Transgender inmates policy in Canada falls far short of San Francisco sheriff’s new policy

Many transgender Canadians are pleased with an announcement from the San Francisco sheriff’s department that transgender inmates will be housed according to their gender preference, whether or not they have had surgery to physically transition.

But while Ontario announced a similar policy change earlier this year, Canada remains a patchwork of approaches — most of them less accommodating.

“The policy is placement by genitals, which is really outdated,” says Jennifer Metcalfe, executive director of B.C.-based Prisoners’ Legal Services.

Last January, Ontario became the first jurisdiction in Canada to put in a place a policy allowing inmates to be placed in facilities based on their gender identity, rather than just their genitalia.

At the time, the ministry said there were 25 inmates in the Ontario provincial prison system that identified as transgender in 2014.

Neither the federal government nor any other provinces have yet followed Ontario’s lead, though British Columbia is “in the process of reviewing that policy,” Metcalfe tells Yahoo Canada News.

She conducted a review of the federal policy on transgender inmates several years ago and made a long list of recommendations for change. None have been put in place.

“We are very disappointed in their lack of movement on this issue,” Metcalfe says.

One woman’s impact

The change in Ontario followed a human rights complaint filed by British comedian Avery Edison, a transgender woman who was detained on a visa violation last year.

Though Edison has a United Kingdom passport identifying her as a female, she was placed in a men’s facility because she had not undergone sex reassignment surgery.

Edison was eventually transferred to a women’s facility but she filed the human rights complaint, whose settlement prompted the policy change in Ontario.

Now back in the U.K., Edison welcomes the San Francisco sheriff’s announcement and says Ontarians should take it as a point of pride that their province led the way in North America “even if it did take unfortunate cases like mine to get things rolling.”

She says she believes the Ontario and San Francisco decisions will have a cascade effect.

“I believe it will take just a few provinces changing their procedures before we reach a tipping point and everyone else follows in one fell swoop as they see that housing inmates according to their gender preference is the most humane and effective way to go,” she says.

Federally, the policy of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) says inmates with “gender dysphoria” will be housed in facilities based on their physical gender.

Sex reassignment surgery will be considered for inmates who have a recommendation for such from a qualified health professional and who have lived 12 continuous months in their preferred gender.

“Given the unique nature of a prison environment, CSC further requires that this 12 month experience occur prior to incarceration,” the policy states.

Many federal prisoners could never meet those qualifications, Metcalfe says.

“I’ve had a few clients who have been badly sexually assaulted and faced a lot of sexual harassment by prisoners and guards,” she says.

There is less double-bunking of transgender inmates than there used to be but there is no policy barring the practice, she says.

“In the past I’ve had clients who were forced to live with male prisoners in their cell and, obviously, that’s not safe,” she says.

She’s also had transgender clients who ended up in solitary confinement because of the risk to their safety.

That still happens, though the United Nations has declared solitary confinement beyond 15 days a cruel and unusual punishment and the practice has fallen out of favour.

“It’s certainly not the solution to this issue,” Metcalfe says.