Transgender San Francisco inmates to be housed by gender identity

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

US | Thu Sep 10, 2015 8:07pm EDT

Transgender San Francisco inmates to be housed by gender identity

SAN FRANCISCO | BY CURTIS SKINNER

Transgender women inmates now housed in a special wing of a men's jail in San Francisco will soon be moved into the city detention facility for women under a new policy announced on Thursday to house all inmates based on their gender identity.

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said in a statement that the new policy sets San Francisco apart from most U.S. jails and prisons, resulting from two years of collaboration of his department with transgender and human rights groups.

"The high majority of municipal jails and prisons in this country make invisible, suppress or isolate inmates who are transgender," Mirkarimi said. "Since the transgender population is marginalized on the streets of America, consider how that marginalization is magnified inside prisons and jails."

As a first step, the new policy will allow transgender women still housed at the men's jail to attend such programs as women's-empowerment group classes, drug-and-alcohol abuse education, and vocational courses at the women's jail once staff and inmates complete "cultural competency" training, he said.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/11/us-california-transgender-idUSKCN0RB00620150911

[procon]

1. That's a positive step. nt