Article Published: December 11th, 2024.

Prism

Incarcerated trans women self-mutilate for gender-affirming surgery

Incarcerated trans women in New Jersey have been pushed to self-harm amid delays in necessary medical care

Article published: December 11th, 2024.

A trans woman incarcerated in a New Jersey men’s prison severely mutilated herself after waiting years for gender-affirming surgery that would create a pathway for her to move to the state’s only women’s prison. She is one of several trans women in recent years to resort to self-harm amid delays in necessary medical care.

[...]

The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) contracts with University Correctional Health Care (UCHC) at Rutgers University to provide medical, dental, and mental health care for those in NJDOC custody. Valentina and other trans women have repeatedly criticized UCHC and NJDOC for what they say is substandard treatment, unreasonable delays, and opaque decision-making.

[...]

The dispute over the treatment of trans women in New Jersey prisons dates largely back to October 2022, when the state changed an internal policy to give corrections officials greater leeway to override trans prisoners’ housing preferences.

[...]

Other trans women, including Valentina and Belladonna, say the policy change—coupled with years long delays in obtaining surgeries that would alleviate officials’ concerns—was used to similarly relegate them to men’s prisons where they’ve face sexual abuse, harassment, and violence from both staff and incarcerated men.

[...]

According to ACLU attorney and expert on transgender rights Chase Strangio, courts have repeatedly found that denying incarcerated people medical care, including transition-related care, is unconstitutional—though the practice of providing that care remains a different story.

“The government, once it confines someone against their will, cannot deliberately withhold needed medical care,” Strangio said in an interview with Them. “This basic constitutional requirement is being treated as controversial because the media and state and federal lawmakers have so effectively demonized transgender people … that the idea that the Constitution would protect us is itself seen as something bordering on a joke.”

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Hello, I am Reem. I live with my husband and my two lovely children, Malik and Hassan. They deserve to live in safety and security, like other children in the world,,

We had a beautiful house. We lived in it with our bodies and our souls lived in it with all love and peace...

We have many beautiful memories ther

But the Zionist occupation does not care about all the humanity we live in..

He bombed our house on the evening of the second day of December 2023 while we were sleeping.

In an instant... life was turned upside down... a huge explosion... and complete darkness... and screaming and panic from everyone... and choking dust... and fire... and the flying of stones, windows, doors and glass... those of us who died died, and those who were injured were injured and those who survived... Survived by the amazing kindness of God..

We left everything behind and all that remained were memories and nostalgia,

In light of these difficult circumstances...

My husband lost his job as a psychological counselor due to the disruption of his educational career.

In addition, he aspires to continue his studies

Completing a doctoral degree abroad.

After completing his master's degree in Gaza years ago

As for me, because of my faith in God, I have overcome some of this traumatic event, but I see in my children some of the symptoms of psychological trauma.

I try to do everything I can to make things easier so that our lives are no longer as they were.

Now, for six months, we have been suffering the bitterness of this life

We live with the difficulties of living

There is no shelter, no healthy food, no healthy water, and no electricity.

We are exposed to danger. There is no safety or reassurance in Gaza.

We feel afraid as a result of the continuous bombing and the loud sounds of explosions.

Finally, I ask you to help and support me and my small family in traveling to find a decent, stable life away from this Zionist crime and genocide, after we have no place left to shelter..

Of course, it is very difficult to leave your homeland, but we are forced to do so due to the bad conditions here.

Note that travel costs are far beyond our capacity, as the Egyptian government at the Rafah crossing... takes travel coordination costs of between 5,000 and 8,000 dollars per person, whether young or old... Thank you very much.