Rikers Island, New York's largest jail, and the second largest jail in the country, is preparing to launch a unit for transgender woman inmates this week.
"Because inmates are not all alike, the department is creating specialized housing for many specific inmate groups," Joe Ponte, Department of Correction Commissioner, said in a statement. "Just as adolescents, young adults, and mentally ill inmates have specialized needs, so do men who identify as women."
Ponte added that the special housing unit will be a "safe and respectful separation from the general population along with access to medical and mental health care."
The transgender unit will have 30 beds, Huffington Post reported. Officials say at any given time Rikers Island hosts up to 35 transgender inmates at a time. The unit is available on a voluntary basis, so if a transgender woman would prefer to live with the general population she still has that option.
Currently transgender women - people who were physically born a man, but now identify as a woman - were housed with men causing them to be subjected to disproportionate rates of violence, rape and harassment, HuffPost reported. The only other option for transgender women was voluntarily going into protective custody, which is basically solitary confinement.
"For too long the Department of Correction has operated under one size fits all practices that neglected to recognize the unique needs of diverse jail populations." Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, who chairs the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice, told HuffPost. "I commend Commissioner Ponte for helping move the Department into the 21st century."
