What It’s Like to Be Gay Prison | The Marshall Project

Contents:

• THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON
• ‘BEG GAY PRISON IS TEN TIM HARR’: INMAT TELL OF ABE, USE OF SOLARY
• 10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS
• WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE GAY  PRISON
• WHY BEG GAY PRISON IS DANGERO
• HOW TO NOT BE PRISON RAPED AS A GAY MAN JAIL
• AIR FORCE VETERAN ONCE IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY STILL ENDUR THE STIGMA OF A FELONY RERD

THE GRIM TTH OF BEG GAY PRISON

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. 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.

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

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.

10 THGS I LEARNED AS A GAY PRISONER BEHD BARS

The data is clear: lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (LGBTQ 1) people are overreprented at every stage of crimal jtice system, startg wh juvenile jtice system volvement.

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE GAY  PRISON

(Namely, we provi the only natnal timat for lbian, gay, or bisexual arrt rat and muny supervisn rat that we know of. Rearchers timate that 20% of youth the juvenile jtice system are lbian, gay, bisexual, qutng, genr nonnformg, or transgenr pared wh 4-6% of youth the general populatn. Our analysis of data om the Natnal Survey on Dg Use and Health (NSDUH) reveals that 2019, gay, lbian, and bisexual dividuals (wh an arrt rate of 3, 620 per 100, 000) were 2.

Gay, lbian, and bisexual people are also overreprented prisons and jails, pecially lbian and bisexual women.

Rearchers analyzg the most recent Natnal Inmate Survey found that LGB people are rcerated at a rate over three tim that of the total adult populatn: 1, 882 per 100, 000 lbian, gay, and bisexual people are rcerated, pared wh 612 per 100, 000 U. 8% report havg had sex wh men before arrival at the facily but do not self-intify as gay or bisexual. The high rat of gay, lbian, and bisexual people behd bars n part be attributed to the longer sentenc urts impose on them.

WHY BEG GAY PRISON IS DANGERO

And gay and bisexual men were more likely than straight men to have sentenc longer than 10 years prison. While locked up, gay, lbian, and bisexual people are subjected to pecially humane treatment. Fally, gay, lbian, and bisexual people are overreprented the muny supervisn populatn.

HOW TO NOT BE PRISON RAPED AS A GAY MAN JAIL

Our analysis of the NSDUH data reveals that people on probatn and parole are almost twice as likely to be lbian, gay, or bisexual than people not on probatn and parole – and aga, lbian and bisexual women are pecially overreprented:. Acrdg to the Natnal Center for Transgenr Equaly and the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force’s Injtice at Every Turn: A Report of the Natnal Transgenr Discrimatn Survey, nearly half of trans people reported that they do not feel fortable seekg help om police. A Lato gay man, Guzman says an terview that he was often sent to solary nfement for fendg himself and other LGBTQ+ mat agast other mat and prison staff.

Over time, he me to see himself as an advote and activist, providg physil protectn to other gay mat. What follows are 10 thgs I learned om the perspective of a gay man and ex-mate at a feral prison mp. My hope sharg this is to offer a realistic snapshot to gay men who get sent to prison.

AIR FORCE VETERAN ONCE IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY STILL ENDUR THE STIGMA OF A FELONY RERD

But even then, don’t expect fair treatment – particularly if someone wh thory don’t like gay people. Not to be stereotypil but as a gay man, I had some refed tast food before gettg sent away. The one advantage of beg a gay prisoner is that you are sometim approached for a barter.

First, the relatnships are almost always kept on the DL, even if you are openly gay. 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”.