San Francisco jails to house transgender inmates with preferred gender

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said Thursday that by the end of the year, transgender inmates at San Francisco county jails will be housed based on gender preference.

San Francisco will be among the first cities in the nation to let transgender inmates live with their preferred population, the Los Angeles Times reports. They will also be allowed access to the jail system's charter high school, women's empowerment classes, and substance abuse programs. "I carry the perspective forward that the transgender population is marginalized on the streets of America," Mirkarimi said. "Consider how magnified that treatment is inside prisons and jails."

There are 1,257 inmates in San Francisco now, with six identifying as transgender, Mirkarimi said. They are currently being housed in an isolated wing of a downtown jail facility. There will be a review process for those who want to change their housing status, with an advisory committee and transgender experts working with the inmates. "There will be complicated incidences where we'll have to decide if this is the proper fit or not," Mirkarimi said. Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, hopes to see similar action take place in other cities. "In many prisons and jails around the country, protections today currently consist of isolation," he told the Times. "That's not protection. That's additional punishment."

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