Stonewalled

I apologize for back-to-back depressing posts.  I'm not in a depressed mood at all, I promise!  That previous post was just something that came out of my fingers as I sat to type after having reflected upon the previous night's Tranny Roadshow and my own experiences.  This post just came to my attention.  And, for any of you who are really interested in the criminal justice system, or LGBT rights, or the intersection of those things, it is a very important report that you need access to.

From Amnesty International comes Stonewalled - Still demanding respect  Police abuse against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people in the USA.  Some exceprts (the report is quite lengthy):

The USA, like many countries, has a long history of both criminalizing homosexuality and failing to protect LGBT people against violence and discrimination. In the past three decades the LGBT rights movement has made significant progress in promoting greater recognition of the rights of LGBT people in the USA and in confronting human rights abuses by law enforcement officers. Police departments have increasingly been held to account for their treatment of LGBT people. Anti-discrimination legislation at the local level has greatly facilitated this and many police forces provide some level of training about working with the LGBT community.

However, this report clearly shows that serious police abuses, including gender-based violence amounting to torture and ill-treatment, against the LGBT community persist. The abuses reported range from sexually explicit, abusive language and threats to sustained beatings and rape.

Some reports involve the use of excessive force during arrest. Others show that victims of crime, if they are lesbians, gay men or bisexual or transgender individuals, are at risk of abuse from the officers called to assist them. The common factor is that the reason for the abuse is police reaction to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Many transgender and gender variant people have told AI that they have been subjected to searches which were humiliating and unnecessary. They also expressed their very real fear of being detained inappropriately in gender-segregated cells where they are at risk of assault and sexual violence by other detainees.

AI’s research has shown that police responses to crimes against LGBT people, including domestic violence, are often inadequate, and indeed sometimes hostile. This pattern has become so entrenched that fear of reporting crimes is widespread among many sectors of the LGBT community. AI is particularly concerned about reports of retaliation against people who have come forward with complaints against police officers.

One of the stories they document is below the fold.

In August 2002, Kelly McAllister, a transgender woman, was arrested in Sacramento, California. Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies reportedly ordered Kelly McAllister to get out of her truck. When she refused, they allegedly pulled her out, threw her to the ground and started beating her. Kelly McAllister alleges that the deputies pepper-sprayed her, hog-tied(2) her with handcuffs on her wrists and ankles, and dragged her across the hot pavement. Still hog-tied, she was then placed in the back seat of the Sheriff’s patrol car. She repeatedly asked to use the restroom, but the deputies refused, saying: "That’s why we have the plastic seats in the back of the police car." She was left in the back seat until she defecated in her clothing. At the Sacramento County Main Jail, officers reportedly put Kelly McAllister in a bare basement holding cell. When she complained about the freezing conditions, guards reportedly threatened to strip her naked and strap her into the "restraint chair"(3) as a punitive measure. When Kelly McAllister was returned to the Sacramento jail in September, following a court appearance in a separate incident guards put her in a cell with a male inmate. She reports that the detainee repeatedly struck, choked and bit her and then raped her. Kelly McAllister asked for medical treatment for injuries received from the rape, including a bleeding anus. After a medical examination, she was transported back to the main jail where she was again reportedly subjected to threats of further attacks by male inmates and taunted by the Sheriff’s staff. Kelly McAllister reportedly attempted to commit suicide twice after her return to jail. The Sheriff’s Department opened an investigation into the alleged rape, and the inmate accepted a plea for "unlawful intercourse in jail". He was sentenced to three months in jail. Despite having filed a full report with the Sheriff’s Department, no Sheriff’s Deputy has been disciplined for their treatment of Kelly McAllister.