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By Veronica Stewart

At Penitentiary Unit No. 2 in Sierra Chica, Buenos Aires Province, the transgender and transvestite inmates have six sewing machines. These days they are making face masks for the prison staff in exchange for a few hours of sunlight in the yard.

This is one of the many vulnerabilities to which the incarcerated trans population is exposed during the Covid-19 crisis. According to data from a 2019 report by Otrans , 82% of the transvestite and trans people interviewed had no prior criminal record before their conviction. The majority of trans women deprived of their liberty are migrants (mainly from Peru and Ecuador), with a steadily increasing percentage largely due to arbitrary arrests. In this context, 73% of transvestite and trans people in Buenos Aires prisons suffer from some type of illness.

The international report “Trans Women Deprived of Liberty: Invisibility Behind Walls,” published this week, documents these inequalities, stating that “trans women are overrepresented in prisons compared to other groups and are far more likely to suffer abuse and violence behind bars than other populations.” These vulnerabilities include difficulties related to housing, treatment in accordance with their gender identity, searches, privacy, and access to medical services. The report also details the inequalities faced by the trans population prior to incarceration, particularly regarding access to healthcare, education, and employment.

[READ ALSO: How quarantine is experienced at the Hotel Gondolín, home to 47 transvestites and trans people ]

“Even before this pandemic, we were denouncing the lack of access to healthcare and food, and how this becomes even more complicated for people with chronic illnesses,” Claudia Vásquez Haro, president of Otrans, explained to Presentes. “Their fear was what would happen to food with restricted visits. So, they created a system of self-care: we didn't receive visitors, we prioritized health.” However, Vásquez Haro continued, both food and access to healthcare remain a problem, exacerbated by the impossibility of the visits that usually mitigate these issues. “ We at OTRANS Argentina are bringing food to our fellow trans women, food we had from before,” Vásquez Haro added. They also launched a solidarity campaign to collect food donations for trans and travesti women deprived of their liberty.

[READ ALSO: How Covid-19 affects LGBT+ people in the region: data and assistance ]

For his part, César Bisutti, a member of the “Gender, Society, and University” program at the National University of the Littoral and an employee of the Committee Against Torture of the Provincial Commission for Memory, emphasizes the difficulty of complying with health guidelines during the quarantine period while living in a prison in the province of Buenos Aires, where overcrowding has been a problem for years. “In a cell designed for two people, there are 16, and to sleep you have to play Tetris; imagine trying to maintain social distancing,” Bisutti told Presentes. “Social isolation is a utopia, and the possibility of discussing comprehensive health in these spaces is an oxymoron, a contradiction in itself.”

Cell phone use

Another measure taken by the Buenos Aires provincial government in response to the current situation was to allow the use of cell phones and other technological devices, such as laptops and tablets, inside prisons. The objectives are to enable incarcerated individuals to maintain contact with their families and for these devices to contribute to their cultural and educational development. The authorization includes WhatsApp, but prohibits the use of social media.

According to the protocol for use, this measure “will be in effect for the duration of the mandatory preventive social isolation (DNU 297/20) or any other restriction on the free movement of people due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The results of the implementation of this Protocol will allow for the evaluation of the extension of its validity, as well as the modification and/or expansion of its content.”

Although this measure is very recent, Bisutti explained that cell phones were already circulating in prisons. However, because they were not regulated, this led to complex situations. To name a few, Bisutti referred to the difficulty of accessing them, the arbitrary handling of the devices, and their commercial circulation, in addition to the sanctions imposed on those found with phones, which generally resulted in arbitrary increases in their sentences. In the case of prisons with a female inmate population, this problem is particularly significant, since "the excuse that they were hiding cell phones in their vaginas, for example, enabled the abusive use of searches," Bisutti explained. One of the most serious cases was that of the Northwest 3rd District Prison in La Tablada, La Matanza , where a doctor used this excuse to conduct vaginal and anal searches while the police watched. Therefore, Bisutti emphasized that this measure should extend beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, as it would reduce arbitrariness. She added that “the cisgender women housed in the prison are mostly heads of household, they are mothers. Some of them live with their children in prison, and most perform caregiving tasks remotely and as much as possible. In this sense, access to communication tools like a cell phone is a priority.”

What the virus reveals

Bisutti explains that this situation allows us to “reconsider what it’s like to be incarcerated as a woman, including trans and gender-diverse women, and how isolation and precarious conditions can affect them.” The conditions they face are not only precarious in terms of health and food, but the treatment they receive is also heavily influenced by discrimination based on their gender identity . So much so that in May 2019, the Provincial Commission for Memory (CPM) filed a precautionary measure with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) denouncing the appalling sanitary conditions to which the trans community was exposed in prisons in the province of Buenos Aires . The clearest example of the consequences of this mistreatment is that of Mónica Mego , who became paraplegic after being denied access to healthcare for six months.

[READ ALSO: Transvestites and trans people in quarantine: evictions and housing emergency ]

“Covid-19 came to challenge the entire health structure and to highlight the importance of the State's role in creating and coordinating public policy regarding assistance, prevention and addressing the pandemic,” Bisutti explained to Presentes.

Complaints to the province of Buenos Aires

Vásquez Haro, for her part, expressed a similar concern about the need for a state presence not only within the prison system, but also outside of it. “Ninety-five percent of transvestites and trans people in La Plata are in situations of prostitution, and if they can’t go out on the street, they don’t eat,” she commented. “The state has to show up.” The increase in the incarceration of trans women and transvestites is due, in Bisutti’s words, to “processes such as the criminalization of sex work and the informal economy, the lack of a gender perspective in judicial decisions, and the feminization of poverty.” Thus, critical situations like the pandemic that is currently affecting the entire world only serve to highlight the deficiencies and violence that the prison system inflicts daily on its most vulnerable population.

For now, a statement published on March 25 by the National Penitentiary Ombudsman's Office confirmed that home security has been established to address "requests for house arrest and release, prioritizing those in at-risk groups. This is to ensure their health, while also promoting the decongestion of prisons and monitoring the most urgent cases." The statement lists contact numbers for making such requests.

Solidarity campaign

With the aim of caring not only for their fellow inmates but also for society as a whole, Otrans launched a solidarity campaign titled “We Take Care of Each Other,” requesting donations of non-perishable food items to compensate for the food they usually receive from visitors, and water-repellent or surgical-grade non-woven fabric to make face masks for themselves and their fellow inmates. As Vázquez Haro explained to Presentes, the campaign is about “reinforcing our support networks and care policies.” Anyone interested in donating can contact contactootrans@gmail.com

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