LGBT people in prison

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) prisoners often face additional challenges compared to heterosexual and cisgender prisoners. According to Just Detention International, LGBT inmates are "among the most vulnerable in the prison population." 67% of LGBT prisoners in California report being assaulted while in prison. The vulnerability of LGBT prisoners has led some prisons to separate them from other prisoners, while in others they are housed with the general population.

While much of the available data on LGBT inmates comes from the United States, Amnesty International maintains records of known incidents internationally in which LGBT prisoners and those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have suffered torture, ill-treatment and violence at the hands of fellow inmates as well as prison officials.

Many LGBT inmates who are able, even those who are openly gay outside of prison, stay in the closet with their sexual identities while imprisoned, because inmates who are known or perceived as gay, especially lesbians and gay men with stereotypically butch or effeminate characteristics, respectively, face "a very high risk of sexual abuse."

Denial of access to surgical sex reassignment on the grounds of unstable or criminal behaviour condemns the transsexual individual. Resulting in potential continuing identity confusion, low self-esteem, drug and alcohol abuse, self-mutilation and acting out behaviour. Which further facilitates the vicious cycle of chronic dysfunction, which perpetuates criminal behaviour.

Transgender prisoners are vulnerable in US prisons due to a general policy of housing them according to their birth-assigned gender, regardless of their current appearance or gender identity. Transgender women with breasts may be locked up with men, leaving them vulnerable to violence and sexual assault, as occurred with the case of Dee Farmer, a pre-operative transsexual woman with breast implants, who was raped and contracted HIV when she was housed in a men's prison. Transgender men housed in women's prisons also face abuse, often more from guards than other inmates. Harsh harassment and rejection are common forms of abuse toward inmates where gender/sexuality is unclear or does not conform to traditional expectations.

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Wikipedia