PoliFact | Ben Carson: Many prisoners go straight, e out gay

Contents:

• IN 1979, RIKERS ISLAND GAVE GAY PRISONERS HOPE
• IN THE GAY WG OF L.A. MEN'S CENTRAL JAIL, IT'S NOT SHANKS AND MUGGGS BUT HAND-SEWN GOWNS AND TEARS
• INSI THE GAY AND TRANSGENR WG AT THE LOS ANGEL COUNTY JAIL
• WATCH: GO INSI THE GAY AND TRANS WG OF L.A. MEN'S CENTRAL JAIL
• ‘WE’RE THEIR FAY’: INMAT L.A. JAIL’S GAY WG FORM CLOSE-KN, CREATIVE MUNY BEHD BARS
• COOMA JAIL'S DARK PAST CLUS BEG WORLD'S ONLY 'GAY PRISON', PODST REVEALS
• RSIA ‘HAS SECRETLY OPENED NAZI-STYLE PRISONS WHERE HUNDREDS OF GAY MEN ARE HELD AND SOME MURRED,’ LOL REPORTS CLAIM
• [WATCH] UNSEEN FOOTAGE OF KG VON CLAIMG HE’S GAY TO BE PLACED PRISON PROTECTIVE CTODY
• UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS

IN 1979, RIKERS ISLAND GAVE GAY PRISONERS HOPE

In May 1979, PGN wrer Jack Veasey published a lengthy two-part feature on the untry’s first separate prison hog for gay men and trans women. When Veasey vised the new wg wh his photographer, he met six gay men and three trans women who changed his perceptn of the prison system and how LGBT prisoners navigate life behd bars.

Before his vis, when Veasey mentned the new “Homosexual Hog Wg” to his iends and lleagu, their rpons ran the gamut of gay stereotyp: throw gs, marble floors, blue glass ffee tabl, a system for sex preferenc.

Most uldn’t believe somethg like that would be necsary; ’s possible, perhaps, that such glib reactns were merely thly veiled homophobia. And, unfortunately, though perhaps not surprisgly, gay and bisexual men and women are six tim more likely to be sexually victimized while rcerated. That last statistic, along wh a class-actn lawsu brought forth by the New York Legal Aid Society, is the reason that Bernsen and the learship at Rikers Island cid to implement the Homosexual Hog Wg.

IN THE GAY WG OF L.A. MEN'S CENTRAL JAIL, IT'S NOT SHANKS AND MUGGGS BUT HAND-SEWN GOWNS AND TEARS

In most prisons around the untry, cludg at Rikers pre-1979, alternative hog for mat, cludg homosexuals, was limed to eher solary nfement — 23 hours a day a small room — or special wgs that were often more crowd, ls clean, and wh ls ameni than those that hoed the general prison populatn.

But mixg wh the general populatn meant, for many gay and lbian people, beg the subject of verbal and physil abe of the worst sort. “They asked whether we wanted to be part of general populatn or to be segregated…and turn, we were brought before a mtee, who asked if we were out-and-out homosexuals, and did we wanna be segregated, and the reasons why.

INSI THE GAY AND TRANSGENR WG AT THE LOS ANGEL COUNTY JAIL

Deputy Warn Bernsen, who Veasey terviewed at length, spoke proudly of his beg the first prison the untry to have special hog for homosexuals. The only big trouble the wg experienced was when Carlos, a heterosexual man who lied about beg gay orr to ga entry to the wg, began to domate the other mat. Williams, a transgenr mate known on the si as Yah Yah, glis past a hootg and hollerg crowd of her fellow gay and transgenr mat, perched atop their beds for a prime view.

But among the roughly 400 people hoed “K6G, ” the gay wg of Men’s Central Jail, there’s ltle outward exprsn of racial prejudice or gang rivalry. Dunn Roy, a gay Brish film producer who was held K6G for 89 days whout bail 2012, unr ex–Sheriff Lee Ba’s ntroversial terpretatn of “immigratn holds, ” rells, “In other parts of the jail, you try and smuggle dgs and cigarett.

The gay wg at Men’s Central Jail is an exceptnally rare, if not unique, subculture, the only environment of s kd a major U. Nothg like exists Ameri’s 21 largt urban jails, all ntacted by the Weekly, where officials scribed far more most terms their own steps to al wh and hoe gay mat. In New York’s Rikers Island, whose siar gay wg was shuttered 2005, a jail spokman lghed out loud, sayg that whoever cis which men get placed L.

WATCH: GO INSI THE GAY AND TRANS WG OF L.A. MEN'S CENTRAL JAIL

” The clost thg to a gay wg another big, urban jail system, though isn’t close at all, is at the Old Wayne County Jail Detro, which offers a small number of locked cells to gay and transgenr mat. MCJ’s gay wg was set up rponse to a 1985 ACLU lawsu, which aimed to protect homosexual mat om a higher threat of physil vlence than heterosexuals faced.

Today, some straight mat vie to get placed MCJ’s gay wg, part bee ’s a safer harbor for ex-gangbangers aaid of beg nonted by vlent enemi, jailers say. The Sheriff’s Department even a “classifitn officer” to weed out impostors, through a seri of ntroversial tt qutns about gay culture.

Deputy Sheriff Javier Machado, a classifitn officer, reli on a seri of go-to qutns, such as askg purportedly gay mat to name a lol gay bar they equent. Acrdg to the gay mat, another reason some straight men try to get to K6G is that they want to hook up wh often-pretty transgenr tae. David Arrieta, one gay mate given permissn to speak to the Weekly and be viotaped si the gay wg, explas, “Beg a Hoe Moe [the heterosexual si of Men’s Central Jail], you are nsired a rat, whereas K6G you are nsired a fairy.

‘WE’RE THEIR FAY’: INMAT L.A. JAIL’S GAY WG FORM CLOSE-KN, CREATIVE MUNY BEHD BARS

Dunn Roy, the producer, says the Hoe Moe the gay wg is a “very powerful posn [bee] is the liaison between the puti and the dorms.

When mat are first assigned to a gay dorm, they are immediately stripped of their general-populatn, dark blue jail uniforms and given the powr-blue uniforms that signify they are gay or transgenr. Every Friday, the gay dorms put on self-anized events such as “Fay Night, ” which they prent fashn shows, and engage “dorm datg” (a form of speed datg). In the gay wg, soap be strangely effective hair product, and foil is refully svenged om the si of cereal box to be fashned to shy silver buttons.

It might almost appear, to an outsir, as if MCJ’s gay and transsexual mat are gently mockg society’s expectatns of how crimals are supposed to act when nfed behd bars for long perds of time. Alexanr Lara, wrg the Southern California Interdisciplary Law Journal, reported that a 2007 study of California mat showed 5 percent of straight men were victims of sexual asslt cludg rape, while “an astonishg” 67 percent of gay, bisexual and transgenr mat were.

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

Block, brought by ACLU attorney John Hagar on behalf of gay and transgenr mat, set forth procr and ndns for their safety and secury.

RSIA ‘HAS SECRETLY OPENED NAZI-STYLE PRISONS WHERE HUNDREDS OF GAY MEN ARE HELD AND SOME MURRED,’ LOL REPORTS CLAIM

Early on, two jail puti mted themselv to the reforms, acrdg to UCLA law profsor Sharon Dolovich, who has extensively studied the gay wg at MCJ. … Inmat were able to report thgs such as ‘Hey, there is a predator here, ’ or ‘There is a puty on the floor g homophobic language, ’ or ‘Someone threatened me.

The Hoe Moe explas that dorm’s needs — such as a toilet-paper shortage — to the jailers, and munit om the jailers to the gay populatn. A Hoe Moe another gay dorm, Rub, explas that his role is to ensure that mat follow puti’ l, such as quietly lyg down on their beds, facg the aisleway and fully drsed their blu, “out of rpect” when the puti brg their meals. He says none were the gay wg purely due to prostutn — which today rults a catn and release the field — though many are prostut.

[WATCH] UNSEEN FOOTAGE OF KG VON CLAIMG HE’S GAY TO BE PLACED PRISON PROTECTIVE CTODY

Such ntrasts between the gay wg and far more vlent general populatn help expla why, at least part, que a few straight arrte and nvicts try to talk their way si K6G.

Machado believ straight men, fearful of gang reprisal the unpredictable general populatn, are seekg add secury when they try to talk their way to the gay wg. Durg his time si, he says, he found that only two kds of guys tried to get onto the gay wg — boyiends who got released om K6G and were purposely re-arrted to be rned wh their partners, and “trans chasers, ” or straight mat who want to sleep wh and be served by transsexual women.

UGANDA'S LGBTQ MUNY IS ' SHOCK' OVER NEW MEASURE, GAY ACTIVIST SAYS

Exte suggts, for example, that the jailers’ qutns are based upon stereotypil views of gay and transgenr life, and fail to acknowledge that some GBT men headg behd bars are not party-oriented or culturally up to date, and they simply don’t know the right answers. “A jail is a jail — ’s a vlent, and sperate, and ld and miserable place, ” says Roy, who mced no words claimg that Sheriff’s puti openly mistreated mat while he served his time the gay wg. Another ntributg factor to aggrsn the gay wg, Roy says, may be that many of the trans women are takg hormon to grow or enlarge their breasts or rce their facial hair or mcl, or they have been nied hormon that they were prcribed prr to rceratn and are experiencg whdrawal symptoms.