Gay City News: Corrections Unveils Task Force on Trans Inmates

“Other members are joining the task force armed with legal experience representing trans clients in city jails. Deborah Lolai, a criminal defense attorney and LGBTQ crime specialist with the Bronx Defenders, a public defender nonprofit, will use her role on the task force to advocate for the rights of incarcerated trans folks to be housed in accordance with their gender identity. She tore into the DOC at the May 1 hearing when she testified that the agency had not followed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s executive order stipulating that inmates be housed in a manner consistent with their gender identity.

“The department has come a really long way from the way they used to treat trans people,” Lolai said in an interview with Gay City News on October 2. “But the reality is that better is not good enough. The majority of trans women in DOC custody are still housed with men. Contrary to what the department has said in the past, they are not in men’s jail by choice.”

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