Stanley-Eric-Captive-Genders-Trans-Embodiment-and-Prison-Industrial-Complex

No One Enters Like Themwith their cell-mates because there are few if any barriers for the sex acts,then validate the sexual roles with toiletries or medical favors (exchangeof goods or services).Forced boarding by a third party for sexual contact, or in prison“V-coding,” on the streets would be seen as pimping, as Kim Love calledit. The placement of such coercion inside of prison, however, serves tolocate pimping as a central part of a transwoman’s sentence. Most actsperformed by prison staff, violent or not, are unfortunately upheld as thenorm of prison culture. The vision of “sexual tension being brought down,to where there’s no sexual tension—they would probably overturn thatplace” screams to Love’s understanding of prison staff using her body topacify her “husband.”While Love’s remarkable survival skills speak to a particular angle ofresilience, Emmet Pascal witnessed many women attempting to resist orrefuse being “V-coded,” but guards only turn a blind eye. The refusal ofprison guards to acknowledge such violence (deliberate indifference), ifnot to directly coerce it, places the guards in a pimping position. Legaldefinitions of pimping consistently include intentionally inducing anotherto become a prostitute or soliciting a patron for sex acts with the sex provider.At what point do prison staff members receive such direct immunity frompandering or procuring customers (“husbands” or men they want to silence)for a sex act? 4In an equally abusive placement, gender-variant women are beingV-coded close to the end of their sentences. This location works to keepwomen incarcerated because if they defend themselves against rape orother violence that occurs with their “husband” or cellmate, it is commonfor them to be charged with assault then placed in the “hole.” The assaultcharge then shreds the previous parole possibility or release date.Looking ForwardIt’s vital to continue asking how many stories like Love’s must be amplified beforepeople understand reforming the PIC holds severe limitations? Love endsby stating, “The prison system is a money maker and nothing’s gonnachange that.” While solidarity work with currently incarcerated people canprovide witness to violations like those that Kim Love experienced, or mobilizationsto free caged people, we must not stop there.Financial support for peer-based educational programs that collaboratewith hospitals, schools, and other public institutions in effort to providecommunity-based knowledge and information on sex work, gender-229