To mark the end of Women’s History Month, Attorney General Loretta Lynch issued remarks at the White House Women and the Criminal Justice System Convening Wednesday, March 30. Her remarks stand out for mentioning and specifically addressing transgender women caught inside the Criminal Justice System. Yet naming transgender women without inviting them to […]
Archive | Legal
SRLP Members Help HALT Solitary in NYS Prisons
On any single day about 4,000 people are held in solitary confinement in New York State prisons. This is a fact that Marci, a member of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project’s Movement Building Team, knows all too well. Having survived solitary confinement herself, Marci is now joining a group of advocates on April 12 […]
Reducing Sexual Violence on the Road to Abolition
Next Monday, April 4, SRLP is thrilled to be joining survivors, loved ones of survivors and advocates in the beginning of a campaign to address sexual violence and sexual harassment in the NYC jails. Around this time last year SRLP, along with other allied organizations and New York City’s Public Advocate Letitia James, submitted […]
Mayor de Blasio Requires City Buildings to Give Bathroom Access to TGNCI Folks
Last Monday, I had the privilege of joining advocates and allies at the signing of an important executive order barring city facilities from harassing and intimidating transgender people and their use of city-owned restrooms and sex-segregated facilities. For trans, gender nonconforming and intersex (TGNCI) communities, there is often a fear for our safety and the […]
Last chance to make noise for trans healthcare to the Feds!
This is a call to action to support trans health! Tonight, comments are due at 11:59 pm on a new proposed rule from the federal housing agency, HUD (Housing and Urban Development) for a change in regulations regarding “Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity (Equal Access Rule)“. Our communities […]
NYC Commission on Human Rights Announces Stronger Protections for Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People
Yesterday, the NYC Commission on Human Rights announced their commitment to strengthen protections for trans and gender non-conforming people under the NYC Human Rights Law through the release of clearer guidelines. As mentioned in the press release below “…discrimination based on gender identity and expression has been illegal under the City’s law since 2002, previous […]
Trans Health Care Now Campaign Part 2. – Implementation and Updates
Trans Health Care Now Campaign Part 2. – Implementation and Updates In response to litigation filed in federal court in Manhattan by Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Legal Aid Society, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, the New York Department of Health amended a state regulation to provide Medicaid coverage for certain surgeries and procedures for […]
Trans Voices Raised At Public Hearing
Last Friday, members of the SRLP Movement Building Team and Prison Advisory Committee shared their stories and personal concerns regarding rules pending before the Board of Correction. Staff and members testified before the Board and spoke out at a rally before. SRLP staff is so honored to work with members who share their stories […]
SRLP’s Submission of Comments and Recommendations in Response to the Proposed Rulemaking Addressing Visitation, Packages, and Solitary
Below is the testimony submitted by staff attorney Mik Kinkead on behalf of Sylvia Rivera Law Project at the Board of Corrections hearing on October 16, 2015. Re: Submission of Comments and Recommendations in Response to the Proposed Rulemaking Addressing Visitation, Packages, and Solitary Dear Chair Brezenoff and the NYC Board of Correction: The […]
SRLP spoke up against solitary confinement and limitation on visitation rules at BOC hearing
On Friday, October 16, SRLP staff and members, including India, Natalia, Olympia and Xena, along with our allies such as the Jails Action Coalition, attended a Board of Corrections hearing to speak up against the Department of Correction’s attempt to increase the use of solitary confinement to over 30 days and its attempt to curtail visitation […]