World's only GAY jail: How men were sent to one prison to 'cure' homosexualy | Daily Mail Onle

Contents:

• THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
• WORLD'S ONLY GAY JAIL: HOW MEN WERE SENT TO ONE PRISON TO 'CURE' HOMOSEXUALY
• HOW TO FD A GAY PRISONER PENPAL AND WHAT TO KNOW WHEN YOU DO
• COOMA JAIL'S DARK PAST CLUS BEG WORLD'S ONLY 'GAY PRISON', PODST REVEALS
• ‘BEG GAY PRISON IS TEN TIM HARR’: INMAT TELL OF ABE, USE OF SOLARY

THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON

This sectn specifilly addrs issu particular to lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals prisons. In 1984, when Calv Burde was awag sentencg for allegedly stabbg his gay lover to ath, the prosecutg attorney enuraged the jury his closg remarks to award Burde the ath penalty, rather than life prison, on the grounds that sendg a gay man to prison was ak to sendg a kid to a ndy store. His ath sentence was later overturned (mostly bee Burde's public fenr had slept through much of his trial), but the homophobic thkg – that prison is some kd of paradise for gay men – lgers realy of life prison for homosexuals and transgenr dividuals do not appear to reflect this myth.

WORLD'S ONLY GAY JAIL: HOW MEN WERE SENT TO ONE PRISON TO 'CURE' HOMOSEXUALY

He scribed a lany of btal rap, asslts, beatgs and, eventually, the total abandonment of his male inty as his only means of survival the hyper-mascule and often homophobic prison environment. His acunt suggts that far om beg a paradise, prison for gay men n be a livg days of his first enterg prison, the 23-year-old Rodney claimed he was the victim of three separate sexual asslts, volvg five different mat.

The prison he was first sent to did actually have a separate tier for gay mat, but acrdg to Rodney, bee he did not "appear overly effemate" durg his classifitn, he was placed wh the general populatn; and bee was supposedly rare to have a gay person slip through the cracks of the system, his fellow mat took full advantage. "Agast popular opn, jail is not heaven for a homosexual. Gay men who do not attempt to hi their sexualy are forced to passive and submissive rol.

It's difficult to asss how typil Rodney's prison experience is, but numero studi nducted by the Bure of Jtice Statistics, based on anonymo mate surveys, have shown that gay and transgenr mat are among the most targeted groups for sexual victimizatn.

HOW TO FD A GAY PRISONER PENPAL AND WHAT TO KNOW WHEN YOU DO

Jt Detentn Internatnal (JDI), an anizatn whose aim is to eradite prison rape (pdf), is tryg to change has been workg wh the California Department of Correctns and Rehabilatn (CDCR) to tablish "sensive needs yards" (pdf), where gay, transgenr and other vulnerable mat n serve out their time safety. More than 78 percent intified themselv as heterosexual, and 8 percent intified themselv as homosexual; slightly more than 13 percent intified themselv as bisexual. The maximum-secury un had more self-intified homosexuals and bisexuals than the other two stutns.

The study did not fd an elevated rate of nsensual homosexual activy by the mat pared to the amount which they engaged prr to rceratn. One-fourth of the prison sample dited they had engaged some form of nsensual homosexual activy while rcerated; 18 percent had engaged homosexual activy prr to rceratn. The -prison homosexual activy found this study was not as high as that reported by other studi.

COOMA JAIL'S DARK PAST CLUS BEG WORLD'S ONLY 'GAY PRISON', PODST REVEALS

Intake/terrogatn roomControl center wh: full light & lor ntrol mera monorg for each cell and areasWarn's skWarn's necsati to rtra/ntrol prisonersInterrogatn chairMug shot/fgerprt areaLockers to store personal emsMetal rtrats gear wallGallery wh origal gay art by zack cell blockShower/examatn area, wh water hoseRimmg chair2 cells wh prison toilets and skMaximum secury solary cell (double door)Padd and soundproofed cellWall & ground attachment pots throughoutDungeon space*Entry area wh gear lockers and gear wallDungeon bed by wh tegrated St. Eighteen terviewe self-intified as heterosexual, four as gay, and four as bisexual.

Gay and bisexual men reported that while they were “fairly” or “totally” open about their sexualy on the wg, they were discreet about their sexual activi and relatnships. One heterosexual man said that he had had nsensual sex wh gay or bisexual prisoners “out of necsy”. Some terviewe observed that they had known some openly homosexual upl beg allowed to share cells some stutns.

‘BEG GAY PRISON IS TEN TIM HARR’: INMAT TELL OF ABE, USE OF SOLARY

One terviewee reported that a senr officer had moved a young prisoner, who had nfid he was “nfed” about his sexualy, to the cell of an openly gay, olr prisoner, orr to help him “sort himself out”. It is now the state's preferred prison for celebry mat, but Cooma Correctnal Centre has a dark past which the 1950s saw signated as the world's only gay jail, where nvicted homosexuals were sent to be 'cured'.

But few morn mat the chilly nf of Cooma's 150-year-old jail - suated the Snowy Mountas southern NSW - would realise that gay offenrs were once rcerated there together so as not to 'ntamate' prisoners who were 'normal'. Homosexual sex was illegal NSW until 1983, and for s before nsired an 'abomable crime' by police who ed handsome officers to tch men 'unnatural' state's Vice Squad round up hundreds of men parks, public toilets, railway statns and cemas and charged them wh acts of cency, or more dire, a year of Cooma openg as a special prison for nvicted men classified as 'homosexual remedials' or 'homosexual recidivists', the NSW Government had lnched a 'scientific evaluatn' of s mat who would be studied to fd 'a cure'.