JEAN-JACQUES GAUTIER NPM SYMPOSIUM 2015 The situation of transgender detainees The perception that gender identity is fixed at birth is widespread and contributes to rejection and misunderstanding of the situation of transgender people who experience varying degrees of discrimination throughout their lives. In deciding to dress or change their appearance so that it corresponds to their perceived gender identity, transgender people face the scrutiny of others and are often rejected by society and their families. Numerous transgender people have had to give up their studies prematurely or leave their jobs because their expressed gender identity was considered by some as not in conformity with accepted norms. Transgender people thus face numerous difficulties, regardless of whether or not they undergo sex reassignment surgery. In many countries, particularly in Latin America, transgender women are overrepresented among sex workers since they generally have no other means to survive. They are therefore often the object of police checks and patrols, which partially explains their overrepresentation in places of detention. Transgender people have special needs that are generally not recognised in society and find it especially difficult in detention facilities to access appropriate medical care in what amounts to yet more discrimination against them. Indeed, the prison setting, with its binary conception of gender identity, is usually incompatible with the management of transgender people, particularly where the first criterion for inmate allocation is gender. This means that the sex indicated on official personal documents will usually determine the allocation of detention quarters for a transgender person. Among the issues specific to transgender people in detention, participants mentioned the assignment of transgender women to women’s prisons and the difficulties that can arise when co-detainees refuse the presence of someone they consider to be a man. Also discussed were different cases of transgender women placed in men’s prisons illustrating where they are particularly vulnerable to violence and abuse from other detainees and who usually do not benefit from appropriate care. For example, those who have undergone sex reassignment surgery or who follow hormone treatment are often denied the ongoing care they need, but which the authorities tend to regard as unnecessary. 18