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Alleged prison assault victim said to be transgender

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Sat, 3 Oct 2015, 5:43PM
Getty Images
Getty Images

Alleged prison assault victim said to be transgender

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Sat, 3 Oct 2015, 5:43PM

An activist group said an inmate who has made a rape complaint is a transgender woman who should never have been in a men's jail.

Police and Corrections are investigating claims a prisoner was sexually assaulted by a cell mate while locked in overnight at the Serco-run Auckland South Corrections Facility.

No Pride in Prisons spokeswoman Emilie Rākete has spoken to loved ones of the inmate who have said she is a transgender woman, and that she was moved out of protective segregation on Wednesday, then physically assaulted by seven men on Thursday.

"Following that there was a risk assessment made by prison management, but after that she was locked down in the cell for the night and her cell mate sexually assaulted her."

Rakete said the victim should never have been locked in a cell with a man overnight after being assaulted.

She claims the department knows she is a trans woman as it is giving her hormone treatment.

Corrections changed its policy last year, so most transgender inmates whose sex on their birth certificate has not been changed can apply to be moved into a prison which matches their gender identity.

No Pride in Prisons said this case shows that doesn't go far enough

"This is the nightmare scenario for us really, this is exactly what we were afraid was going to happen."

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