Miami-Dade jails are required to protect trans people. They didn’t protect me | Opinion
The abuse I experienced as a trans man held at the Miami-Dade County Jail haunts me.
Mocked. Denied medical treatment. Strip-searched. Placed in a solitary cell. All because I dared protest while trans. This happened to me, to Gabriela Amaya Cruz and to Ángel Jae Torres Bucci — and continues to happen to countless other transgender and non-binary Miamians in custody. That’s why we are suing the county, so it does not happen to anyone else.
It was May 31, 2020. Derek Chauvin had just murdered George Floyd. My friends and I decided to join others in a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Miami. Though I was there to stand up against government violence, I wasn’t expecting to be a victim of that very violence.
Slammed into pavement
After the protest, my friends and I were walking back toward our car, when suddenly we were surrounded by police cars. I was tackled and slammed face-first into the pavement, breaking the glasses I depend on to see, bruising my face, and giving me a concussion before tossing me face-first into a van and gouging my leg.
Once I was inside Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK Jail), at first, the booking and intake process seemed normal. I waited with other people who had been arrested, gave the officers my ID, had my fingerprints taken. But then instead of being offered medical treatment for the concussion and wounds I suffered upon my arrest, I was taken for a mental health exam, in full earshot of everyone there.
When asked if I was transgender, I answered yes. The nurse was confused when I explained I was a transgender man, not a trans woman as he had assumed, and had another nurse come question me. This nurse began asking me about my genitals and more personal questions, such as whether I planned to “get a penis.”
I was made to take a pregnancy test. When I came out with my urine sample, the nurse told a pair of officers I was transgender. More officers crowded around, making trans-phobic comments about me, calling me “it” and asking personal questions, such as if I was a “hermaphrodite.”
Four female officers took me into a small room and performed an extensive strip search just to see my genitalia. They violated my body and spirit because I did not identify how they thought I should.
None of the cisgender protesters I was detained with were strip searched, and I later learned my search was unlawful. People arrested for misdemeanors are not supposed to be strip searched, and the only thing I was ever charged with was not following a curfew — a misdemeanor violation.
Overnight in a cell
After all of this, they cuffed me and pushed me into a solitary cell, where they left me overnight, alone with the terrible mental health impact of my abuse, without telling me when or whether I would be let out.
The next morning, I was released. The curfew charge against me was dropped. But the trauma of that night stayed with me. Afraid to go outside. Unable to go to work or school. With terrible headaches, nightmares and trouble sleeping. And no one has even apologized or acknowledged wrongdoing.
I wish my story were unique, but it is not. As the Miami Herald has reported, my fellow plaintiffs were similarly mistreated after protesting violence against Black transgender women. Trans people like us — and especially trans people of color and those with disabilities — are routinely abused during arrest and while incarcerated.
One in five trans people is assaulted by police. According to the Women & Justice Project, trans people in custody are sexually assaulted at a rate 10 times higher than the general incarcerated population, and 44% of trans people report being denied gender-affirming care while imprisoned. Moreover, one in two Black trans and gender non-conforming people have been incarcerated in their lifetime.
Legal responsibility
As our complaint explains, Miami-Dade corrections officers ignored their legal responsibility to protect transgender people in their custody, to respect our identities and to house us where we will be most safe. The jail has failed to meet its federal obligations under the United States Constitution, the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Florida law.
For example, independent audits found Miami-Dade corrections staff were inadequately trained about PREA, including rules for how to treat transgender, lesbian, gay and bisexual people. An auditor found they did not know the required search procedures for transgender people, did not ask about gender identity when screening for risk of sexual violence and were not willing to report fellow officers for PREA violations. TGK officers and staff treated us with harsh indignity for no legitimate reason, and until they are held accountable, we fear it will only get worse.
Join us in calling on the county to update its policies so that not one more transgender person will be abused while in their care.
Christian Pallidine is a transgender man who was arrested while a college student in Miami and is now pursuing graduate studies in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
This story was originally published January 31, 2022 at 3:17 PM.