The grim tth of beg gay prison | Sadhbh Walshe | The Guardian

Contents:

• A FERAL MATE THREATENED ANOTHER FOR BEG GAY. THEN GUARDS MOVED THEM TO THE SAME CELL.
• THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
• INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR

A FERAL MATE THREATENED ANOTHER FOR BEG GAY. THEN GUARDS MOVED THEM TO THE SAME CELL.

It was early Augt said Arapahoe — who is gay and Native Amerin — told her that other Native Amerin mat were makg threats toward him and that he felt his life would be danger if he was not placed protective ctody, acrdg to a feral urt had specifilly named another mate, William officials vtigated her claims, terviewg Arapahoe, who told them Mexin, named as a gang reprentative urt documents, and other Native Amerin mat had “voted [Arapahoe] off the yard, ” for beg gay, the plat also terviewed Mexin and the others, acrdg to the plat, but found “no verifiable threat” to two months later, Mexin was transferred to Arapahoe’s cell. Mexin said he had heard Arapahoe was gay, and acrdg to the urt plat, he mand Arapahoe give him money.

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.

THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON

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. 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. The prison director showed him an isolatn cell, where ne former gang members—om each of the untry’s three ma anized crime groups, MS-13, and two factns of Barr 18—had been moved after g out as gay.

INSI A PRISON CELL FOR GAY FORMER GANG MEMBERS EL SALVADOR

“Bee the gangs, if there’s even the spicn that you’re gay, you pay for wh your life. ” In this particular prison, San Francis Gotera, the east of the Central Amerin untry, gang culture was not the only source of vilent homophobia.

The state had effectively ced ntrol of daily life si Gotera to church lears, who preach that homosexualy is a s as grave as vlence. 8—follows Geovany, a gay man who worked as a hman for Barr 18 and left the gang 2016.