Women criticize STF for judgment on trans in women’s prisons

The director of the Association of Women, Mothers and Workers of Brazil (Matria), Celina Luci Lazzari, said that the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) are not taking into account the opinion of women when judging the Argument of Non-compliance with a Fundamental Precept ( ADPF) 527, a lawsuit filed by the Brazilian Association of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals (ABGLT) which proposes that “transvestites and gays deprived of liberty in male prisons” may choose to serve their sentence in female prisons.

When the lawsuit was filed in June 2018, the ABGLT also asked that the same treatment be offered to female-born transgender people who chose to serve their sentence in male prisons. At the time, the rapporteur for the action, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, denied the possibility of these people being transferred to male prisons to avoid risks to their physical integrity.

It turns out that, earlier this month, the STF resumed the trial of the action that had been suspended since September 2021, when the Supreme Court ministers tied the score at 5 to 5. In fact, the presence of transgender people in female prisons is already guaranteed by STF and the clash is only apparent. Five ministers followed Barroso’s vote, which considers the presence of trans people in women’s prisons constitutional, and the other five Lewandowski’s understanding, that the Court would not need to analyze the issue after the National Council of Justice (CNJ) had created, in October 2020, a resolution that already provides for this measure.

Now, it is up to Minister André Mendonça, until the 14th of August, to break the tie in the vote or to signal that the presence of transgender people in women’s prisons is unconstitutional. In practice, your vote – which has not yet been made public –, whatever it may be, will not change what is already determined or allowed by other ministers in favor of the presence of transgender people in female prisons.

The judgment decision has been questioned by women’s rights groups, since the votes in favor of the action – including the rapporteur’s vote – go against the criteria used to prevent the transfer of trans men (born women) to male prisons.

When talking to Gazeta do Povo, the director of Associação Matria, Celina Lazzari, said that the STF has heard only one side of the issue, that is, entities linked to the gay movement. One of the Association’s main complaints is the fact that the Supreme Court does not take into account several cases that have occurred in Brazil and in other countries of sexual abuse and violence perpetrated within women’s prisons.

Lazzari also reported difficulties in finding lawyers willing to take the Association’s questioning to the STF for fear of retaliation from the militancy.

“We have a fairly large collection of cases (of sexual abuse and violence) that need to come to the attention of the STF because, in fact, the decisions they (ministers) have taken show that they are not observing the women’s side”, said Lazzari .

The director of Matria also said that the group has been labeled “fascist” and “Nazi” by leftist parties and by the PT government, precisely, for the defense of female agendas. Lazzari reported that the group has been the victim of a veritable “witch hunt by the left for defending the rights of women and children”, although the Association is non-partisan and has no links with parties or ideological factions.

“We realized that in the face of the offensive – mainly, in this current government that is not dialoguing with women and is imposing this agenda without any kind of dialogue with the population – we needed to run and create an association so that we could start a movement in several instances”, said Lazzari.

>> Be part of the Life and Citizenship channel on Telegram

STF and CNJ

In June 2019, when issuing his opinion on ADPF 527, Minister Barroso determined outright that transgender prisoners identified as female could serve time in prisons intended for women.

According to the magistrate, his decision was based on the right of this group to live according to their gender identity.

“It is a necessary measure to ensure their physical and mental integrity, given the history of abuse perpetrated against these people in a situation of incarceration. In this case, there is no option open to the Public Power on how to treat this group, but an imposition that stems from the constitutional principles of human dignity, freedom, autonomy, equality, the right to health and the prohibition of cruel and to torture,” said Barroso.

In the year before the decision, in 2018, Barroso had already determined the transfer of two transsexuals, prisoners at the Presidente Prudente Penitentiary, in São Paulo, to “a prison facility compatible with sexual orientation”.

One of the trans beneficiaries of Barroso’s decision had been sentenced to six years in prison for extortion through imprisonment. The trans claimed that he would be “suffering all kinds of psychological and bodily influences” by sharing the same cell with 31 prisoners.

abuse and violence

Among the material gathered by Matria are records of various sexual crimes committed by trans men incarcerated with women. Among the records, the case of the “former trans councilor” of Uberlândia (MG), Pâmela Volp, stands out, with the accusation of rape of another detainee inside the Pimenta da Veiga Penitentiary. Volp is also accused of leading a gang that committed crimes of sexual exploitation, maintenance of a house of prostitution, theft, bodily harm, homicide, illegal embarrassment, threat, possession and possession of a firearm.

Matria’s report also cites numerous cases in other countries of trans people who commit sexual crimes against women after being transferred to women’s prisons using the gender criterion imposed by LGBT militancy.

In the document, the Association also cites a survey carried out by the NGO Fair Play For Women in the UK prison system in 2017. The data obtained by the NGO show cases of transgender prisoners in female prisons in the UK who were sex offenders or dangerous detainees . In February this year, all UK countries repealed the measure.

Along the same lines, when responding to a request by the American lawyer, Amanda Stulman, in April of this year, via the Freedom of Information Act, the United States Department of Justice reported that 45.93% of transgender people in prison in the country are imprisoned for sexual crimes.

A report released last year by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) revealed that a significant number of trans detainees were arrested for violent crimes, including rape.