Protect Trans New Yorkers in Jails and Prisons

Transgender, gender nonconforming, non-binary, and intersex (TGNCNBI) New Yorkers often must survive under the weight of multiple socioeconomic burdens. They disproportionately face food, shelter, and employment insecurity. Many experience discrimination based on their race, gender, and immigration status. They are also heavily policed and criminalized, and therefore disproportionately likely to be incarcerated. In fact, one in six transgender people reports having been incarcerated at some point in their lifetime. This figure jumps to nearly one in two for Black transgender women.

Ensuring that TGNCNBI people are presumptively housed according to their gender identities and treated with respect when they are incarcerated will not only decrease violence in prisons and jails, but it will also save lives.