Official Information Act – Department of Corrections NZ
Sexual Assault in Prison – 2015-2022
REF: C139272 – 2 December 2021 – Dept of Corrections
CONSIDERATIONS
COMMENTARY
NEWS ARTICLES
Transgender prisoner investigated for sexual assault behind bars
SAM SHERWOOD & HAMISH McNEILLY – 10 May 2019 – Stuff
A transgender inmate at Christchurch Women’s Prison is being held in isolation while facing several allegations from fellow inmates, including one of sexual assault.
The prison and police are investigating the allegations, with Corrections saying “safety is our top priority”.
A woman who spent several weeks in the prison this year while on remand for breaching bail is among those who made allegations against the inmate.
The former prisoner, who Stuff cannot name for legal reasons, alleges the transgender inmate distributed restricted medication such as methadone around the prison, and bullied other prisoners.
“She’s distributing those to other inmates in a somewhat very clever fashion by swallowing a tampon and attaching the cotton to her tooth, drinking the methadone, which swells up the tampon, and then when she’s returned to the wing she removes the swollen tampon, squeezes it out and sells it to other inmates,” the prisoner, who has theft and retail fraud allegations, alleged.
Prison director Deborah Alleyne confirmed Corrections was investigating several “very serious” allegations made by a former prisoner who was recently released from the prison. The allegations included sexual assault, which had been referred to police, she said.
About 30 to 40 of the 10,000-odd current New Zealand prisoners identify as transgender, Corrections said. Or those, six are serving time in the country’s three women’s prisons: Christchurch Women’s Prison, Arohata Prison and Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility, she said.
Transgender prisoners can apply for a transfer to a prison that matches their gender identity, if eligible. However, prisoners who have sexually offended against their nominated sex are excluded from such transfers, a spokeswoman said.
Transgender activists say it is discriminatory for transgender prison inmates to find themselves in a prison matching their biological background, rather than their chosen gender.
Opponents fear defining transgender women (biological males who identify as female) as female will erode protections for women. Self-declaration means any male can be female, they say.
The prisoner in Christchurch Women’s was born male and is listed as female on court documents and on her birth certificate. She has violence, robbery and driving convictions, but none for sexual offending.
A Corrections spokeswoman said when the inmate came into custody in June 2017 she was placed at a men’s prison.
“She subsequently applied for a review of her placement, which was approved by the chief executive on November 2, 2017, and she was moved to a women’s prison on that day. Between these dates, she had asked that the application be put on hold.”
The Parole Board declined release after her latest hearing, saying she “presents as an undue risk”.
“[She] needs to demonstrate consistent good behaviour, have a misconduct-free period, deal with her identified drug-use status, and formulate a safety plan. [She] will also benefit from some reintegration,” the Parole Board report says.
That was little comfort for the former inmate turned whistleblower, who was concerned for those at Christchurch Women’s Prison.
“There’s some really vulnerable women in there, I think it’s wrong. [She] is anatomically a male, but has the choice where [she] goes…
Corrections ‘have not followed process at all’ for trans prisoner
MURPHY- 4 April 2022 – RNZ Posted in The Herald
Warning: This story contains mentions of violence and sexual violence against trans people
A trans man says he was endangered on multiple occasions when in the care of Corrections. Is the department doing enough to ensure the safety of trans prisoners?
Lucas* looks down at the cold metal weighing against his wrists. Moments ago, the courtroom was abuzz but right now all he can hear is his heart pounding in his chest. It’s three days before Christmas and he’s just heard he’ll be remanded in prison.
The legal aid lawyer didn’t even try to get him bail and Lucas is exasperated. ‘F*** you, I’m missing my office Christmas party because of this,’ the lawyer snaps back.
Panic sets in at the thought of being sent to a men’s prison and what may happen to him there. If there was ever a time to out himself, it was now. As he’s led to the holding cells to wait out the hours before his transfer Lucas tells the guards he’s trans and wants to be sent to a women’s prison – he knows he’ll be safer there.
“Everyone seemed really nice about it, they were like yeah sure … thanks for telling us, we definitely wouldn’t want that to happen. Then they … brought me some documents [and] were like hey, just sign here.
“It asked if I prefer to be searched by female or male officers, if I prefer to be held in a female or a male facility, so I said female officers, female facility.”
A few hours later and the door to the holding cell opens – it’s time to go. Lucas is shuffled into a small metal cell inside the transfer truck. When he arrives it’s dark out.
“The second I got out of the truck, my first question was ‘Wait a minute, is this a men’s prison?’ and the guard was like ‘Where else would you f****** be?’.
“From that point onwards, I knew that the document I signed meant nothing.”
The Department of Corrections says trans prisoners are a vulnerable group with complex needs but is it doing enough to ensure their safety?
***
Corrections says as far as it’s concerned, no such document exists, and it isn’t found on Lucas’ prison file.
But Lucas says he didn’t only sign the document at the Auckland District Court in December 2017, he also signed one in the holding cells of North Shore District Court in September 2019, after his sentencing. Again, he wrote he wanted to go to a women’s prison and searched by female officers. And, again, he found himself at Mount Eden Prison.
Corrections policy (since 2014) states someone in their custody who is trans must be placed in a prison that matches the sex on their birth certificate, if staff have a copy of it. Though generally, the department says, their placement is assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account whether going to a prison that aligns with their gender is something they want. The policy is designed to provide Corrections with flexibility to determine the most appropriate accommodation options for trans prisoners.
Lucas says he was never asked for his birth certificate, which – like about 80 percent of trans people in Aotearoa – doesn’t have the correct gender marker on it. In fact, all of his documents, including his birth certificate, passport and licence, are still marked ‘F’. Part of the reason he hadn’t started the process to change these was because of policies like the one Corrections has.
“They have not followed process at all,” Gender Minorities Aotearoa national coordinator Ahi Wi-Hongi says.
If the placement of a trans prisoner hinges on the gender recorded on their birth certificate then surely part of Corrections’ standard process is to it track down, they say.
Gender Minorities Aotearoa provides advocacy and support for trans people in Aotearoa and runs a fortnightly free legal clinic in collaboration with Community Law. Trans prisoners are often among those reaching out for support and advice.
“What usually gets talked about is where trans women will be placed in prison, there’s not a lot of public thought about trans men, and it seems that if the policy is to place people in the prison of the gender that’s on their birth certificate, but in this case they haven’t done that, then is the default policy actually just to place all trans people into men’s prisons? Because that’s how it seems … And if it is, it also raises the question of why would that be.”
Corrections says trans prisoners are not automatically placed in a men’s prison and didn’t respond to questions of why Lucas was taken to one if his identity documents have an ‘F’ gender marker. Instead, it referred to the Prison Operations Manual which notes “when making an initial determination for a person’s placement the custodial systems manager or on-call manager must take into account all the available information”.
According to policy, once inside trans prisoners can be transferred if they provide a birth certificate that aligns with the gender of the prison they want to be transferred to, or if they are successful in requesting a review of their placement. Trans prisoners who are doing time for a serious sexual violence offence against someone of the same gender, or have served time for this within the last seven years cannot apply for a review.
Wi-Hongi says getting a review of placement isn’t always straightforward.
“[Trans] prisoners have told us that they’ve sent in multiple applications to be changed to a different prison and those applications have not gone anywhere … or it’s taken a very very long time for them to hear anything back about it.”
The reasons for a prisoner’s choice around placement are nuanced, and a trans person will not always want to be placed in a prison that aligns with their gender – as was the case for Lucas. Where they will feel safest is often a major factor in decision making and is something that can change overtime.
Lucas says at no point was he told he would have to be processed in a men’s prison before he was able to move to a women’s prison.
***
It was male guards who strip searched Lucas during his processing that first time at Mt Eden prison.
“I took my clothes off and I just kind of remember everyone in the room not really knowing where to look – including me. By that point I had already gone into ‘how do I get out of this’ mode.”
It was a little over two months before Corrections’ Transgender Policy would come in, bringing with it a change that allows trans prisoners to choose the gender of the officers that strip search and pat them down. After March 2018, staff would have been expected to give Lucas the ‘confirmation of search choice for trans prisoners’ form on arrival. Regardless, Lucas says he was clear on the documents he signed in court that he wanted to be searched by female officers.
“I nearly fainted, panic was setting in,” Lucas says.
After the search he pushed to see a doctor in the hopes they would help him out of the situation he’d found himself in. Either Corrections didn’t understand, or they didn’t care, he thought – maybe a doctor would.
He was taken to the health office where he told a nurse what was going on – she was clearly concerned, he says, and put in for a medical transfer. “The nurse that received me, she did everything that she could possibly pull out of her hat to keep me safe.”
Just before 8pm a note written by health staff appeared in Lucas’ risk assessment stating that he was to have female staff present when being searched. But an IOMS alert wasn’t activated.
He spent the night in an observation unit and was checked on every 15 minutes. Just as the sun peered over the horizon the next morning, he was transferred to Auckland Women’s prison – where he says “99.9 percent of the time everything was as respectful as it can get”.
Three and a half months later he came out on bail and would spend the next year and a half on house arrest as he waited for his next court date.
Two men were already in the yard when Lucas arrived. The guard told him he’d be on his own – it was the only reason he agreed to have time outside of his cell. But just as Lucas turned, he heard the door shut behind him and the guard disappeared from sight.
It was early September 2019, almost two years on from when Lucas first set foot inside the prison that sits at the intersection of Auckland’s southern motorway and its western train line. He had spent the past 18 months waiting out the days until his sentencing – the ankle bracelet rubbing against his skin a reminder of unfinished business.
Lucas didn’t think he’d find himself there again, within the walls of a men’s prison. He’d spend three nights in segregation before being transferred to a women’s prison. A note on his transfer document reads: Lucas “fears for his safety due to [being] transgender”.
In the yard he sat next to the younger of the two – their yard mate spun wild stories of past escapades, at times his words left bouncing off the concrete walls as he paced. He’d spent over half his life in prison, he told them. Said he was there because he stabbed someone in his unit…
…
…Corrections says it acknowledges the impact that Lucas’ initial experience being received into prison has had on his wellbeing, but it is limited in its response as the situation is still under investigation. Since being contacted by RNZ, Corrections has sent Lucas an apology letter.
“Some staff may not necessarily have first-hand knowledge or experience with the challenges and complexities involved with transgender individuals, but we are committed as an organisation to changing this,” a statement attributed to Corrections chief custodial officer Neil Beales said.
“We know we have an obligation to manage every transgender prisoner in an individualised way which respects their identity and preserves their dignity, safety and privacy.”
Beales says the department is committed to addressing gaps in staff knowledge and is actively working to improve its support of trans people, including offering staff training specific to issues faced by trans people and its own policy…
TRANSFERS OF THOSE CONVICTED OF VIOLENT CRIME
NZ: Trans-Identified Male Sent to Women’s Prison After Stabbing Spree
ANNA SLATZ – 22 November 2022 – REDUXX
A trans-identified male in New Zealand has been handed a 9-year prison term for a stabbing spree at an Indian restaurant earlier this year which left three people, including his ex-girlfriend, severely injured.
Matthew Richard Nelson, a male who identifies as a woman named Pandora Electra, appeared for sentencing in the Hamilton District Court today. He had pleaded guilty to three charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, as well as charges of breach of a protection order, intentional damage, and resisting police.
Nelson, 31, had stood accused of stabbing three victims at the Sahara India Restaurant in Cambridge on May 4 of this year. One of the victims, a female, was Nelson’s former partner. A police summary of the incident presented to Court during a hearing earlier this year said Nelson had acted in a “quick and aggressive manner.”
According to police reports, Nelson had entered through the rear door of the restaurant and stabbed a male staff member in the shoulder as he worked in the kitchen.
Nelson quickly targeted another worker, a female who was later revealed to be Nelson’s ex-girlfriend. He slashed her in the face and stabbed her in the upper back, causing her to suffer a punctured lung. Despite her horrific injuries, the woman managed to run out of the building and flee for help at a nearby gas station.
A customer who attempted to intervene in Nelson’s stabbing spree was similarly attacked, losing over a liter of blood after he sustained an injury to his abdomen.
Nelson then grabbed a chair, which he used to smash the restaurant’s front windows, and fled.
While being forensically swabbed in police custody by a doctor, Nelson is alleged to have remarked: “this is a bit excessive for only stabbing three people.”
Transgender prisoner moved to women’s jail
NZME – 23 August 2015 – The Herald
A transgender prisoner has been moved to a women’s jail, hours after transgender advocacy group began a hunger strike highlighting her plight.
The Corrections Department confirmed this afternoon its chief executive “approved the transfer request by a transgender prisoner”.
The prisoner is Jade Follett, who was being held in the men’s-only Rimutaka Prison in Upper Hutt, Wellington.
“Corrections has a duty of care to all prisoners. We are very much aware and sympathetic to the particular needs of transgender prisoners including the issues surrounding their placement and safety,” the prison’s director Chris Burns said.
A new Transgender and Intersex prisoner policy took effect in February last year and since then Corrections’ chief executive had approved the transfer of five transgender inmates, including Follett.
Members of transgender advocacy group No Pride in Prisons began a hunger strike in Auckland today over Follett’s plight, but called it off when they heard about her transfer.
“We have exclusive word from Jade herself that she was moved today just after lunch,” the group’s spokeswoman Jennifer Shields said.
“We are absolutely thrilled that Corrections has taken our demands seriously. They can no longer ignore the very real danger that Jade was in.
“We hope that now that Jade has been officially transferred, she will be able to serve out the rest of her sentence in a far safer environment.”
Ms Shields said placing transgender prisoners in men’s prisons by default showed more change was needed.
In June, Follett was jailed for 21 months for stabbing a man who stalked and threatened her after they met through a dating website.
Transgender prisoner spent three weeks in men’s prison
EDWARD GAY – 3 May 2020 – Stuff
An Auckland transgender woman was held in a men’s prison for three weeks in full isolation.
Kylie So was moved after Stuff queried her incarceration, and advocates say legislation must be changed to ensure quick transfers.
So’s lawyer Kelly-Ann Stoikoff said Corrections dropped the ball.
“It wasn’t good enough that she was in isolation, that’s not good for anyone.”
So was arrested on April 7 and charged with the 2016 murder of 71-year-old Australian, Robert Dickie.
The Australian Government applied to have the 47-year-old extradited and after losing a bid for bail, she was held at the Mt Eden Central Remand Prison, a men’s prison.
Stuff asked Corrections about So’s incarceration on Friday, April 24. The following day a senior Corrections employee approved So’s application to be transferred to Wiri’s women’s prison and she was moved on Sunday.
Under Corrections rules, a trans prisoner can request to be held with prisoners of the gender they identify with but must make an application in writing.
Stuff understands So has had gender reassignment surgery and identifies as a woman.
Corrections chief custodial officer Neil Beales said So initially decided not to apply to change prisons.
“A review of the placement of any transgender prisoner cannot occur without their consent, but Health Centre staff worked closely with her to discuss how her safety could be best managed while in prison.”
Beales says So later applied for a review.
The application was signed and filed with Corrections on April 16. Corrections took nine days to make a decision…
WORKING SOLUTION
Life Behind Bars for GBT Inmates at the K6G
SOCAL CONNECTED – 18 December 2014 – KCET
At the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail, a separate wing exists for gay, bisexual, and transgender inmates. Since its creation, the unit has gained a reputation as one of the safer, community-oriented units.
But getting in isn’t easy. A series of questions, past incarcerations, arrest records, and resources are utilized to determine whether an inmate can be classified for this special unit. If one doesn’t pass, it’s back to the general population.
The unit, known as the K6G, is home to approximately 360 GBT inmates. It was established in 1985 after the ACLU filed a lawsuit urging for the protection and prevention of assault against LGBT inmates.
Under Prop 47, the Men’s Central Jail has released approximately four K6G inmates to date. The proposition seeks to reduce the sentence for inmates charged with low-level felonies, and reclassifies some charges as misdemeanors.
While instances of sexual assault and violence do occur, it is very rarely reported at the K6G unit. In some cases, non-GBT inmates have even attempted to gain entrance to the coveted unit because it is considered safer than the general inmate population. Many K6G inmates report feeling safer and less likely to wind up as victims of racial slurs and sexual assault.
In this segment of “SoCal Connected,” reporter Val Zavala tours the K6G unit and interviews GBT inmates charged with nonviolent felonies for a closer look at what happens behind bars.