No Pride In Prisons Confirms Trans Woman Raped In Auckland South Corrections Facility

Queer and trans activist group No Pride In Prisons are in contact with the loved ones of the South Auckland inmate who was raped overnight while locked in with a cellmate. The group has confirmed she is another transgender woman being held in a men’s facility.

‘She was taken out of protective segregation on Wednesday and moved back into the general population where she was assaulted by seven men and then raped,’ says No Pride In Prisons spokeswoman Emilie Rākete.

‘The Department of Corrections knows that she is a trans woman, as they are administering her hormone treatment. But she is being kept in a men’s facility anyway.’

This news has come on the back of the discovery that Corrections staff lost the transfer request of Wellington trans woman Jade Follett, leaving her in a men’s facility for two months longer than necessary.

Though the prison concerned in this case is run by a partnership between the Department of Corrections and private company Serco, No Pride in Prisons stresses that this is not a privatisation issue. According to Rākete, the government cannot deflect blame for these incidents onto Serco.

‘Incidents like these demonstrate that Corrections policy itself does not sufficiently secure the safety of incarcerated people, especially trans inmates,’ says Rākete.

‘She should never have been placed in a men’s facility, and should never have been placed back with the general population. She absolutely should never have been locked in a cell overnight with a man following a physical assault.’

‘This rape was the outcome of government policies which house trans woman prisoners alongside men. These policies put prisoners into double bunking without due consideration for their safety, and do not require justification for choices to segregate or desegregate trans prisoners.’

According to Rākete, ‘Corrections policies maintain the prison system at the cost of human safety.’

ENDS

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