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| Yes | 10% | 21 votes | Total: 214 votes | |
| No | 90% | 193 votes |
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Add to FavoritesI think its laughable that at a point where prison has health food, rehabilitation centers, gyms, creative learning, amongst a plethora of time enriching activity we should stop at this.
Remember the first time you heard that prisons had cable television? How did you react to that?
How about the time you heard that we have more people in prison then any other country in the world?
Obviously there's alot of people that hear these things and more but are still lacking a critical point to this question concerning where we as a people draw the line in the treatment of crime in society.
The average American entering the big wide world as an adult probably couldn't name the neighboring county to their's or even spell the city they are living in let alone a foreign country or even have the awareness in what is happening around them day to day.
Obviously your not alone in this tunnel vision because if you weren't you would have identified the united states is at the peak of a sick culture.
People in the majority don't identify themselves as Americans they affix a racial attitude or a creed affiliation when in a community of their race. if its not white then its black, Hispanic, or some such. Christian, Jew, Muslim, Scientologist, etc. This division is making you miss the point that people in this nation are pigeonholing themselves into groups that wont assist them in making the world a better place or make the culture any less divided then it already is and the fact this silent friction against these groups is where alot of crime springs from.
So here we are scoffing at a single case of a trans-gender in the prison system.
Wouldn't it be ironic if the only place in society where and individual with this kind of problem that wasn't out of the top 1% of the wealthy in the country would be in prison?
I think it makes total sense that people are filling the prisons and getting treatment, period.
They aren't getting treatment from systems and programs put in place during our grandparents time or even benefiting from an economy we let go to ruin by printing money beyond our actual worth.
So if prison is the last bastion for getting any attention isn't it any wonder why this has occurred? The squeaky wheels of society get the grease and because their criminals they should be denied treatment?
On the most painful and disillusioned fact about this question is the honest truth that you as a tax payer don't even know what your taxes are paying. You.. dear readers have no idea how alot of things work in your own home isn't that that case?
Shouldn't we be more preoccupied with how conditions outside of prison are? Why people with problems and issues LIKE this Michelle are left on the street or in the world around us without a hope of treatment because they don't have the health or medical coverage that a vast amount of the world enjoys... and with that they enjoy a much lower prison population and healthy society?
no of course not. because of some criminal in a prion you don't know about should be entitled to being more miserable then the free world.
When in the first place it was you, who decried prison abuse and treatment for prisoners in the first place.
People get measures and laws and policy for the public good passed and to become enraged or aware of this now.. as a result of the media picking a fight of the issue is perhaps the worst symptom of our sick and dying culture.
Get involved or give an inch of yourself to change things you think are wrong. Taking back what it is to be american to do something for your peace and prosperity other then feel how wrong the world is or the prison system for that matter.
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No
Contrary to popular belief, inmates do not lose all of their rights once they enter jail or prison. Their rights are limited, but they do still fall under laws designed to treat them fairly and with some humanity in most societies. The issue of gender and gender alignment is one that is still not fully understood or appreciated in the free world. For inmates and those charged with their care, it adds another dimension to the medical, social and security needs of that group. Sex-change surgery is for many, an expense too far when it comes to the housing and control of prisoners. The cry of "the tax payer should not foot the bill" is an understandable one, yet it is often clouded by mis-information and emotion.
There have always been individuals who feel that they are living in the wrong body, or conforming to the wrong gender role in the society in which they live. It has very little to do with one's sexual orientation, and although psychological evaluation is carried out on the individuals, little real clinical research exists into whether there is truly a chemical imbalance present to cause the feelings of gender mis-identity. However, in those who decide to go through the gender reassignment process, there is no doubt in their mind that they were born in the "wrong" body.
The steps of the gender reassignment process are long and difficult. The decision to go forward usually comes after many years of inner turmoil for the individual, often well into adult life, having perhaps married and started a family in an attempt to conform. Before any surgery is approved, individuals usually spend a period (usually one to two years) living in the gender they wish to become. This involves dressing and socialising as that gender at first, then progressing to hormone treatment to physically change the body towards the preferred gender; this is usually known as "transition". Only after this has progressed to a certain point, and the individual has undergone lengthy counseling, does the question of sex-change surgery become a possibility.
Prisoners may have been going through transition before their life choices led them to prison. However, they would be assigned to a prison based on the gender on their birth certificate, and not the gender they display through dress or characteristics. Again, it is important to stress that transgender has little to do with sexual orientation. Placing a transgendered male who wishes to be female into a male prison, even though they have no sexual inclination towards other males, can create very real dangers for that inmate. In a perfect world, there would be specialist transgendered prison units able to deal with the specific psychological and medical needs of this group; but in a perfect world there would be no inmates.
Many transgendered individuals choose not to have sex-change surgery. Indeed there are many who do not go through the hormone treatment either and simply dress as their preference dictates. It is not a medical requirement to cure a disease or impediment, it is a cosmetic aid to further an individual's self-identity. For this reason, prisoners wishing to undergo sex-change surgery are unlikely to have their request approved. This is sensible on the part of the authorities up to a point; the surgery is costly, and the aftercare is very important. Prisoners are not afforded the luxury of long recuperative stays in hospital even when the surgery is life-saving, and prison staff are not trained or qualified to look after such complex needs. It also creates many security issues, between inmates and for the staff, as to where to house an inmate who was one gender when they arrived but then becomes another while they are incarcerated.
For the inmate, there would also be little psychological support available during the transition process. Even if the surgery was successful with no complications (infection and failure are very common for these procedures), the emotional needs of the individual are unlikely to be met by prison counseling staff, if they even exist. When the inmate is finally released, as the vast majority are, then returning to their home location is difficult enough without the added stress of doing so as a completely different person, outwardly and psychologically. Many inmate are released with no outside support, particularly after long periods of incarceration; it is not uncommon for them to re-offend within the first 12 months. This then places them back into the system, but possibly into a prison for the opposite gender.
While it is preferable for transgendered inmates to receive housing and adequate security while they are in prison, along with sympathetic counseling and perhaps a continuation of hormone treatment if they had begun it prior to their incarceration, there can be no good reason why sex-change surgery should be carried out while they are detained.
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