Since the memo from federal Health and Human Services was leaked last month to the New York Times the issues affecting healthcare for transgender and gender non-conforming people (TGNC people) have been constantly featured in media outlets. What has consistently not been covered, however, are the many ways in which healthcare fails…
SRLP is honored to share the following essay written by Brooke during our recent class at the Transgender Housing Unit of the NYC jails. This is a unit within the Rose M. Singer Women’s Jail which specifically houses transgender women. As it was SRLP’s first class since the THU moved…
For the past two years, Prisoner Advisory Committee member Isabella Adler has been sharing her tips on surviving in prison as a trans woman with SRLP. With the help of Maya Martin-Udry and Nadja Eisenberg-Guyot SRLP was able to combine her tips into a brochure that can be shared anywhere.…
I visited Attica Correctional Facility on July 12, a hot day even for Western New York. Despite how many times I have seen images of Attica Correctional Facility, the first time approaching it was startling. The facade is a huge wall that wraps around the entire complex almost like a…
The following blog post is from Ms. Rona Sugar Love, an SRLP Prisoner Advisory Committee member for over five years. SRLP has lightly edited the post, with Ms. Love’s consent. Ms. Love is also a member of our Advisory Committee for our re-launch of It’s War in Here and she…
As our country celebrates the Fourth of July, a holiday that symbolizes freedom, we continue to see the ways in which our community is not free, especially members who are incarcerated throughout the country. Our members are confined, surveilled, and isolated on a constant basis, some even being forced into…
What follows is an essay by SRLP PAC member Dana Gibson, aka Gee, reflecting on the memory of her mother. As we marked Mother’s Day and get ready to mark Father’s Day, it is so important we remember all those behind bars who cannot or do not have close family…
Below is an essay written by PAC member Dana Gibson, aka Gee. This essay contemplates what it means to survive while held in the torturous conditions of solitary confinement. To learn more about SRLP is fighting these conditions – and how you can help! – please visit our Ending Isolation…
In February, the NYC Board of Correction released an assessment of the Transgender Housing Unit (the THU) which can be found here.[1] The Board is a nine-person, non-judicial oversight body that regulates, monitors, and inspects the correctional facilities of the City. It is tasked with holding the Department of Corrections…
On March 13th, members of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) joined hundreds of people in Albany to demand the passage of the HALT Solitary Act and the end of torture through solitary confinement in New York State. We were honored to bring with us the names of SRLP Prisoner…