{"id":63193,"date":"2017-01-14T05:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T05:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/?p=63193"},"modified":"2017-01-14T05:00:06","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T05:00:06","slug":"correctional-service-flip-flops-on-transgender-inmate-placement-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/correctional-service-flip-flops-on-transgender-inmate-placement-policy.html","title":{"rendered":"Correctional Service flip-flops on transgender inmate placement policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Canada&#8217;s prison service has abruptly reversed course on its new policy for\u00a0transgender inmates, one day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u00a0promised to promote equality for all trans Canadians, including those behind bars.<\/p>\n<p>Correctional Service\u00a0Canada spokesman\u00a0Jean-Paul Surette said trans inmates will now\u00a0be considered for placement in prisons based on their gender identity rather than their genitalia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are currently assessing \u2014\u00a0on a case-by-case basis \u2014\u00a0individual inmates&#8217;\u00a0placement and accommodation requests to ensure the most appropriate measures are taken to respect the dignity, rights and security of all inmates under our custody,&#8221; he told CBC News in an email.<\/p>\n<p>That is a sharp departure from CSC&#8217;s revised policy directive\u00a0on\u00a0trans\u00a0inmates that was released on Monday, which confirmed\u00a0a previous rule that based\u00a0placement on birth sex rather than gender identity.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Trudeau promises trans prisoner rights<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Trans prison policy changes on the way<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Canadians support trans rights<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p \/>\n<p>&#8220;Pre-operative male to female offenders with gender\u00a0dysphoria\u00a0will be held in men&#8217;s institutions and pre-operative female to male offenders with gender\u00a0dysphoria\u00a0will be held in women&#8217;s institutions,&#8221; the Jan. 9 policy reads.<\/p>\n<p>The change in course comes after\u00a0Trudeau, during a town hall meeting in Kingston, Ont.,\u00a0made an off-the-cuff promise to ensure\u00a0transgender\u00a0inmates can\u00a0serve their sentences in institutions based on their gender identity.<\/p>\n<p>The pledge came in response to a question from\u00a0a\u00a0transgender\u00a0woman and advocate who described Canada&#8217;s current placement policy as &#8220;torture.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\"><strong class=\"spaced\">Trudeau asked about transgender prisoner treatment<\/strong>2:29<\/p>\n<p>Trudeau\u00a0said the issue hadn&#8217;t been on his radar, but would act now\u00a0that it is.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I will make sure we look at it and we address it and we do right in recognizing that\u00a0trans\u00a0rights are human rights and we need to make sure we are defending everyone&#8217;s dignity and rights in every way we can,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>CSC does not track the number of trans inmates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Policy review underway<\/h2>\n<p>Surette said the entire policy will remain under review to ensure it is consistent with the principles of Bill C-16, which would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to include gender identity and gender expression in\u00a0the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>That bill is making its way through Parliament.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As part of that review, we are undertaking stakeholder consultation, including with inmates and with the LGBTQ2 advocates, to identify possible changes to the policy,&#8221; Surette\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/04942_ontario-prison.jpg\" alt=\"Ontario prison\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised equality for all trans Canadians, including those behind bars. (Lars Hagberg\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>The Office of the Correctional Investigator of Canada and human rights advocates\u00a0have\u00a0raised concerns about gender-sensitive procedures such as strip searches, pat-downs or urine analysis by members of the opposite sex, and also about about exploitation, harassment, intimidation and sexual violence perpetrated against trans inmates.<\/p>\n<h2>New sex reassignment surgery rules<\/h2>\n<p>Among the changes in the revised\u00a0policy is one that makes it\u00a0easier for transgender inmates to get sex reassignment surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Under the new rules, an offender will be eligible if they have lived in in an identity-congruent gender role for 12 continuous months and it is recommended by a specialist physician. Under the previous policy, the individual was required to have lived 12 months in the gender role in the community prior to incarceration.<\/p>\n<h2 \/>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p>Other elements of CSC&#8217;s\u00a0revised transgender policy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CSC will pay the cost of sex reassignment surgery.<\/li>\n<li>Transgender\u00a0offenders will be permitted to wear clothing appropriate to their self-identified gender.<\/li>\n<li>CSC will proceed without delay to determine the timing of the surgery, taking into account operational considerations and the offender&#8217;s release date.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0same health professional specialist who provided care to the offender throughout the gender transition prior to his\/her incarceration will be retained, unless the offender and CSC agree to a different choice.<\/li>\n<li>The head of the institution\u00a0will ensure that staff who have regular contact with transgender offenders have the necessary knowledge to effectively respond to their needs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p \/>\n<p>Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/transgender-inmates-placement-policy-1.3934796?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canada&#8217;s prison service has abruptly reversed course on its new policy for\u00a0transgender inmates, one day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u00a0promised to promote equality for all trans Canadians, including those behind bars. Correctional Service\u00a0Canada spokesman\u00a0Jean-Paul Surette said trans inmates will now\u00a0be considered for placement in prisons based on their gender identity rather than their genitalia. &#8220;We [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-63193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}