Link in bio to help Dejohnette commute her LWOP sentence. She has been recommended by the Governor’s investigative team, California Supreme Court, and the Parole Board to commute her sentence which would then make her eligible for a Parole hearing -CCWP #droplwop #ccwp #secondchances
Shiloh Heavenly Quine, who is serving a life sentence in California was the first to receive state-funded gender reassignment surgery in prison in 2017. However, after the surgery and being transferred to a woman’s prison she was denied some of the privileges of those serving a long sentence and treated like a newly imprisoned individual. Quine said that she was harassed by guards and even denied razors for shaving. Source: /feature/nbc-out/transgender-inmate-says-women-s-prison-torture-n737676...
Trans individuals in prison often experience physical and psychological concerns associated with aging long before they enter the later periods of life. This includes, feelings of isolation financial stability, healthcare and unfit living environments. Often times the discrimination and structural violence at the hands of prison staff include: A ban of feminine products, taking funds sent by loved ones, and misgendering individuals pronouns. Source: Unique Challenges of Transgender Aging. By Dianne I. Perrson.
Within prisons the gender binary for trans individuals often makes it extremely difficult to even be considered for appropriate medical treatment. (most prisons will only acknowledge sex based on genitalia at the time of arrival)
In order for trans people in prison to be considered for hormone treatment, trans individuals once had to undergo psychological evaluations to “treat sexual dysphoria”. Thanks to organizations like Trans Pride Initiative advocating for those in prison, this practice has significantly decreased. Source: (Podcast) the Gaytheist Manifesto Ep. 138
What is a freeze-frame polices for trans individuals in prison?
The freeze-frame policy basically states that individuals that are receiving medication, including hormone treatment, prior to going to prison will receive only what they are being subscribed at the time the enter prison in type and dosage.
What does this mean for trans individuals?
Depending on the stage of their transition, an individual’s hormonal need may change over time. Not providing the necessary flexibility for treatment cannot only affect the individual physical, but also emotionally and psychologically.
Women not receiving care can experience a type of medically induced menopause, psychological stress, fatigue, night sweats and depression. Source: Angela J. Battery and Earl Smith Policing Black Bodies
Prison abolition is a term that generally makes people uneasy. “Prison abolition?? What will we do with violent criminals? No punishment? Tearing down the walls of prison tomorrow?!”. Abolition in this sense does not mean without consequences or accountability. What prison abolition strives for is a future beyond state-sanctioned punishment. Punishment that is often directed at marginalized communities as a corrective practice for violating norms. Prison Abolition looks beyond the practice of profiting off of people’s trauma and pain while thinking of solutions that encourage socio-economic stability and community engagement. Similar to what Angela Davis wrote in “Are Prison’s Obsolete?” prison reform is as old as the prison itself. The prison was established BECAUSE of reform in order to steer away from grotesque corporal punishment(40). •
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Because of this, reform of the PIC simply isn’t enough to combat its inherently oppressive structure. LWOP should not be seen as a humane alternative to the death penalty. This ‘reform’ ensures death. It ensures that, as a society, we believe people are incapable of rehabilitation. Most sentenced under LWOP are sent to maximum security prisons that limit the access to drug treatment, vocational training, community healing, and rehabilitation programs. So what does the life sentence really do? DROPLWOP so we can strive for a future that truly values rehabilitation and redemption. #droplwop
To what extent can we control the outcome of our own lives? Many at risk groups face the decision every day to commit a crime to ebb their own suffering or the suffering of loved ones or to continue on with the cards that have been dealt to them. Measures like the three strikes law and minimum sentencing remove any empathy from our judicial system. With this blatant criminalization of survival for many groups of people, we can ask, “to what extent do we have the right to survive”? And at what point will individual “crime” point to a lack of resources and opportunities provided to these populations?
There are approximately 2,100 people serving under juvenile life without parole sentences. SentencingProject did a survey of those sentenced with juvenile life without parole in 2012 and discovered:
•79% witnessed violence in their homes regularly •32% grew up in public housing
•40% had been enrolled in special education classes
•80% of girls reported histories of physical abuse and 77% of girls reported histories of sexual abuse
• 42.4% of those sentences to JWLOP are African American
A common argument for the insistence of prison is because it is said to deter and rehabilitate. We should ask ourselves the following questions, do JLWOP sentences give minors the opportunity to rehabilitate? Does life in prison give people the opportunity to transform, better themselves, and become more than their mistakes? If you were sentenced life in prison without the possibility of parole would you want to change ? Would you want to live?
#protectouryouth #pic #lwop #jlwop
