98.-transforming-carceral-logics.pdf
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TRANSFORMING
CARCERAL LOGICS:

10 Reasons to Dismantle the Prison
Industrial Complex Through Queer/Trans
Analysis and Action

S. Lomble

ODNEALUL CwELASHER IN:

Sree SUITS
carne senders



1s hard for us co believe what we'e hearing these days, Thousands
are losing their homes, and gays want a day named after Harvey Milk.
“The US military is continuing ts path of destruction, and gays want
10 be allowed co fight. Cops are sil killing unarmed black men and
bashing queer, and gays want more policing. More and more Ameti-
cans ae suffering and dying because they cant get decent health care,
and gays wane weddings. What happened to us?
—Queer Kids of Queer Parents Against Gay Marriage!

is article arose from an ongoing need to make stronger connections
ween struggles for gender and sexual justice and the growing crisis of
incarceration, over-policing, and cultures of control. Too often, these


issues are considered in isolation from each other. On the one hand, pris-
cnet justice activists have not always paid sufficient attention to the gender
and sexual dimensions of prisons, especially for queer, trans, and gender-
non-conforming people.” On the other hand, queer and trans-organizers
have often excluded prisoners from our communities and not prioritized
prisoner justice issues within broader movement struggles. Within anti-
violence movement politics, some feminist, queer, and trans activists have
also been too quick to equate justice with imprisonment—by embracing
hace crimes laws, advocating for longer prison sentences for those who
commit sexual violence, and calling for increased “community” policing

Bur struggles against abuse, assault, poverty, racism, and social con-
trol require clearer connections berween the violence of gender/sexual
‘oppression and the violence of the prison system. Indeed, many of us
‘who are involved in antiviolence work through rape crisis centers, home-
less shelters, and queet/trans safe spaces are also committed to struggles
against imprisonment. For some, our anti-prison politics grew out of that
antiviolence work. After years of repeatedly responding to the same forms
of violence, and after dealing with the ongoing failures and injustices of
the criminal system, it has become clear that prisons not only fail to pro-
tect our communities from violence, but actually enable, perpetuate, and
foster more violence.

Engaging in struggles against imprisonment is particularly urgent
now, as the so-called “war on terror” intensifies, as attacks on migrants
and people of color increase, as violence against women, queers, and trans
people show few signs of abating, and as the global prison population
expands dramatically. These trends are closely related co changes in the
global political economy; as governments continue to slash welfare, edu-
cation, housing, and health budgers on the one hand, they increase spend-
ing on prisons, police, military, and border controls on the other.

‘Never before has the prison industrial complex? been so powerful,
particularly in the Global North. While the United States takes the global
lead in locking up its people (with 1 in every 100 adults currendly behind
bbars and more than 7.3 million people in prison, on probation, or on
parole), other countries, such as Britain, Canada, and Australia are rap-
idly following suit. England and Wales, for example, has nearly doubled
its prison population since 1992 and is currently embarking on a £3.2-
47 billion ($57 billion USD) prison-building spree to create space for
‘more than 10,500 new prisoners by 2014.’ Canada has recently passed
tougher sentencing laws, and prison expansion proposals are looming.*




Transforming Carceral Logics



Examining these overall trends, however. does not provide an accurate
picture of who is most affected by the growth in the prison industrial
complex. Prison expansion disproportionately targets particular groups of
people, especially communities of color, poor and working class people,
youth, immigrants, women, people with learning disabilities and mental
health issues, as well as queer, rans, and gender-non-conforming people,
who are increasingly forced into greater cycles of poverty, criminalization,
incarceration, and violence.

‘As the mote privileged members of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans
(LGBT) communities are ushered into new forms of neoliberal citizen-
ship—where buying power, respectability, assimilation, and nationalism
ate the price of welcome—and as some LGBT groups are developing
closer ties with police and military forces through recruitment campaigns,
advisory boards, and liaison committees, we need to question who is bear-
ing the costs of so-called “inclusion.” If such inclusion means complicity
‘with the violence and racism of the prison industrial complex, we must
rethink those strategie. Its more imporcant than ever to reject strategies
that allow queer, rans, and feminist politics to be used for wat, mprison-
‘ment, state violence, and racism. We must put antiviolence, anti-racism,
and anti-prison struggles at the center of queer, trans, and feminist orga~
nizing efforts.

“This article makes the case for a queer/trans politics of prison abo-
lition. When using the term “queer/trans politics,” I'm referring less to

“queee” and “trans” as umbrella identity terms and more to 2 political ap-

proach that questions, disrupts, and transforms dominant ideas about
swhat is normal, Questioning the normalcy of the prison, a queer/trans
politics not only helps identify the role of imprisonment in perpetuating.
gender, racial, and sexual violence, but also provides tools for developing
alternative community responses that better address problems of harm.
Drawing from my experiences 2s a non-imprisoned person engaging in
prisoner support and activist work in Canada and Briain, T outline ten
reasons why we should dismantle the prison industrial complex using a
queer/crans analysis. In making these arguments, hope to highlight rela-
tionships between gender, sexuality, policing, and imprisonment and pro-
vide some analytic starting points that might prompt further community
organizing around these issues.

“This article is waiteen with a diverse audience and multiple purpos-
cs in mind—ie is for queer and trans communities who have not pri-
otitized prison and policing isues; itis for prison activists who have not






Coptive Gend



‘considered the gender/sexuality dimensions of the prison industrial com-
plex; itis for folks who recognize thar prisons are harmful but are skeptical
of abolitionist ideas; ic is for communities who are broadly committed
|, economic, and racial justice. Most ofall, it is written as a tool
for discussion. It is a contribution to ongoing debates about what
of world we want to live in. For a growing number of people, that world
‘must be one without prisons.

Before setting out the arguments for a queer/trans politics of prison
abolition, I want co offer three important caveats:

First, the following arguments are not new, nor is queer and
‘trans prison activism a novel phenomenon. Because prisons, police, im-
‘migration officials, and psychiatric institutions have long punished people
for transgressing sexual and gender norms, queer and trans people have
a long tradition of resistance to institutions of punishment.” Building on
previous organizing histories as well as contemporary struggles, this ar-
ticle argues for a renewed queer/trans anti-prison politics.

Second, in writing on prison issues, particularly those of us who
have not directly spent time behind bars, it is important not to fe-
tishize or sensationalize the experiences of prisoners. Much of the gen-
eral public's ideas about prison come from corporate media, which not
only provides distorted and misleading information, but usually treats
prisoners as objects of fascination, fuel for fear-mongering, or targets of
pity. To counter the media's sensationalist pull, itis important to ct
«ally reflect on how and why we approach prison issues. For some, we may
hhave been imprisoned ourselves or people we love are imprisoned. For
others, we may be tacitly driven by fantasies about saving oppressed “oth-
cts,” desires to claim a place of belonging within “radical” political com-
‘munities, or a commitment to prison reform. However well-intentioned
‘we might be, itis important to critically challenge our motivations and
assumptions, particularly those that perpetuate rather than undo patterns
of oppression. More importantly, there remains an ongoing need to pri-
oritize the voices, perspectives, and experiences of prisoners, ex-prisoners,
and those most directly affected by criminalization and imprisonment.

Third, although I draw from academic research to support my
arguments, I want to emphasize that these studies generally confirm
‘what many prisoners already know from their own experiences of the
prison system, ‘The danger of using academic research is that it perpetu-
ates the assumption chat prisoners’ knowledge is less valid or legitimate
than institutional knowledge. As such, I want to emphasize that much










‘Transforming Carceral Logics



of my own analysis would be impossible without the knowledge, experi-
ences, and analyses that prisoners have shared with me over the years."

Ten Reasons to Fight the Prison Industrial Complex
Using @ Queer/Teans Analysis

1. Queer, trans, and gender-non-conforming people have been his-

torically subject to oppressive laws, gender policing, and criminal

punishment—a legacy that continues today despite ongoing legal

reforms.
Law enforcement officials (including police, courts, immigration officers,
prison guards, and other state agents) have 2 long history of targeting,
punishing, and criminalizing sexual dissidents and gendet-non-conform-
ing people.!? While many overtly homophobic and transphobic laws have
been recently overturned in Canada, the United States, and Britain, the
criminalization and punishment of queer and trans people extends well
beyond formal legislation." State officials enable or participate in violence
against queer, rans, and gender-non-conforming communities by (a) ig-
noring everyday violence against queer and trans people; (b) selectively
enforcing laws and policies in transphobic and homophobic ways; (c)
using discretion to over-police and enact harsher penalties against queer
and trans people; and (4) engaging in acts of violence, harassment, sexual
assault, and discrimination against queer and trans people.** While some
police departments are increasingly putting on 2 “gay-positive” public
face, the problem of state violence against queer and trans people none-
theless persists and has been well documented by numerous police- and
prison-monitoring groups.

“This ongoing legacy of violence should make queer and trans people
both cautious of the state's power to criminalize our lives and wary of the
states claim to prosect us from harm. Although some people believe that
‘we can train transphobia our of law enforcement agents or eliminate ho-
mophobic discrimination by hiring more LGBT prison guards, police, and
immigration officials, such perspectives wrongly assume that discrimina-
tion is a “aw” in the system, rather than incrinsic to the system itself. BE
forts to make prison and police institutions more “gay-friendly” perpetuate
the myth thae such systems are in place to protect us. But 2s the uneven
history of criminalization trends in Canada, the United States, and Britain
so clearly demonstrate (thats, the way thatthe system targets some people
and not others), the prison industrial complex is less about protecting the
public from violence and more about controlling, labeling, disciplining,




and
‘who potentially disrupt the social, economic, and political status quo."

While the state might stop harassing, assaulting, and criminalizing
some people within queer and trans communities (namely those upward-
ly mobile, racially privileged, and property-owning folks), the criminal
system will continue co target those within our communities who are
deemed economically unproductive, politically threatening, or socially
undesirable. As people who have historically been (and continue to be)
targeted by this unjust system, queer, trans, and gender-non-confo:
communities must move away from efforts to make the prison industri
‘complex more “LGBT-friendly” and instead fight the underlying logic of
the system itself





2. Queer, trans, and gender-non-conforming people, particularly
those from low-income backgrounds and communities of color,

are directly targeted by criminalization, punishment, and im-

prisonment.

We do not know exactly how many queer, trans, and gender-non-
conforming people are currently incarcerated. This is partly because most
governments do not collect information on the sexual and gender identity
of prisoners and partly because prisoners are not always safe co disclose
their gender or sexual identities. However, we know that queer; tans, and
‘gender-non-conforming people in Canada, the United States, and Brit-
ain are frequently over-policed, over-criminalized, and over-represented
in the prison system.'” Levels of harassment, targeting, and arrest are high,
particularly for young queer and trans people, those fiom low-income
communities, people with learning disabilities and mental health issues,
and people of color. Trans community organizers in the San Francisco
Bay Area, for example, report that neatly half of the 20,000 transgender
people in the region have been in prison or jail”

Queer, cans, and gender-non-conforming people ae funneled into
the criminal system for many reasons but primarily due to systemic op-
pression. Because trans, queer, and gender-variant people experience
widespread discrimination, harassment, and violence, we are at greater
risk of social and economic marginalization. This translates into higher
risks of imprisonment. We know that queer and trans youth, for example,
are more likely to be homeless, unemployed, bullied at school, harassed
‘on the street, estranged from family, and targeted by sexual violence—fac~
tors that greatly increase the risks of criminalization and imprisonment










Transforming Carceral Logics



‘especially for queer and trans people of color.” Trans people in particular,
‘and those who are visibly gender-non-conforming, are routinely harassed
by law enforcement and security officials for undertaking basic daily ac-
tivities like using the toilet, accessing public services, ot walking down
the street.”

Groups like FIERCE! have shown how the “school-to-prison-pipe-
line” disproportionately affects queer and trans youth.” Whether drop-
ping out of school because of severe harassment and discrimination, feel-
ing alienated from education curriculum, experiencing suicidal thoughts,
or turning to criminalized coping mechanisms like drug and alcohol use,
queer and trans youth often have less chances for success in school.”*

“Zero tolerance” policies, heightened surveillance, and increased police
presence in schools further contribute to lization and dropout
rates, particularly for queer and trans youth of color. “Quality of life” or-
dinances, such as “anti-social behavior orders” and “safe streets act,” are
also rourinely used to remove queer and trans youth from public spaces
and criminalize their social activities. Coupled with problems at home,
‘many queer and trans youth find themselves homeless and unemployed.”
‘Once on the stree, queer and trans youth have crouble accessing services
and supports to get their basic nceds met. Many homeless shelters and
social services, for example, are not safe places for trans people (some-
times banning trans people outright), and problems with gender carego-
‘on identity documents can restrict welfare access.** Without income,
housing, family, or community support, survival often means working in
criminalized economies like drug and sex trade,

Queer, trans, and gender-non-conforming youth who are bullied,
harassed, and assaulred—particularly those who don’t fit the stereotype of
the passive, innocent, white victim—are blamed and punished when they
defend themselves. The recent case of the New Jersey 7, in which seven
young African American lesbians were criminalized for defending them-
‘selves against sexist and homophobic harassment, provides a casein point.**
Given that criminalization and imprisonment both arise from, and further
‘exacerbate, experiences of social marginalization and oppression, efforts
to address queer and trans homelessness, unemployment, suicide, school
dropout rates, harassment, and abuse cannot stop short of prison issues.















3. Prisons reinforce oppressive gender and sexual norms.
Prisons reinforce gender and sexual norms in three key ways: First, sex-
segregated prisons restrict people's right to determine and express their
Coptive Gend





cown gender identity and sexuality, Because most prisons divide people ac-
‘cording to their perceived genitals rather than their sef-expressed gender
identity, prisoners who dont identify as “male” or “female” or who are
sgender-non-conforming are often sent to segregation or forced to share a
cell with prisoners ofa different gender, often with lee regard for their
safery. In Britain, even trans people who have obtained 2 Gender Rec-
cognition Certificate (a state document that legally recognizes a person's
self-defined gender) have been held in prisons with people of a different
gender.” By segregating institutions along sex/gender lines, prisons work
co make invisible, isolate, and stigmatize those bodies and gender identity
‘expressions that defy imposed gender binaries.*

Second, gender segregation in prisons plays a key role in “correction
al” efforts to modify prisoner behavior in accordance with gender norms.
Hiscorically, women’s prisons were designed to transform “fallen” women
into better wives, mothers, homemakers, and domestic servants, whereas
men’s prisons were designed to transform males into disciplined individu-
als, productive workers, and masculine citizens.” These gendered goals
persist today, particularly in the division of prison labor. For example,
‘when a new mixed-gender prison was buile in Peterborough, England in
2005, all pats ofthe insicution were duplicated to provide separate male
and female areas, except for the single kitchen, where women were ex-
pected to do all che cooking. The current tread toward so-called "gender
responsive” prisons is likewise framed as a measure to address the specific
needs of female prisoners, but usually works to discipline, enforce, and
regulate gender norms.” Moreover, gender-responsive prison reforms are
increasingly used to justify building new prisons (without closing existing
cones), thereby furthering prison expansion."*

“Third, sexual violence plays a key role in maintaining order and con-
trol within prisons, a tactic that relies on oppressive sexual and gender
norms.* Sexual violence in prison, including harassment, rape, and as-
sault, is shockingly widespread and often institutionally condoned. Ac-
cording to Stop Prisoner Rape, 1 in 5 males and 1 in 4 females face sexual
assault in US prisons. To call attention to the enforcement of gender/
sexual norms in prison is not to suggest that prison culture is uniform
across or within institutions, or chat prisoners are more sexist, homo-
phobic, or transphobic than non-prisoners. Rather, prisons as insticutions
tend to reinforce, perpetuate, and entrench gender/sex hierarchies and
create environments in which sexual violence flourishes.








‘Transforming Carceral Logics



4. Prisons are harmful, violent, and damaging places, especially for

‘queer, trans, and gender-non-conforming folks.

Prisons are violent institutions. People in prison and detention experi-
ence brutal human rights abuses, including physical assaule, psychological
abuse, rape, harassment, and medical neglect. Aside from these violations,
the act of putting people in cages is a form of violence in itself. Such
violence leads to extremely high rates of self-harm and suicide, both in
prison and following release.* These problems ae neither exceptional nor
‘occasional; violence is endemic to prisons.

Ie is important to bear in mind that prison violence stems largely
from the institutional structure of incarceration rather than from some-
thing supposedly inherent to prisoners themselves. Against the popular
myth that prisons are filled with violenc and dangerous people, the vast
majority of people are held in prison for non-violent crimes, especially
drug offenses and crimes of poverty. For the small number of people
who pose a genuine risk to themselves or others, prisons often make those
risks worse. In other words, prisons are dangerous not because of who is
locked inside, but instead prisons both require and foster violence as part
of their punitive function. For this reason, reform efforts may reduce, but
cannot ultimately eliminate, prison violence.

“The high number of deaths in state custody speaks to the devasta-
ing consequences of imprisonment. Between 1995 and 2007, the British
prison-monitoring group Inquest documented more than 2,500 deaths in
police and prison custody.” Homicide and suid rates in Canadian pis
‘ons are nearly eight times the rate found in non-institutional secings.”*
In the United States beeween 2001 and 2006, there were 18,550 adult
deaths in state prisons,” and between 2003 and 2005, there were an ad-
<itional 2,002 arrest-rlated deaths." It is extremely rare for state officials,
to be held accountable for these deaths. For example, among the deaths
that Inquest has documented in Britain, not one police ot prison officer
to date has been held criminally responsible.“

Deaths in custody are symptomatic of the daily violence and harm
that prisoners endure. Queer, trans, and gendet-non-conforming people
are subject to these harms in specific ways:









+ High risk of axauls and abuse: Queet, trans, and gender-non-con-
forming people are subject vo widespread sexual assault, abuse,
and other gross human rights violations, not only from ocher
prisoners, but from prison staf as well*
Coptive Genders

+ Denial of ealtheare: Many prisoners must fight ro even sce a doc
to; le alone get adequate medical cae. Trans people in particu
lar are regularly denied basic medical needs, especially surgery
and hormones. Many prisons have no guidelines for the care oF
trans and gender-variane persons, and even where guidelines ex-
ist, they are insufficiene or no followed. Inadequare policy and
practice on HIV/AIDS and Hep C prevention is another major
health problem in prison, where transmission rates are excep-
tionally high.* These risks increase dramatically for eans people,
who already experience high rates of HIV/AIDS.” This com-
bination of high transmission risks, poor healthcare provision,
inadequate sexual health polices, and long-term health effets
of imprisonment (including shorter life expeceances), mean that
prison isa serious health hazard for queer and trans people.

+ Subject 1 solitary confinement and strip-scerching: Teans and
sgender-non-conforming prisoners are regularly placed in solitary
confinement as a “solution” ro the problem of sex-segregated
prisons. Even when used for safety purposes, “protective custody”
constitutes a form of punishment, a it usually means reduced
access to recreational and educational programs, and increased
psychological stress as a result of isolation. Trans and gender-
non-conforming people are also frequently subject co humiliat-
ing, degrading, abusive, and overtly transphobicstip-sarches.

+ High risk off harm and suicide: Queer and trans people, xpe-
cially youth, have higher rates of suicide artempes and self-harm,
Such risks increase in prison and! are heightened in segregation,
particularly when prisoners are isolated from queer and trans
supports” These risks are not limited to incarceration but con-
tinue after release, A study in Britain for example, found hac
men who leave prison were eight times more likely to commit
suicide than the general population, and women released from
prison were thirty-six times more likely to commie suicide.





“The prison system is literally killing, damaging, and harming people
from our communities. Whether we consider physical death caused by
self-harm, medical neglect, and state violence; social death caused by sub-
sequent unemployment, homelessness, and stigmatization; or civil death
experienced through political disenfranchisement and exclusion from citi-
zenship tights, the violence of imprisonment is undeniable.
Transforming Corceral Logics



5. Ending violence against queer, trans, and gender-non-conforming

people requires a focus on the prison industrial complex.
“The pervasiveness of state violence against queer and transgender people is
reason enough to fight the prison industrial complex. But itis important
to include anti-prison work as part of antiviolence struggles more broadly.
“Too often mainstream antiviolence work around hate crimes, sexual vio-
ence, child, and partner abuse excludes or remains disconnected from
struggles against state violence.

Incorporating anti-prison work within broader amtiviolence strug-
sles is vital because prisons perpetuate—rather than break—cycles of vio-
Ince. People ae les likely co cause harm to others when they feel part
of a community, because social inclusion brings both supports and re-
sponsibilites. Yet prisons have the opposite effect: Prisons remove people
from their communities, isolate them from social support, and disconnect
them from frameworks of accountability. During their sentences, many
prisoners become estranged from their families and separated from part-
ners. Many lose their personal possessions and most lose their jobs. Im-
prisonment also exacerbates mental health issues.” As a result, people of-
ten come out of prison in a much worse position than when they went in,
putting them at increased risk of the situations that landed them in prison
in the first place. These effects can be devastating not only for prisoners
but also for friends and family members. The British Social Exclusion
Unit, for example, found that 65 percent of boys with a convicted parent
are subsequently convicted themselves." These cycles of social exclusion,
poverty, and imprisonment pave the way for more harm and violence.

“The criminal system also reduces community capacity to hold people
to account for their actions. ‘Though prison is often framed as a means
of serving “justice” and “accountability” this is rarely the case. At most,
prisons demand accountability o the state rather than to the people who
‘were actually affected by the original harm, Locking people away does not
require that people respond co those they harmed or take responsibility
for their actions. By removing from the community people who have
‘committed harm, the state actually prevents communities from holding
that person accountable, More importantly, imprisonment does not as-
sist with collective healing processes nor does it work to prevent harms
from recurring in furure. Effective antiviolence work means developing
alternative, community-based processes that prioritize the needs of those
‘who were harmed, address underlying issues that lead to harm, and work
{o prevent future violence.














6. Prisons reinforce dominant relations of power, especially racism,
lassism, ableism, and colonial oppression.

‘The modern prison grew out of, and continues to be deeply embedded
within, the European colonial project and the legacy of slavery." This his-
tory, which includes medical experimentation, forced psychiatric treat-
‘ment, sterilization, and eugenics, continues to shape the contemporary
prison system today. Whether we consider who is most targeted by prisons
or the socio-economic power relations that sustain imprisonment, the pris-
(on industrial complex remains a fundamentally racist, cassist, and ableist
institution.” The statistics on who is in prison make these realities pain-
fully clear. In Britain, for example, although people of color made up less
than 9 percent of the general population, they comprised 27 percent of
prisoners in 2008.” Blacks in particular are seven times more likely than
whites ro be stopped and searched by police, and are far more likely to
receive a custodial sentence if convicted of a crime-* In 2002, there were
more Aftican Caribbean entrants to prison (over 11,500) than there were
to UK. universities (around 8,000). In Canada, Aboriginal women make
up less than 2 percent of the general population but comprise 32 percent
cof women held in federal prison and are more likely to be classified as dan-
serous offenders than non-Aboriginals.* In che United States, 1 in every 9
Affican American men berween the ages of 20 and 34 is now behind bars.”
“The vast majority of prisoners come from poor economic backgrounds,
and people with mental health issues and learning disabilities are locked
up at disproportionate rates.

While corporate media attempe to justify these differential rates with
<laims that some people are more criminal, the reality is that some people
are more criminalized. For example, though blacks use drugs at similar (if
not lower) rates than whites, they are up to ten times more likely to be ad-
‘mitted to prison for drug offenses than whites.” Governments, politicians,
and corporate media continually reinvent images of prisoners as violent,
pathological, and morally depraved people, but the vast majority are im-
prisoned for crimes related to poverty, social exclusion, and systemic op-
pression. Indeed, communities that are most criminalized tend also to be
‘most victimized. For example, in 2003, the Canadian Human Rights
‘Commission found that 80 percent of al federally sentenced women were
survivors of physical and/or sexual violence—and for Aboriginal women
the rate increased to 90 percent. Drawing attention to these underlying
factors is not to deny the harms that people in prison may have commit-
ted, but rather to put those acts in their social, economic; political, and










Transforming Carceral Logics



colonial contexts. When we recognize “crime” as symptomatic of broader
social injustices rather than as individual bad choices,” we are better able
to devise strategies that address root causes and actually reduce harm and
violence.

‘Queer and transgender communities are not immune from the op-
pressive logic of imprisonment. Not only do many of us internalize the
racic, classist, ableist, and punitive norms of the prison system, but we
also create our own kinds of oppressive cages when we uphold social bar-
riers that exclude, marginalize, and stigmatize people in our communities.
For this reason, i is important to prioritize, support, and take action
in struggles against insticutions such as prison, where such oppression is
‘most rampant.” Just as struggles against gender and sexuality-based op-
pression are distorted and incomplete without race, class, and disability
analysis, strugeles for social justice are incomplete without attention to
the violence of cages.

7. Prisons and policing take vital resources away from much-needed

‘community programs, services, and self-empowerment projects.
“The economic costs of imprisonment are staggering, In 2008, for example,
it cost an average of £45,000 per year (more than £120 per day) co keep a
ppetson in prison in England and Wales.” In Canada, the average cost per
‘year to keep a person in a maximum security federal prison is $110,223
(CAD) for men and $150,867 for women. Medium and minimum se-
curity costs average $70,000 per year. In the United States, the average
‘operational costs per prisoner in 2005 was $23,876 (USD), and capital
costs were estimated at $65,000 per bed.

Contrary to mainstream media claims of lavish prisons, the high
costs of prison do not reflect the living conditions that prisoners endure.
In Britain, for example, public-sector prisons spend less than £2 per day
‘on food for cach prisoner, and official inspectorate reports reveal that
prison conditions regularly breach minimum standards of hygiene and
safety: Moreover, many prison costs are also absorbed by the prisoners
themselves who provide unpaid or cheap labor (£4 per week in England
and Wales) to maintain prison operations.”

Global expansion in the prison industrial complex, alongside groweh
in privare industries chat make profits from imprisonment, means that po-
lice and prison spending continue to rise. Over the past ren years, for ex-
“ample, US federal and state governments have increased police department
budgets by 77 percent. In 2007, total corrections spending in the United


Coptive Gend







‘States topped $49 billion, up from $12 billion in 1978." Prison expe
ture in Britain has increased from £2.84 billion in 1995 to £4.33 billion
{in 2006. The U.K. now spends more per capita on prisons than the US.”

Increases in law enforcement budgets are ditectly related ro cuts in
‘welfare, housing, medical care, and community programming. Massive
amounts of public money are being channeled into military, policing,
and imprisonment regimes, while queer and trans-specific services, such
as HIV prevention, drop-in centers, education supports, peer mentoring,
programs, employment training, and violence-prevention. programs are
chronically underfunded, Not surprisingly, there is an inverse relation-
ship berween the amount of money a country invests in social welfare
and the amount of crime it experiences: States with berter welfare systems
and more equal distribution of wealth tend co have lower incarceration
rates.” When we consider what might be accomplished if even a fraction
of prison and policing budgets were redirected into community-based
violence prevention projects, the fiscal injustice of the prison system is
even more striking.



8, Prison growth is reaching a global crisis, and LGBTQ people are
‘becoming increasingly complicit in its expansion.

Using prisons, policing, and militarization as a response to social, political,

and economic problems is 2 phenomenon that has grown dramatically

the past thirty years. Though the modern prison is a relatively new inven-

tion that only dates back to the 1800s, its most dramatic expansion in the

United States, Canada, and Britain has occurred in the past thirty years.



Consider the following:

+ Berween 1994 and 2004, the number of children sentenced to
penal custody in England and Wales increased by 90 percent,
despite declining rates of recorded crime by children.”

+ As of Apdl 2010, there were 12,918 people serving indefinite
sentences in Britain, compared to ewer than 3,000 in 1992.”

+ The racial demographics of the US prison population under-
‘went a complete reversal in a mere four decades, shifting from
4 population that was 70 percent white at mid-century to 70
percent black and Latino by the 1990s—even though racial par-
terns of “criminal ativiey” did not change significantly during
shat period”


Transforming Carceral Logics



+ Benween 1970 and 2001, the incarceraion rae of women in the
Uniced States rose bya staggering 2,800 pereent (5,600 women
prisoners in 1970 and 161,200 in 2001).

+ The number of people in the United States serving life sentences
withoue parole increased by 22 percent berween 2003 and 2008
(from 33.633 w 41,095).

Contrary to popular assumptions, prison populations are growing
not because more people are committing crime, more people are being
‘caught, or more people are being found guilty. Rather, sentences are get-
ting longer, custodial sentences are given out with increasing frequency,
and governments are widening the criminalization net by creating new
criminal offenses.” Between 2000 to 2007, for example, the US Congress
added 454 new offenses to the federal criminal code, which coincided
‘with a 32 percent increase in the number of federal prisoners.”" While in
power from 1997 to 2010, the British Labour government created more
than 3,600 new criminal offenses—almost one for every day i was in
office.”

Although many people assume that prison expansion isa response to
increased crime, the main causes of prison expansion have less to do with
so-called crime waves and more to do with political and economic policy:
the “war on drugs.” the criminalization of homelessness and poverty, the
lack of community support for people with mental health issues, the in-
creased detention of undocumented workers, the expanding use of secret
prisons, and the so-called war on terror.

Unforeunately, many LGBT organizations in Canada, Britain, and
the United States—particularly white-dominated and class-privileged
cones—ate increasingly complici in the forces of prison expansion: call
ing for increased penalties under hate crimes laws; participating in police,
military, and prison officer recruitment campaigns; endorsing “law and or-
det” politicians, contributing to gentrification of poor, working-class and
immigrant neighborhoods; and supporting “quality of lie” ordinances that
drive qucer and trans street youth from public spaces. To givea particularly
chilling example, LGBT groups lobbying for the Local Law Enforcement
Hate Crime Prevention Act in the United States (also known as the Mat-
thew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act), recently
found themselves in the unsavory position of supporting legislation that,
thanks to a Republican amendment, included the death penalty among
its available sanctions.” While several LGBT groups released statements




Copti



opposing the death penalty amendment, few acknowledged that hate
crimes laws (which function primarily by applying harsher sentences to
crimes deemed as hate-motivated) grow out of, and feed, the same punitive
logics that sustain the death penalty. Ironically. most ofthe arguments used
by LGBT groups to oppose the death penalty (for example, its racist ap-
plication, lack of deterrent effect, and perpetuation of violence) also apply
to the criminal justice system more broadly." Although the death penalty
amendment was subsequently removed from the final legislation, by ad-
vocating for punishment-based hate crimes laws, LGBT groups nonethe-
less helped to legitimize imprisonment and channel further resources into
locking people up—despite a lack of evidence that such measures reduce
hrate-motivated violence." It is also no coincidence that the acc was passed
as part the National Defense Authorization Bil, a package of reforms that
provides $680 billion to the US military “defense” budget, including $130
billion (USD) for ongoing military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.”?
Given the devastating effects of the prison industrial complex and its
broader connections with militarism and empire, queer and trans people
must end their complicity with such projects.*

9. Prisons and police do not make queer, trans, and gender-non-con-

forming communities safer.
“The biggest myth of prison industrial complex is that prisons and cops
keep us safe. Yet when we examine state track records, prisons have
failed to protect communities from violence. Just as criminal justice
remedies for domestic violence have not kept women safe from harm,
50 too have prisons failed co protect queer, tans, and gender-non-con-
forming people.”

Although queer, rans, and gender-variane people are disproportion-
ately subject co harassment, bullying, sexual assault, and violence, many
do not feel safe going to the police for help. A recent U.K. study found
thar 1 in 5 lesbian and gay people had been a victim of homophobic hate
crime in the last three years, yet 75 percent did not report it to the poli
“The incidents ranged from insults on the street to physical and sexual as-
saults. Of those incidents reported, half resulted in no action being taken,
and two thirds of those who reported were offered no advice or support
services. Trans people are particularly vulnerable when reporting inci-
dents to police, not only because of ID issues, but also because
routinely assume that crans people are suspects rather than witnesses or
victims of crime.”












Transforming Corceral Logics



Some argue that the answer to this problem isto encourage people to
report violence to police and to advocate for criminal punishment against
those who commit such acts of violence. But the introduction of hate
crimes laws has not reduced violence against queer, rans, and gender-
xnon-conforming people. In fact, when we examine the overall impact of
the criminal system, imprisonment has never worked effectively to protect
communities from harm. Here’s why:

Reoffnding: Prisons have a terrible tack record when it comes to
re-offending. In Britain, approximately 65 percent of prisoners are re-
convicted within ewo years of being released. For young men aged 18
‘© 20, reconviction rates tend to hover around 75 percent." Though
recidivism rates vary among particular groups and offenses (most
people convicted of murder, for example, do not re-offend), Canada
and the United States have similarly high re-offense rates overall.” A
‘growing body of evidence also suggests that prison expansion tends to
increase re-offense rates.”

Deterrence: Prisons and punishment are poor mechanisms for deter-
ring crime. Considerable evidence indicates, for example, that harsher
sentences do not reduce crime, particularly with respect to youth. In
some eases, harsher punishments may actully increase reoffense
rates." Indeed, US sates with the lowest incarceration rates also have
‘the lowest crime raes.”* The logie that punishment will deter harm
‘wrongly assumes that violence is the result of individual, rational deci
sions made in contexts of “fee choice.” While some violent acts are
indeed premeditated (specially white-collar crime), most harms arise
from a more complex set of socal, political, and economic factors.
Because prisons do not address but rather exacerbate these factors,
the deterrent effects. of imprisonment are limited. As former Senior
Home Office researcher Carol Hedderman notes, “Prison will never
be an effective crime-control tool because the evidence clearly demon-
serates hate actively ecates oF compounds the factors that contribute
‘0 offending.”



Rebabilation: Rehabilitation programs have limited success and in
some cases can actully cause more harm than good.” This is pardly
because most rehabilitation programs assume thatthe main problem
lice in the individual rather than in broader socal, economic, and po-
Coptive Genders



litical circumstances. Moreover, prison-based rehabilitation programs
‘operate within coercive and disciplinary contexts and rately coincide
with adequate economic and social supports following release. By
contrast, voluntary harm-reduction programs thac take place within
supportive community settings are generally more successful—and
such less expensive.”

“The systematic failure of imprisonment is not only noted by anti-
prison activists, but also widely recognized among criminologist, legal
professionals, and even government officials. As the Daubney Commis-
sion (appointed by a Conservative Government) in Canada reported,

I is now generally recognized that imprisonment has noc been ef-
fective in rehabilitating or reforming offenders, has not be shown to
bbe strong deterrent, and has achieved only temporary public protec~
tion and uneven retribution.,.. The use of imprisonment as a mai
response to a wide variety of offences against the law is nota tenable
approach in practical terms.

“Addressing violence within and against our communities is afar too
serious, urgent, and widespread an issue to be left to a system that has
proven to be an utter failure when it comes to community safety.



10. Alternatives to prisons will better prevent violence, strengthen
queer and trans communities, and foster social, economic, and
racial justice.

Prison abolition is not a call co suddenly fling open the prison doors with-

‘out cnacting alternatives. Nor is ican appeal to a utopian ideal. Abolition

is a broad-based, practical vision for building models roday that practice

how we want ro live in the future, Practicing alrernatives requires different
starting points, questions, and assumptions than those underlying the cur-
rent system. The existing criminal justice model poses rwo main questions
in the face of social harm: Who did ie? How can we punish them? (And
increasingly, how can we make money from it). Creating safe and healthy
requires a different set of questions: Who was harmed? How

‘can we facilitate healing? How can we prevent such harm in the fueure?”

Developing alternatives with these latter goals in mind prioritizes the

needs of people who have been harmed and emphasizes more holistic,

prevention-oriented responses to violence. Such frameworks not only re-




Transforming Corceral Logics

duce the need for prisons, but also work to strengthen communities by
reducing oppression and building community capacity more broadly.

Abolitionise strategies differ from reformist tactics by working to
reduce, rather than strengthen, the power of the prison industrial com-
plex.” Prison reforms, however well-intentioned, have tended to extend
the life and scope of prisons. So-called “gender-responsive” prisons are a
prime example; reforms intended to address the needs of women have
led to increased punishment and imprisonment of women, not less. By
contrast, abolitionist strategies embrace tactics that undermine the prison
system rather than feed i

“There are many different approaches to abolition, some of which
are outlined in che classic “Instead of Prisons Handbook” To highlight
a few:

+ Starve he spiem. Abolition means sarving the prison industial
complex 10 death—depriving ie of financial resources, human
resources, acces co feat-mongering, and other sustaining rheto-
ric."® Enacting a moratorium on prison expansion is one key
strategy; this means preventing governments and private compa-
nies from building any new prisons, jails, oF immigration deten-
sion spaces: prohibiting increases in police and prison budgets;
and boycotting companies that make a profit from imprison-
ment. Sarving the prison system means fighting new laws that
increase prison time or create new criminal offenses (for example,
hae crimes laws and mandatory minimum sentences), and redi-
reeting money and resources into community-based alternatives.

+ Sop asing cages Prisons are just one of the many cages that harm.
‘our communities. Racism, colonialism, capitalism, and ableism
are other kinds of cages, which both sustain che prison system
and give it force. Dismantling the prison industrial complex
means working t0 eliminate all cages that foster violence and
‘oppression. Taking this broad approach is especially important
when developing alternatives, since some strategies (like elec-
monic agging or surveillance cameras) simply replace old cages
‘with new ones. Gerting people out of cages and preventing peo
ple from being put in those cages—even one person ata time—is
a key abolitionis strategy.

+ Develop efecive aloemarive. Dismancling the prison industrial
‘complex isimpossible without developing alternative community


Coptive Genders



protocols for addressing violence and harm. Creating abolitionist
alternatives means encouraging non-punitive responses to harm,
enacting community-based mechanisms of social accountability,
and prioritizing prevention. Such alternatives inchude restorative!
transformative justice initiatives, community-based cestiution
projects, socal and economic support necworks, affordable hous-
ing, community education projects, youth-led recreational pro-
grams, fee accessible healthcare services, empowerment-based
mental health, addiction and harm reduction programs, quality
‘employment opportunities, anti-poverty measures, and support
for self determination strugges."*

+ Practice everyday abolition, Prison abolition is not shmply an end
goal but alio an everyday practice, Being abolitionist is about
‘changing the ways we interac with others on an ongoing basis
and changing harmful paterns in our daily lives. Abolitionist
practice mean questioning punitive impulses in our intimate re-
lasionships, rethinking the ways thar we deal with personal con-
fits, and reducing harms that occur in our homes, workplaces,
neighborhoods, and school. In this way, “living abolition” is
parc of the daily practice of creating a world without cages.







Conclusion
‘Among the many strengths of queer and trans communities is an acute
ability co challenge social norms that discipline dissident bodies. As an
insticution whose violent effects cause massive damage to bodies both in-
side and beyond its walls, che prison should bea key target for queer/crans
analysis and action. At the same time, abolishing the prison industrial
‘complex is not only about getting rid of prisons; itis about integrating
abolitionist analysis and practice into broader social, economic, and racial
justice struggles. Whether fighting for trans access to housing and welfare,
demanding the decriminalization of sex work, engaging in antiviolence
‘work, or campaigning for free accessible healthcare, all our politics must
be infused with an abolitionist analysis. Likewise, prison activism that
does not consider the gender/sexuality dimensions of imprisonment will
be unable to undo the roots of our cage-obsessed cultures. The task then is
‘to engage in social change using strategies thar bring a qucet/trans analy-
sis to the prison industrial complex and bring a prison abolition analysis
to qucet/trans struggles. Without integrating both, we'll neglect the very
cages that prevent us from working toward broader social justice goals.


‘Transforming Carceral Logics

Adknoroledgement: I am gratefid to the Pritones Justice Action Com-
smistee in Toronto, expecially Peter Collins and Giselle Dias for contribut-
ing 50 much to my wndersending and practice of prisoner solidarity and
aanti-privon work [aio want to acknowledge the many lesons I learned
from working with people imprisoned in Covel East Correctional Cor-
‘erin Lindsey, Ontario, Canada. Much inspiration ako comes from work
by Critical Resizance, INCITE., the Prisoner Correspondence Project in
Montreal, and the Speia Rivera Law Project. Thanks ali 0 Stacy Doug
es, Greygory Gless, Toni Jobnson, George Lavender, Dean Spade, Mike
Upton, andthe book editors for very helpful feedback and dicusion

Notes
(Queer Kids of Queer Parents Agsinat Gay Mariage, “Resse che Gay Mariage
Agenda!” Queer Kids of Queer Parents Against Gay Marriage Blog, Oct. 9, 2009.
hep fqueeekidssaynomarsiage wordpress.com, accessed Oct. 10,2009.

‘When refering wo privns, Include al forms of forced or coerced tae custody,
sich sj prisons, childrens detention centers, immigration detention cen-
ters, “Secure” hospital eds and psychiatric flies, prisoner of war camps, and
secret

Recogniting the inability of single term to encapsulate the Buidty and specc-
inyof peoples gender and sexalidences, and noting both the oveaping and
lstince dimensions ofthese dente, use gender and sexual identity terms in
the filling ways: By gue | refer to people whose sexual desires, identities,
nd practices do not conform to heterosexsal noems (including, bt alo going
beyond, lesbian, gy, besa, transgender, transsexual, interes, wo-splct and
queer people). By ens I refer to people who identify or express gender differ
cotly chan what is eadcionally asocisted with the sce they were assigned 3t
beth (eg. tanagender, transexual, swo-spir, mae-o-femal,female-to-male)
By gender non-conforming, I refer to people whose gender presentation orien
ty docs not conform to gender norms or expectations (e.g women who present
in-a masculine way but nonetheless identify as women, af well a androgynous,
sgender-fluid, and gender ambiguous people)

Critical Resistance and INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, “Gender
Violence andthe Prison Industrial Complex” in Color of Violence: The INCITE!
Antholgy, ed. INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence (Cambridge, Mas:
South End Pres, 2006.

“The pricn indusial comple is the nerwork of governmental and private in-
terests that use plson asa response co soca, political, and economic prob-
Jems, The prvon industrial complee (PIC) includes all insesions goverment


10.

i

12,

Coptive Genders





branches, agencies, and businesses that have a fnancial organizational, or po-
lial interest in maintaining the prison system. Se ibid

See Pew Center on the Stats, "One in 100: Behind Bats in America 2008,”
2008, hp sage powceneronhesate.or/ uploaded File Onepercent20inpet
‘ent20100 pd, accessed Jan. 29, 2009: Pew Center on the Sates, “One in 31:

“The Long Reach of American Corrections” 2009. hnpi/wnwwpeweenteron-
thestatesorg/uploadedFle/PSPP_tin31_report FINAL_WEB.3-26-09.pd
acessed Oct. 3, 2009; US Deparment of Justice, “One in Every 31 US Adults
‘ere in Prison or Jl or on Probation o Parole in 2007,” [press release] 2008,
Insp:fwjp.aido}gov/bidpublpresspO7ppuspchtm, accessed Jan. 29,
2009.

“Though originally launched by the Labour Government, chee prson-building
plans ae ao being pursued by the Conservative Liberal Democratic Coal-
tion Government. Briksh Minisry of Jusice and British National Offender
Management Service, “New Prisons Consultation Response.” April 27, 2008
Isp eee justice govuklconsulations/docs/new-prisons-response-paer pa
accesed Sepe 1, 2009.

Walter 8, DeKeseredy, “Canadian Crime Control in the New Millennium: The
Influence of Neo-Conservaive US Policies and Practices? Police Pacce and
‘Resear An International Jounal, 2009; Joanna Smith, “Federal Peison Billo
(Cost a Billion Dollars a Yeas” Toronto Ser, June 22, 2010, hap: fwwwthestar.
com/newslcanada/articl(826778--tory-time-billto-cost-extra-618m-per-
yearreportfnds accessed Sept 9,2010.

Jessi Gan, “Stl at che Back ofthe Bus: Sylvia Rivera Straggle.” Goro Jour
ral XIX, No.1, 2007. hepredalye-uernexmatedalyepll377137719107.
pf, accessed Fe. 8, 2009; Regina Kunze, “Lessons in Being Gay: Queer En-
counters in Gay and Lesbian Prison Activism.” Radical History Review, No. 100,
2008,

See, for example, Paul Mason, “Les, Distortion and What Docsnit Work: M
toring Prison Sroriss in the British Media.” Crime, Media, Culture 2, No. 3,
2006.

Ta parila, I want to shank Peer Collins, whose everday activism from in-
Side the prison walls continues to aspire, provoke. and shape my work in pro-
found ways.

See for example, Gary Kinsman, The Regulation of Desire: Home aed Hetero
Sexual, 2nd ed, (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1996; Regina Kunz, Crmi-
ral Intiacy: Prism and the Uneven Hiry of Modern American Sexuality (Chi-
«agp and London: Univeriy of Chicago Pres, 2008); esi J. Moran, The
Hemescualily) of Law London: Routledge, 1996).




4

16

v7.

Transforming Carceral Logics



‘While Canada, the United States and Briain have decriminalzed private, con-
sensual, same-sex acts among adults, the colonial legacy of British anti-sodomy
Jaws persis elsewhere. Sce Human Rights Watch, “This Alien Legacy: The Ox-
{ins of Sodomy? Laws in British Colonialism,” 2008, hap//wwwchrw.org/sites!
defuulfle/epors/igbe 208web pf, accesed Jan. 30, 2009

'M. Somjen Frazer, “Some Queers re Safer Than Others: Correlates of Hate
‘Crime Vieimization of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Tiansgendler People in Bait-
ain,” paper presented a the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2005,

Amnesty Internationa, “Stonewalled: Police Abuses against Lesbian, Gay, Bi
sexual and Transgender People inthe USA” 2006. hep fwwewamnestyuss.org!
curfone/stonewalled/report pf, accesed Jan. 30, 2009; Sam Dick and Stone-
wall,"Homophobic Hate Crime: The Gay Brish Crime Survey.” 2008. hep!
“wewoestonewall.org.uk/documenes/homophobic_hare_crime_fnal_repore pdf
accesed Jan. 29, 2009; INCITE! Women of Calor Against Violence, “Law
Enforcement Violen against Women of Color and Tians People of Color A
(Crccal Intersection of Gender Violence and Seae Violence,” 2008. hesperw.
incite national org/media/docs/3696_TOOLKTT-FINAL pdf, accesed Feb. 9,
2008.

‘Such killings include boh direct and indirect forms of sae violence, suchas the
death penalty lings by law enforcement agents deaths in custody that arise
from abuse and medical neglec: significantly lower life-expectancy rates among
prisoners and exprisoners; and sate indiference to violence against particular
groups of people. These deaths are eargeted because they affect some groups dis-
proportionately more than others. Consider, for example the high ates of black
deaths in custody, che well-documented clas and racial bias inthe application
‘ofthe death penalty, che disproportionate number of lesbians on deach row, and
the 520 missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada.

Barbara Findlay, “Transsexuals in Canadian Prisons: An Equality Analysis”
1999. hp://wwcbarbaraindlay.conv/articles!45.pdf, accessed July 18, 2007;
Jody Marksamer. “And by the Way, Do You Know He Thinks He's a Git? The
Fralure of Law, Policy, and Legal Representation for Transgender Youth in Juve-
rile Delinquency Cours.” Sawalty Rewarch aed Social Policy: Journal of NSRC
5,.No. 1, 2008: Beth Ritchie, “Queering Antiprzon Work: Affican American
Lesbians in the Juvenile Justice System.” in Global Lockdown: Race, Gender, and
she Prison Industrial Complec, ed Jlia Sudbury (New York: Routledge, 2005);
‘Scephen Whitl and Pala Sephens, “A Pilo Study of Provision for Transsexual
and Transgender People in che Criminal Justice System, and the Information
Needs of Probation Officers.” 2001. heps/wwwep fc ogukle/legallispow






18

19.

20.

23.

25,

Coptive Genders



pal, accessed Feb. 9, 2009.
‘Ann Cammere, “Queer Lockdown: Coming 10 Terms with the Ongoing Crimi-
alization of LGBTQ Communities” The Scholar and Feminist Online 7, No.
3, 2009. hep://wenbarnard columbia.<dulsfonlinelsexecon/cammest_OL hem,
accessed Oct 3, 2009; Alexander Lee, “Prickly Coalitions: Moving Prison Abo-
licionism Forward” in Abolition Now! Ten Yar of Stregy and Struggle against
‘the Prison Industrial Complex, ed. Cevial Resistance (Oakland, Calif: AK Pres,




“Queeting Antiprison Work’; Sylvia Ri
fs War in Her A Report on the Treatment of Transgender
‘and Intersex People in New York State Mens Prisons 2007. hup://wewstlp.
‘org/files/warinhere pdf, accesed Jan. 30, 2009.

Amnesty International, “Stonewalled”; INCITE! Women of Color Against Vio-
lence, “Law Enforcement Violence.”

FIERCE, "Transgender Youth and the Prison Industrial Complex: Disrupt the
Flow” 2004. hep! /wwrwfiercenye.org/media/docs/5166_transyouthPICflow-
chart pf, accessed Oct. 29, 2008.

‘Marksamer, “ailures of Law

INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, “Law Enforcement Violence.”
Nicholas Ray, Lesbian, Gay. Biscoual and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of
Homelesnes (New York: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Insite
and the National Coalition fo the Homeless, 2006).

FIM Safer Shelter Project, “Invisible Men: FTMs and Homelessness in To-
onto,” 2008. hrp://velleseyinsitute-com/fles/invisible-men.pdf, accessed
Oct. 29, 2009; Dean Spade, “Compliance Is Gendered: Struggling for Gender
Self Determination in a Hostile Economy,” in Tranygender Rights, ed. Paisley
(Carrah, Richard M. Juang, and Shannon Price Minter (Minneapolis: University
of Minesora Press, 2006)

(On August 18, 2006, seven young Aftcan American lesbians were walking
down the set, when a male bystander assaulted them with sexist and homo-
phobic comments. When the women tried to defend themselves, a fight broke
‘out and the seven were arrested. Thee subsequent accepted plea bargains and.
four were given prison sentences ranging from 3 ¥ to 11 years. For informa-
ton on their campaign, see the “Free the New Jersey 4 Campaign” ac: beep!
Ficenj4.wordpress.coml. See also INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
and FIERCE!, “Re-Thinking ‘the Nore’ in Police/Prson Violence and Gender
Violence. Left Tiom, Oct. 1, 2008. hep://wwwlefcuen.org/2qsnode/1236, ac-
cessed Jan, 30, 2009.

‘A tanswomen recently won her case against the Ministry of Justice, who had


8

3.

33,

3s.

‘Transforming Carceral Logics

refused to transfer her co a women’s prison even chough she held a Gender
Recognition Cerificate identifying her as female. The High Court judge ruled
that ie was a breach of Artic 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
for the worsan to be held in a men’ prison. See "Human Rights” Law Sociey
Gazete, Oc. 1, 2009. hep: Iwww laweareecoak/nodel52502, accesed Oct.
20, 2009.

Sydney Tarewell, “The Gender Lines Are Marked with Razor Wire: Addressing
State Prison Poices and Practices for the Management of Transgender Prison
Colombia Human Rights Lax Review 36, No.1, 2006.

Angela Y. Davis, Are Prvns Obsolete? (Toronto: Seven Stories Pes, 2003); Kel-
ly Hannah-Mofise, Panishment in Diguive: Penal Governance and Federal Im
_Prianmens of Women in Canada (Toroato: Univesicy of Toronto Press, 2001);
"Nicole Hahn Rafter, “Gender, Prisons, and Prison History.” Socal Science Hiv
12779, No.3, 1985,

Alan Travis, “Sexes Equal at Prison — But Women Do the Poridge.” The Guard
jan Match 10, 2005, heep//www:guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/mar/1O/genderak-
<rime/pring, accessed Jan. 30, 2009,

(Cassandra Shaylor, “Neither Kind nor Gentle: The Perils of ‘Gender Responsive
Justice" in The Violence of Incarceration, ed. Phil Sraton and Jude MeQulloch
(London & New York: Routledge, 2005).

Rose Braz, “Kinder, Gender. Gender Responsive Cages: Prison Expansion Is
[Not Prison Reform.” Wome, Girls and Criminal Justice, October/November
2006. hrep//rccaresise.iveradicaldesigns.org/downloads/WG_Gender_Re-
sponsive_Cages, accessed Nov. 20, 2009.

Jo Sim, “Tougher "Than the Rest? Men in Prison” in fur Bos Daing Busines?
‘Men, Masculnttes and Crime, ed. Tin Newbura and Elizabeth Stanko (Lon-
don: Taylor and Francis, 1994)

Stop Prisoner Rape, “In the Shadows: Sensal Violence in US Detention Fa
clits” 2006, hup// ww justetention.org/pdin_dhe shadows. pd accessed
Feb, 8, 2009; Stop Prisoner Rape and American Civil Liberties Union, “Sein
Danger: The Ongoing Threat of Sexual Violence against Transgender Prisoners,”
2005. hup://wwwesprory/pdflsilindanger pal, accessed Jan. 30, 2009; Syvia
Rivera Law Projet, “esa War in Here.”

Joliet Cohen, "Safe in Our Hands: A Study of Suicide and SelEarm in Asy-
lum Seckers.” Jourtl of Forensic and Legal Medicine 1, No.4, 2008; Collen
‘Anne Dell and Tara Beauchamp, "Self Harm among Criminalized Women
~ Canadian Center of Substance Abuse Fact Sheet.” 2006. hup//wwwaddic-
tionrescarchchaiecom/wp-content/uploads/Sef Harm-Among-Criminalzed-
‘Women,pdf,accesed Oct. 10, 2009; Alison Liebling, “Prison Suicide and Pris-




36.

4

a2

43,



Coptive Genders



ower Coping” Crime and sive 26, 1999.
Precise numbers vary according ro how offenses are defined and categorized, but
the assumption tha prisons ae led with dangerous murderers and rapists
simply not tre. See Gabriel Aedes, “Safer and Solidarity across Gender Lincs:
Rethinking Segregation of Transgender People in Detention,” Temple Pita!
sand Cini Rights Law Review 18, No. 2.2009.

Inquest, “Inquest Policy Webpage.” hep/Finques.gnape.ony/ policy ham, ac-
cessed Sep. 9, 2010,

“Thomas Gabor, “Deaths in Custody: Final Report wo che Ofce of the Conec-
tional Favesigator” Government of Canada, 2007.5

“This igure includes deaths from suicide (1,172), homicide (299), drugfaleohol
Intoxication (213), acident (180), AIDS (1,154), other illness (15,335), and
cotherfunknown (197). Although some ilnes-related deaths may result From

“natural cause,” almost 63 perent ofthese deaths were of prisoners under the
age of 55, indicating the denial of adequate healthcare in prison aswel a the
<ectimental health impact of mprizonment. The gure exudes deaths in foc
jails (7,008 cota deachs berween 2000 and 2006) aswell as those in juvenile
custody (43 total deaths beoween 2002 and 2005). US Bureau of Justice Sta
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73. Prison Reform Trust, “Bromley Beiefngs" July 2010.

74. Laie Waequant, “Deady Symbiosis: When Ghewo and Prison Meet and Mesh”
Punishment Soir 3, No.1, 2001.

75, Julia Sudbury, “Feminist Cigoes,Tansnational Landsapes, Aboionis Vie
sions” in Gla Lockdown: Rae, Gender, andthe Prom Industrial Comples,
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76, Asbley Nellis and Ryan S. King, “No Ext: The Expanding Us of Life Sentences
in America” The Sentencing Project, 2009. rep /wwn.sentencingproect.og!
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77. Ibid; UK. Ministry of Janice, “Story ofthe Prison Population 1995-2009 Eng-
land and Wiles” (London: Ministry of Justice, 200).

78. Petru and Walsh, “Moving Target”

79. _ Nigel Moris, “More Than 3,600 New Offenses under Labor” Te Independent,
2008.

80, Introduced by a Republican senator, the death penaley amendment was indud-
‘inthe version ofthe bil passed by the US Senate on July 23, 2009. The
death penaky amendment was subsequently removed in October 2009 when
the House and Senate versions of the bill were amalgamated, andthe fal leg-
‘alain was signed into lw by President Obama on Oczober 28,2009, Despite
is tide, the acti not prevention oriented. but rather prosecution diven. See
‘the Marthew Shepard and James Byrd, J. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009,

81, Se fr example, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, “Oppose the Session
“Amendment to the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Prevention Act” [advocacy
leer], July 20, 2009. hep//wwveciviights og/advocacylerers/2009/op-
poseche-sesions hem, accessed Oct. 5, 2009; National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force, “Task Force Action Fand Urges for Removal of Death Penalry Amend-
sment fom the Deparument of Defense Authorization Bll” [press release, July
20, 2009. herps!wwstheakfore.org/pre/tleasespeAF_072009, sccesed
(ce. 5, 2008

82. For awo excellent critiques of hate crimes law, see Andres Smith, “Unmask-
dng the Stat: Rcil/ Gender Terre and Hate Crimes” Anseaian Feminist Law
Journal 26,No. 47,2007; Dean Spade and Cag Wilke, "Confronsing che Lim
iss of Gay Hate Crimes Activism: A Radial Critique” Chicone-Latiso Law
Review 21, 2000

83. Chis Hedges, “Wa as Hate Crime.” Pai Free Pres 26, October 2009. hep!
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Homonormativiry, Global Lockdown, and the Seductions of Empire” Radic
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Oat of Place: Itrrogaing Silence in Queernes/ Racial ed. Adi Kusman and
Esperanza Miyake (York, England: Raw Nerve Books, 2008).

See Crucal Resistance and INCITE! Women of Calo Against Violence, “Gen
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Dick and Stonewall, “Homophobic Hate Crime”

rane, “Some Queers Are Safes” p14

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Enily Dugan, “Re Offending Rates Rise asthe Prison Population Expands.”
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‘Anthony N. Doob and Carla Cesroni, Responding to Youth Crime in Canada
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Sach a Scared Staight” Crime Delinquency 46, No, 3, 2000.

James Austin otal, “Unlocking Americ: Why and How to Reduce Ameriis
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Dagan, “Re-Offending Rates Rise”

See fr example, Joan McCord, “Cures That Harm: Unanticpated Ourcomes
of Crime Prevention Programs,” Anal ofthe American Academy of Peli and
Social Science 587, 2003; Petosno, Tarpin-Peosino, and Fnckenaue, “Well
“Meaning Programs

Steve Ans, Robert Baroski, and Roxanne Leb, “Preventing Programs for Young
fenders: Effective and Cont Elective” Onererowed Time 9, No. 2, 19985
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Transforming Carceral





Justice 5, No, 2005.

96. David Daubney, Taking Rrponsibilnr Report ofthe Standing Commitee on far
Hee and Salicitor General om ts Review of Sensencing, Conditional Release, and
Relazed Aspects of Corections (Oxeawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1988).

97. Ruth Mots, Sori: of Transformative Justice Toronto: Canadian Scholast Pres,
2000).

98. Taking an abolitionist stance does not mean refusing to engage in incemen-
tal change, nor does ie mean abandoning effors to improve conditions inside
prisons, Rather, abolitonis engage in “abolsinist reforms” or “non-<eformist
‘efoams.” These ate reforms thar ether directly undemine the prison industrial
complex or provide support to prisoners through strategies weaken, rather than
ssrenghea, the prison sytem itself For example, rather than lobbying fr bigger
‘prison health budges wo care for elderly prisoner, an abolitionist eform strategy
‘would ai to ge elderly prisoners out on compassionate release to obtain ealth-
care in che communiey. See Critical Resistance, A World without Wall.

199. Prison Research Education Action Project and Critical Resistance, “Instead of
Prisons: A Handbook for Abolition,” in Instead of Prion, ed. Mark Mortis
(New York: Przon Research Education Action Project, 2005), herp/fwwww:pris-
onpolicy-org/scanslinstead_of prisons, accesed Jan. 29, 2009.

100. Rachel Hersing and Trevor Papen, “Abolishing the Pison Industral Complex,”
Recoding Carceral Landscapes Projet, 2005. beep /worpaglen.comlcarcerall
pdfsvherning pdf, accased Jan. 29, 2009.

101. Foran exclleneser of community accountability resources, paticulaly for dal-
ing with violence agsinst women and trans people, see INCITE! Women of
CColoe Against Violence, “Community Accountability Resouces.” hrp/ feo.
incite-naionalsp/index php2sn114, ccesed Sept. 6, 2010.


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