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As my mapped journey now has me in Maricopa County, somewhat famous for "America's toughest Sheriff," Joe Arpaio, I thought I'd do a little research into how I might be treated if I were somehow arrested while I was in Maricipa County (trust me, I will try to avoid being arrested here, or anywhere else, for that matter). As of 2015, CBS news ran a story about how the sheriff's department is working on plans to re-evaluate and reorganize its prison population handling procedures and facilities to better address the needs to the transgender community who may become incarcerated.
The problem is that the sheriff's department wants to ensure the safety of transgender inmates, but what they have done in the past is to segregate them and put them in "protective custody," which was basically solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day. Additionally, transgender inmates were prevented from having access to programs, to work assignments, to education, and socialization with other people "for their own safety." They're the victims, yet they are the ones being punished for it.
It's a problem for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, because the number of transgender inmates, compared to the general population, is less than 1/10th of 1% of the total population of prisoners. Yet, their lives matter too. The MCSO was undertaking a study of the policies of several other agencies outside of Arizona to see how they handle trangender inmates.
Under the MCSO's 2013 "Prison Rape Elimination Act," the department defines "transgender" as "a person whose gender identity, internal sense of feeling male or female, is different from the person's assigned sex at birth." Under section "4," the MCSO PREA references "inmate classification," wherein the system tries to identify inmates "whose safety is, or maybe, threatened from within a jail; or for their risk of being sexually abused by other inmate." If an inmate has been so classified, then
"inmates at high risk for sexual victimization shall not be place in involuntary administrative or security segregation unless an assessment of all available alternatives has been made, and a determination has bee made that there is no available alternative means of separation from likely abusers."
So, it appears that, according to their internal procedures, an assessment has been made in the past for their current trans prisoners, but they couldn't find a better alternative than to lock up the trans people in solitary...for their own good. That's how it appears. One wonders why they don't lock up the abusers in solitary if they abuse transgender prisoners? Since when do you punish the victims, rather than the perpetrators?
"The facility shall assign such inmates to administrative or security segregation only until an alternative means of separation from likely abusers can be arranged, and such an assignment shall not ordinarily exceed a period of 30 days."
"Inmates placed in involuntary administrative or security segregation shall have access to programs, privileges, education, and work opportunities to the extent possible. If the facility restricts access to programs privileges. education, or work opportunities, the facility shall document the opportunities that have been limited, the reason and duration of the limitation." (Despite this "policy," the ACLU concluded that the exact opposite was happening, that transgender inmates were NOT being given access to programs, privileges, education and work opportunities because they were locked up in administrative segregation.
"Placement and assignments for each transgender or intersex inmate shall be reassessed at least twice each year to review any threats against and (sic) inmate's safety." Does that mean that a transgender inmate could, in fact, be put in "administrative or security segregation" (aka solitary confinement) for more than 30 days, like months and months?
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In looking at Sheriff Arpaio and his views on transgender people, I find it disturbing that in March of 2016, Sheriff Arpaio "deputized" Carl Gallups, a right-wing pastor, who recently called upon all the sheriffs of the country to arrest Target managers for following the Target's policy of allowing transgender individuals to use facilities that match their gender identity. Gallups also called upon sheriffs in the United States to arrest anyone who follows the Obama administration's justice department guidelines for respecting the rights of transgender students. I have not found any evidence that Sheriff Arpaio has distanced himself from Gallups's viewpoints.
Despite vehement opposition at the city council meetings in 2013, there have being few discrimination lawsuits filed by LGBT persons since the 2013 passage of a GLBT-inclusive anti-discrimination bill into law by the city of Phoenix. This may signal that discrimination is not a "big" problem in Phoenix. Although, there have been discrimination cases brought with effect to the EEOC regarding transgender persons being discriminated against by Phoenix companies. It appears that there is still a lot of opposition to transgender people, as evidenced by the strong opposition to the passage of the law in the first place, and the swearing in of people like Gallups by the county sheriff as a "special deputy" signals a tacit opposition to the rights of transgender people by the voters of Maricopa county, who continue to support Sheriff Arpaio. Although the MCSO has strong procedures to prevent or prosecute sexual crimes against transgender people, the procedures are tantamount to punishing the transgender person as the victim of sexual abuse, or potential abuse. More needs to be done to sanction the abusers, not the victims, of abuse.
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