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'They think you are a poof and they prey on you'

A new report documents the experiences of LGBT people in prison, an “invisible population”.

THE IRISH PENAL Reform Trust (IPRT) has launched a report into the experiences of members of the LGBT community in prison.

shutterstock_258602471 Shutterstock / Brian A Jackson Shutterstock / Brian A Jackson / Brian A Jackson

Out on the Inside‘s authors interviewed seven prisoners who identify as LGBT (three men and four women, including one transgender woman), a focus group with eight prisoners involved in a peer education and support group, and ten stakeholders from the criminal justice system.

The report notes that the Irish Prison Service (IPS) does not collect information on the sexual orientation or gender identity of prisoners. There is therefore no information on the number of LGBT people within Irish prisons. Internationally, only some jurisdictions have, in recent years, begun attempts to measure numbers of LGBT prisoners.

The report’s authors, Dr Nicola Carr, Dr Siobhán McAlister and Dr Tanya Serisier, said LGBT prisoners constitute an “invisible population”.

Here are the experiences of LGBT people in prison, in their own words:

It’s hard to [come out] in here because people will prey on your weakness … If you’re gay or bisexual they’ll use that, they think that you are, as they say … a poof and and you can’t handle yourself, and they try to prey on you.

- Damien, bisexual man

Being gay in prison is seen as a weakness, and people prey [on] that weakness because it singles somebody out. And that makes them a target for verbal abuse and physical abuse and emotional abuse and psychological abuse, the whole lot … so that is the major challenge.

- Brendan, focus group participant

I put up with two years of horrific abuse while I was locked in my cell … this guy … he was outside … during the day all day … and while I was locked in my cell every day he was outside my door, ‘You dirty steamer, you filthy faggot’ and ‘You take it up the ass’…

- Patrick, gay man

The reports states that “violence and harassment against LGBT prisoners is a problem of the general culture of violence and hyper-masculinity in men’s prisons particularly”, adding: “It is not only GBT prisoners who experience violence and harassment in such a culture.”

shutterstock_317036060 Shutterstock / PhotonCatcher Shutterstock / PhotonCatcher / PhotonCatcher

Women reported some experiences of verbal harassment on the basis of their sexuality, but these tended to be less directly threatening:

Some people wouldn’t be nice. Well they never say anything to my face or my girlfriend’s face, but I hear them like being bad to some people over it … To me personally? No, people weren’t, like, nasty … but I’ve seen it happening to other people.

- Evelyn, bisexual woman

So you can be open to a degree, and of course a lot of women are inclined to make fun and jokes about your sexuality. I’m a lesbian, I get all the fun and jokes, but when they’re in their cell and they’re on their own, you know, I’m sure like they would feel quite awkward about their situation. I do, I would feel quite awkward a lot of the time and I’d have to man it up, brave it up, you know what I mean?

- Miriam, lesbian

‘I’ll cut your f**king throat in two minutes flat’

I somehow had managed to convey a certain subliminal message to most of the people in the prison that like yeah I might look different and I might be this and that, but I’ll cut your f**king throat in two minutes flat …but it’s a really harsh way to have to live your life …
You were on tenterhooks in prison, you have to have eyes in the back of your head. You don’t know where the blade is coming from, you don’t know who’s saying what, and you don’t know whose toes you’ve stepped on.

- Rachel, transgender woman

Damien, a bisexual man, described how the threat of abuse and violence led him to reluctantly ‘tool up’ (i.e. arm himself with a weapon). In another instance, Patrick, who is also gay, describes retaliating to an assault by the prisoner who had been harassing him:

It was worse it got, eventually I was in the gym and he came up and he called me a dirty steamer and he spat in my face and he swung for me and I defended myself. He came out the worst of it.

‘You are a deviant’

The reports notes that the passing of the same-sex marriage referendum last May has somewhat improved the situation for gay prisoners in Ireland, but they still face a lot of stigma.

I think there is still this institutional stigma of being different, and when I say different I mean sexually different… Younger prisoners [are] being more open. I think that’s a sign of the society on the outside, the change there is seeping into the prisons but … [for] the older prisoners, from 25 onwards … as far as they are concerned, you are a deviant, you are different, you are wrong, you are not right.

- Brendan, focus group participant

Sexual assaults

The report states that there has been “minimal research on sexual abuse in prison and the extent of the problem is not known”.

shutterstock_208296562 Shutterstock / ANURAK PONGPATIMET Shutterstock / ANURAK PONGPATIMET / ANURAK PONGPATIMET

A stakeholder from the criminal justice system noted:

We would have had a few cases of rape in prison, now they have been dealt with but there is probably more. We only know if a prisoner complains about it… I suspect that prison rape is a very under-recorded problem.

Rachel, a transgender woman, said:

Just because you don’t necessarily hear about it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t go on. I mean I am aware of people who were tied up and raped.

The report includes a number of recommendations for the IPS, such as:

  • Ensuring that the needs of LGBT prisoners are explicitly considered and addressed as part of overall prisoner management, response and welfare, e.g. having policies in place designed to protect LGBT prisoners from harm.
  • Single-cell accommodation should be the norm for all prisoners across the prison estate, particularly for prisoners identifying as LGBT who may feel vulnerable in the prison environment.
  • Homophobic and transphobic bullying and harassment amongst prisoners must be tackled through a combination of information provision, staff training, and clear sanctions for breach of policy, where appropriate.
  • The Prison Rules 2007 should be amended to include the terms ‘homophobic’ and ‘transphobic’ as behaviour and language which is prohibited.
  • Current human rights training for prison staff should be extended to address more specifically the needs, rights and experiences of LGBT prisoners.

The Director General of the Irish Prison Service and other senior officials attended today’s launch, and IPS Director of Care and Rehabilitation spoke on behalf of the prison service at the event.

A spokesperson said that the Irish Prisons Service welcomes the publication of the report.

It will review the recommendations contained in the report and “will liaise with the IPRT and organisations representing the LGBT communities in relation to the issues raised in the report”.

The Irish Prisons Service wishes to highlight the challenges that are posed in the report in meeting the needs of LGBT prisoners. As an employer, the Irish Prison Service is a committed participant in the Glen ‘Diversity Champions’ Programme.

Read: The results and speeches from an exceptionally tight night on the road to the White House

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72 Comments
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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:27 PM

    The young prime minister Gabriel Attal has recognized the genuine grievances of French farmers, shared by farmers in several European countries. Too much unnecessary red tape (bureaucrats trying to intensify their power by imposing increased paperwork); too much blaming food producers for pollution; too much money required to stay in farming. In Brussels, Paris and Berlin there are 5-day civil servants; but there’s no such thing as a 5-day farmer.

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    Mute P. V. Aglue
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 4:36 PM

    @Garreth Byrne: all that red tape creates lots of civil service jobs,and their unsackable.

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    Mute brendan C5
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 5:00 PM

    @jak: to keep your food and drink cheaper than it would be.

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    Mute William Tallon
    Favourite William Tallon
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:33 PM

    You sometimes get the distinct impression that some of Europe’s political elites really don’t have a clue about where the food they eat comes from and that real people called farmers work hard to make their livings producing and providing it. “Farmers, you say? Aren’t they the happy workers from the factories where they make the food that my staff purchase from those supermarket places?”

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    Mute Adrian Kehoe
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 3:31 PM

    @William Tallon: That’s true, I know nothing about farming but I certainly have great respect for the work they do, hours they put in for little gain .

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    Mute Elizabeth Doyle
    Favourite Elizabeth Doyle
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:06 PM

    CANT BEAT Le Bleu farmers.Hope we fare better tonight.As a Munster supporter I want Pete to have a good beginning to 6 Nations Campaign.Without our Irish Farmers we gave no Country,the backbone of our Nation and prosperity.

    60
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    Mute Padraig O'Brien
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:24 PM

    No farmers no food is a myth in Ireland. Lots of our food is imported and lots of our meat is exported.

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    Mute Staker Wallace
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 2:45 PM

    @Padraig O’Brien: Ok, If there was no farmers in the *whole world*, what would you live on? Furze bushes?

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    Mute James Carolan
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 3:09 PM

    France 12 – 18 Ireland COYBIG

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    Mute Eoghan O Sullivan
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 3:22 PM

    Are if there were no car makers there wouldn’t be cars etc.. We have produce food sustainably. Seen the iFA fella on prime time last night tyring to defend excessive use of nitrates. Time is now.

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    Mute hi from heaven
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    Feb 2nd 2024, 5:51 PM

    All I hear is farmers complaining they work hard and make no money…
    I heard a good saying today” you don’t have to be smart to be a farmer, but don’t be stupid ”
    Give up the farm if it is not viable, there’s plenty of jobs out there..
    The farmers that really work hard and put in 10 plus hours a day are making money, because these are dairy farmers..there is no need for 95% of beef farmers to be home all day collecting subsidies and complaining about how it’s not enough..get a job

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