Transgender Woman 'Raped 2,000 Times' in All-Male Prison
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A transgender woman was 'raped 2,000 times' in all-male prison Transgender woman 'raped 2,000 times' in all-male prison 'It was hell on earth, it was as if I died and this was my punishment' Will Worley@willrworley Saturday 17 August 2019 09:16 A transgender woman has spoken of the "hell on earth" she suffered after being raped and abused more than 2,000 times in an all-male prison. The woman, known only by her pseudonym, Mary, was imprisoned for four years after stealing a car. She said the abuse began as soon as she entered Brisbane’s notorious Boggo Road Gaol and that her experience was so horrific that she would “rather die than go to prison ever again”. “You are basically set upon with conversations about being protected in return for sex,” Mary told news.com.au. “They are either trying to manipulate you or threaten you into some sort of sexual contact and then, once you perform the requested threat of sex, you are then an easy target as others want their share of sex with you, which is more like rape than consensual sex. “It makes you feel sick but you have no way of defending yourself.” Mary was transferred a number of times, but said Boggo Road was the most violent - and where she suffered the most abuse. After a failed escape, Mary was designated as ‘high-risk’, meaning she had to serve her sentence as a maximum security prisoner alongside the most violent inmates. “I was flogged and bashed to the point where I knew I had to do it in order to survive, but survival was basically for other prisoners’ pleasure,” she said. “It was hell on earth, it was as if I died and this was my punishment.” While inside, Mary said she was also forced to endure another type of abuse – the denial of her gender. She said her long hair was cut off by another prisoner and that she was not allowed to take her hormones, so began to grow facial hair. “It was like my identity was taken away from me,” she said. Mary maintains it was unnecessary and unfair for her to be put in male prisons. “People must think if you go to a female prison, you’re going to rape women and you’re not — it doesn’t make any sense,” Mary said. “I’d rather die than go to prison ever again in my whole life.” Before her conviction, Mary had undergone the lengthily process of seeing a psychiatrist and been approved hormone therapy. However, she had not had reassignment surgery. If she had undertaken the operation before her sentence, she would have been sent to a female prison. “I look like a woman and I think if a transgender person is genuine and they are living as the opposite sex, then they should be housed in a female prison, even if you’re in a wing on your own. Amendment VIII Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Battista v. Clarke, 645 F.3d 449 (2011) Procedural Posture(s): On Appeal; Motion for Preliminary Injunction. KeyCite Yellow Flag - Negative Treatment Distinguished by Kosilek v. Spencer, 1st Cir.(Mass.), December 16, 2014 West Headnotes (2) 645 F.3d 449 United States Court of Appeals, [1] Health Mental Health First Circuit. Record supported district court's conclusion that Massachusetts officials were deliberately Sandy J. BATTISTA, Plaintiff, Appellee, indifferent to the medical needs of anatomically v. male civil detainee, who suffered from gender Harold W. CLARKE, Commissioner of the identity disorder (GID) and was severely Massachusetts Department of Correction, and constrained in a protective custody unit, Michael Corsini, Superintendent of Massachusetts or exercised an unreasonable professional Treatment Center, Defendants, Appellants. judgment by denying her female hormone Kathleen M. Dennehy; Robert Murphy; therapy; it had been fifteen years since detainee first asked for treatment, and for ten years, health Steve Fairly; Susan J. Martin; Gregory professionals had been recommending hormone J. Hughes; UMass Correctional Health therapy as a necessary part of the treatment, Program; Terre Marshall, Defendants. and when, during the delay, detainee sought to No. 10–1965. castrate herself with a razor blade, state officials | could be said to have known that detainee was Heard March 7, 2011. in “substantial risk of serious harm.” U.S.C.A. | Const.Amends. 8, 14; 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983; Decided May 20, 2011. M.G.L.A. c. 12, §§ 11H, 11I. Synopsis 36 Cases that cite this headnote Background: Massachusetts civil detainee, who was anatomically male but suffered from gender identity disorder (GID), brought action against Massachusetts officials, [2] Prisons Discipline, security, and safety in alleging “deliberate indifference” to her medical needs, general and seeking an injunction requiring that hormone therapy Prisons Health and Medical Care and female garb and accessories be provided to her. The Any professional judgment that decides an United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, issue involving conditions of confinement must Douglas P. Woodlock, J., granted preliminary injunctive embrace security and administration, and not relief, and state officials appealed. merely medical judgments; administrators of correctional or mental health facilities are responsible to the state and to the public for [Holding:] The Court of Appeals, Boudin, Circuit Judge, making professional judgments of their own, held that record supported district court's conclusion that encompassing institutional concerns as well as Massachusetts officials were deliberately indifferent to the individual welfare. U.S.C.A. Const.Amends. 8, medical needs of civil detainee or exercised an unreasonable 14. professional judgment by denying her female hormone therapy. 10 Cases that cite this headnote Affirmed. © 2020 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. 1 Battista v. Clarke, 645 F.3d 449 (2011) In 1996, Battista changed her name to Sandy and Attorneys and Law Firms began to seek treatment from the Department, including administration of female hormones and access to female *449 Richard C. McFarland, Legal Division, Department garb. Her early demands were met with skepticism and of Correction, with whom Nancy Ankers White, Special 1 Assistant Attorney General, was on brief for appellants. resistance. In 1997, a Department consultant diagnosed her GID, but the Department offered no further evaluation Neal E. Minahan, with whom Christopher D. Man and or treatment until 2004. Prior to this case, Battista filed McDermott Will & Emery LLP were on brief for appellee. two suits seeking GID treatment and accumulated expert opinions confirming the seriousness of her condition and * *450 Before BOUDIN, Circuit Judge, SOUTER, recommending accommodations including hormone therapy. Associate Justice, and STAHL, Circuit Judge. Battista filed her complaint in the present suit in July 2005 and Opinion in October 2005 sought to castrate herself with a razor blade. BOUDIN, Circuit Judge. The suit, against various officials of the Department, charged deliberate indifference to her medical needs in violation of In 1983, in state court in Massachusetts, Sandy Battista the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and 42 U.S.C. § (born “David Megarry”) was convicted of the rape of a child, robbery, and kidnapping. After serving that sentence, 1983 (2006), as well as state law, including Mass. Gen. Battista was involuntarily committed in 2003 in a civil Laws ch. 12, §§ 11H– 11I. In particular, Battista sought an proceeding, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 123A, § 14 (2008), to injunction requiring that hormone therapy and female garb the Massachusetts Treatment Center for Sexually Dangerous and accessories be provided to her. Persons (“Treatment Center”). Such persons are held civilly In and around 2005 and 2006, the Department fenced with without limit in time until adjudged safe for release. Id. §§ its own healthcare provider, the University of Massachusetts 9, 14. Correctional Health Program, which offered strong support for the GID diagnosis, asserted that harm could easily occur The Treatment Center, for which the Massachusetts without adequate treatment, and recommended hormone Department of Correction (“the Department”) is responsible, therapy as medically *451 necessary. The Department instead hired another gender specialist, who then agreed that Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 123A, § 2, is an all-male facility hormone treatment might be appropriate along with other housing three groups: criminals participating in treatment therapy. programs, civilly committed residents, and those awaiting adjudication as “sexually dangerous persons.” Massachusetts Battista's first request to the district court for a preliminary law requires that civil detainees like Battista be separated injunction was denied in March 2006, with a finding that from criminal ones. Durfee v. Maloney, Nos. CIV. A. 98– the defendants had not at this stage been shown to be 2523B, CIV. A. 98–3082B, 2001 WL 810385, at *15 deliberately indifferent to her medical needs. Battista v. (Mass.Super.Ct. July 16, 2001). Dennehy, No. 05–11456–DPW, 2006 WL 1581528, at *9– 10, *12 (D.Mass. Mar. 22, 2006). After the further medical Battista is anatomically male but suffers from “gender assessments continued to recommend hormone therapy, the identity disorder” (“GID”), a psychological condition Department stated that it would not implement treatments involving a strong identification with the other gender. until security concerns were further evaluated. This proved to GID is a disorder recognized in the American Psychiatric be a drawn-out process. Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.1994). The diagnostic criteria include In August 2008, the first security review by the Department not only “cross-gender identification” but also “clinically concluded that a feminine appearance would endanger significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or Battista. The core security concern throughout has been that other important areas of functioning.” Id.