Filing down a plastic razor blade to create a sewing needle, not a shank

November 18, 2014 10:36 PM

The Los Angeles Men's Central Jail’s gay wing was set up in response to a 1985 ACLU lawsuit, which aimed to protect homosexual inmates from a higher threat of physical violence than heterosexuals faced. But something unexpected has happened. The inmates are safer now, yes. But they’ve surprised everyone, perhaps even themselves, by setting up a small and flourishing society behind bars. Once released, some re-offend in order to be with an inmate they love. There are hatreds and occasionally even severe violence, but there is also friendship, community, love — and, especially, harmless rule-bending to dress up like models or decorate their bunks, often via devious means. LA Weekly looks inside MCJ, with an exclusive video the unique situation, from Voice Media Group. For further reading on the unique K6G unit, see Two Models of the Prison: Accidental Humanity and Hypermasculinity in the L.A. County Jail (PDF), and Governmental 'Gaydar': Race, Sexual Identity and Incarceration (PDF), both scholarly articles that study this part of MCJ.
posted by filthy light thief (7 comments total)

I'm assuming the "transgender" part of "gay and transgender inmates" refers to trans women. In a men's jail.

This used to be a source of nightmares for me, back when I was living as an immigrant woman in the US with a hodgepodge of mismatched documentation, and non-conforming anatomy. Not even back then would I have thought, however, that there would be established procedure of putting known transgender women in with men, not as a screw-up, or a stop-gap, but as long-standing policy. I guess I just had the privilege of never really having to think too hard about it.

I'm kind of afraid to go to bed, now. Jesus.
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:51 PM on November 18, 2014 [2 favorites]

We are working on dismantling this system from the inside out, to show how it’s not working, to show how it’s hurting everybody and at the same time, building toward something else. My hope is that in the future, there won’t be any prisons. - Miss Major who will be a panelist at portland state university's tdor event
posted by thug unicorn at 12:03 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

I saw references to this unit recently (in an article on prison gangs, which was used in an FPP here) which mentioned that prisoners in that system will lie about their status in order to try to be moved into that unit because it is so much safer:

Skarbek points out that the gay-and-transgender unit of the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles County is safe and gang-free—so much so that prison officials have had to screen out straight Angelenos who play gay just to keep away from gangs. That jail is simply small and well administered, argues Sharon Dolovich, a UCLA professor who studied it, and it’s not clear that its methods could scale up.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:48 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

While I personally feel that trans women should be housed with women, this is from the article:

Until 1996, the trans women were housed separately from the gay men.52 But this separation sparked vociferous complaints on the part of the trans women in particular, and eventually the decision was made to house the two groups together.53 Although the numbers are constantly shifting, trans women today typically make up anywhere from 10%–20% of the unit’s population.


52 The trans women originally lived separately in a unit on the top floor of the old Hall of Justice Jail. In 1993, they were moved to a unit in the North County Correctional Facility (NCCF) that became known as the “witches’ castle.” During this period, the gay men were housed at Wayside, adjacent to NCCF. In 1996, the two units were moved downtown to the Twin Towers facility and merged. Telephone Interview with Bart Lanni, Deputy Sheriff, L.A. Cnty. Sheriff’s Dep’t (July 27, 2010).

53 See id. This arrangement creates some problems, although it is arguably still the more humane approach. For more on this issue, see Dolovich, supra note 1, at 43.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:53 AM on November 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

That jail is simply small and well administered, argues Sharon Dolovich, a UCLA professor who studied it, and it’s not clear that its methods could scale up.

Isn't it actually the case that jails simply don't scale up? Or rather that the seriousness of problems increases with size. If this jail/wing held 5,000 persons I'm sure it would be a very different place.

(Yes, I know I'm being slightly naive)
posted by epo at 8:19 AM on November 19, 2014

Isn't it actually the case that jails simply don't scale up?

This is one of the conclusions in Skarbek's book. The rise of prison gangs correlated to the rise in prison population. When most of the inmates in a prison know each other the economics of prison require less violence.
posted by smokysunday at 10:11 AM on November 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

The issues of scale and control made me think about an interesting piece on NPR this morning, regarding village public safety officers (VPSOs) in Alaska who only recently were given the option to carry guns, despite being the only local law enforcement in certain rural communities. For them, it's all about being known and respected in those small communities, where everyone knows everyone else.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:16 PM on November 20, 2014