In an article for The Nation, National Center for Lesbian Rights attorney Daniel Redman makes the case for incarcerated LGBT youths.
In the article, child welfare and juvenile justice consultant Marty Beyer, who received her Ph.D. in clinical/community psychology from Yale University, is quoted explaining that problems for LGBT youths often begin long before incarceration. She states, "LGBT youth are more likely to be arrested than straight youth because they're more likely to be pushed out of their homes." Once arrested, LGBT inmates often are subjected to unnecessary pretrial detention, verbal and physical abuse from peers and guards, lockdown, attempts at antigay religious conversion, and in some cases even orchestrated attacks. One minor from the California system says, "A female staff member set up a bisexual youth and let straight guys into his room to beat him up. I woke up and saw blood on the walls and on the ground."
Redman cites multiple statistics to this end: "LGBT kids are often targeted for sexual assault. A 2009 Department of Justice report shows that across the country, LGBT youth are twelve times more likely than straight youth to report being sexually assaulted by a fellow inmate. In Louisiana alone, 10 percent of all youth — gay and straight — reported abuse by a staff member." He refers often to one 14-year-old transgendered girl, Krystal, who suffered attacks from fellow inmates daily and who was verbally abused after refusing sexual propositions from her prison guards.
Regarding Krystal, Redman also writes, "In her letter to the judge, the counselor mentioned in passing that Krystal had confided in her that she was probably transgender, and that she was in a romantic relationship with another boy at the facility. On the voicemail he left in response to the counselor's report, the judge openly laughed and called the recommendation a joke. He said that based on those facts, he would absolutely deny the request for a release hearing." Krystal also reported that some of her gay friends had been raped while in prison, one of whom required internal stitches due to the force of the attack.
Other figures are no less alarming: "While only 3-10 percent of Americans are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, LGBT youth make up 15 percent of the prison population. Indeed, one-quarter of all LGBT youth are kicked out of their homes or run away. Compared to their heterosexual peers, incarcerated LGBT youth are twice as likely to report abuse at the hands of family members, homelessness or state-ordered foster placement. A shocking estimated 20-40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT."
A novel 2006 federal court decision in Hawaii deemed unconstitutional the "relentless campaign of violence, physical and sexual assault, imposed social isolation and near constant use of homophobic slurs" and implemented mandatory training for correctional staff. In the wake of this decision, other states have begun reform initiatives.
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