in water and vitamins. Her new diet amounts to barely 150 calories per day. In those first 37 days, Athena had already lost 24 pounds. Just hours before the call, her life was being sustained by a hospital feeding tube.

Athena’s strike comes in the wake of several failed attempts to get help after filing complaints through the jail’s normal procedure. "Playing ball the way the sheriff's department wanted to through paperwork and meetings wasn't going to work," Athena said. "I didn't feel like I had anything to lose.”

An Invisible Issue

Since Orange is the New Black premiered in 2013, viewers have watched Laverne Cox’s Emmy-winning character Sophia Burset navigate life as a transgender woman in Litchfield Penitentiary, a federal women’s prison. Sophia, who was arrested after using fraudulent credit cards to fund gender reassignment surgery, was able to find a trustworthy group of friends in prison by offering up her talents as a hair stylist.

While she suffered through plenty of struggles, like losing her hormone perscription after jail budget cuts, Sophia’s experience in Litchfield Penitentiary was vastly than Athena’s in San Francisco Jail. While federal law requires all federal prisons to house transgender inmates in units that match their gender identity, local jails are free to set their own housing policies. Even in cities like San Francisco, which has the transgender population in the country, conservative attitudes often prevail.

When jails force women to live with men, the women face serious risks. In addition to harassment and threats, transgender prisoners frequently experience severe violence while incarcerated. A 2014 Bureau of Justice Statistics found that a shocking 59 percent of transgender prisoners get sexually assaulted by fellow inmates while in jail.

One transgender woman, Mary Smith, reported being raped over 2,000 times throughout her four-year sentence in an Australian men’s prison. “It was hell on earth... It was like my identity was taken away from me,” she told The Independent. “I would rather die than go to prison ever again.”

Unfortunately, the abuse doesn’t end there. 18 percent of trans inmates experience sexual victimization by jail staff members, compared with just 2 percent of cisgender inmates. Guards being paid taxpayer dollars to reduce violence in jails end up contributing to it. To make matters worse, transgender inmates who report the harassment often get sent to solitary confinement “for their own safety” — which usually ends up being more like a form of punishment than a means of protection.

Despite hundreds of transgender women experiencing abuse in local, state, and federal detention centers, this issue has taken the backseat to other transgender activism focusing on bathroom laws, educational inequalities, and employment discrimination. Many LGBT rights supporters overlook the fact that 1 in 4 transgender Americans enter the criminal justice system at some point in their lives. Even less people know that for transgender women of color like Athena, the statistic jumps to nearly 1 in 2.

A Call for Help

Transgender Law Center launched the Detention Project in 2013. The project works to end the abuses transgender and gender nonconforming people experience in prisons, jails, immigration detention, and state hospitals. Through the project, lawyers provide free legal advice to incarcerated transgender people like Athena. Last year, Transgender Law Center set up a special collect legal hotline to help inmates avoid high per-minute calling fees.

Athena first called the hotline in early May. She told Flor Bermudez, director of the Detention Project, that she had already filed multiple grievances with jail staff. Athena had filed request after request to be housed with women, searched by women, and to have her name and gender acknowledged and respected by staff. Jail staff responded with silence.

After filing reports of physical and sexual assaults and harassment by staff, Athena was threatened with solitary confinement. She told Flor, “the more I try to stop it, the worse it gets.” The moment Athena hung up, Flor wrote a letter to the Sheriff demanding justice.

Less than three weeks after that initial call, Athena decided to take matters into her own hands by starting a hunger strike. After hearing about the strike, Transgender Law Center wrote two more letters urging San Francisco Jail to comply with Athena’s demands and implement a policy that would allow transgender people to be housed and treated in accordance with their gender identity.

On the 43rd day of the strike, Flor announced to the media that Athena, “is weak, but wants to move forward.” At this point, Athena could barely walk. She was moved from the transgender section into a co-ed medical unit, but still couldn’t step foot in the women’s unit. “Despite serious health concerns,” Flor said, “she is determined to continue until the requested changes happen."

Long Road to Freedom

On August 3, after 64 days without food and three hospital visits, Athena Cadence was released from custody. She walked out of the jail 40 pounds lighter than she had first walked in.

While Athena was being held in the medical unit, a judge determined that she had served enough time and ordered her released. However, the two other transgender inmates remain housed in the special section facing the same dangerous conditions Athena fought so hard to escape.

The San Francisco Jail’s Sheriff has released statements saying she “is working on a new policy,” but has yet to change any official rules. Athena and Transgender Law Center have said they “will not stop fighting” until the policies have changed.

“There is no freedom for me, until there is freedom for all of us,” said Athena. “And if I — if we don’t do anything about it, than who will? If you can help in any way, please do. This won’t end until we end it.”

Athena and Flor urge people to donate to Transgender Law Center or volunteer with the Detention Project. The project is currently seeking a new Law Clerk, as well as general volunteers to help respond to letters, enter data, and assist attorneys. Volunteers will gain hands-on experience while making the world a better, safer place for people like Athena. Interested readers can learn more at transgenderlawcenter.org/about/careers.

#gender #criminaljustice #lgbt