Shout: A question of incarceration
By Wade Kwon
Prison ain’t a picnic. But for those convicts in the gray area of gender identity, hard time becomes harder.
Should transgender felons be put in men’s prison or women’s prison? Should they be matched by their genitals or their gender identities?
Those are a couple of the thorny questions raised in “Cruel and Unusual,” the riveting, sometimes shocking, documentary that examines where transgender individuals fit in, both in and out of prison.
The film is part of the Birmingham Shout lineup for Saturday.
Transgender inmates Ophelia De’Lonta and Yolanda Valentin talk about sexual abuse in “Cruel and Unusual.” (clip used with permission)
Producers and directors Janet Baus, Dan Hunt and Reid Williams paint a bleak portrait of life for those born as one gender but compelled to live as the other. Through interviews with prisoners, ex-cons, lawyers and officials, we see a systemic denial of rights and basic decency to these women born as men.
Make no mistake, those arrested and convicted did commit robberies, assault and other crimes. But once locked up, will they need additional protection from other prisoners? And is that special treatment or just being cautious?
The title of this 2005 film refers to the Eighth Amendment, prohibiting cruel and unusual punishments. But while life for inmates is tough, sometimes dangerous, transgender prisoners deal with additional issues of health, safety and discrimination.
Linda Thompson talks about her time in Idaho prison, facing abuse from guards, withdrawal pains from hormone therapy and thoughts of suicide. Yolanda Valentin dropped out of sixth grade, took up prostitution and wound up in prison in New Jersey fighting off attacks from male inmates.
It is brutal, and it is moving.
And, it is complex. Every problem raises issues, but no easy solutions. To protect transgender cons, they are often placed in solitary confinement, which has been shown to be psychologically debilitating. Several inmates discuss self-mutilation, depression and suicide. But does government have a duty to provide them with continued hormone therapy? Sexual reassignment surgery?
And why do so many transgender individuals end up in the criminal justice system anyway?
Through it all, the women featured struggle through the burdens of societal expectations and their own emotional issues. Most fail again and again, not unlike other inmates and ex-cons.
The 66-minute doc is poignant in its straightforward look at their unfolding lives. So crucial is their gender identity that a few go to extreme measures to ensure they are women, hear them roar.
Former inmate Linda Thompson travels a long road as a transgender male-to-female.
Glimmers of hope somewhat balance the downward spiral of these doomed souls, from renewed family ties to victorious lawsuits establishing basic guidelines in treatment of transgender prisoners.
But while “Cruel and Unusual” visits the prisons made from brick and mortar, these women face sentences within their own gloomy prisons, in which biological shortcomings and societal blinders have them locked away for life.
“Cruel and Unusual” will screen at 11:30 a.m. Saturday with opening short, “The Congregation,” at the WorkPlay soundstage. Director Dan Hunt is scheduled to take questions afterward.
And check out additional coverage of Birmingham Shout.
