‘I just wanted them to see me’: Intersectional stigma and the health consequences of segregating Black, HIV+ transwomen in prison in the US state of Georgia

Abstract

This paper mobilizes the findings generated from in depth, in person interviews conducted with ten Black, HIV+ transgender women who had previously served time in local jails and prisons in the Atlanta region of the state of Georgia, USA. The paper explores how intersectional stigma emerges in the carceral environment in relation to the women’s multiple identity locations and the ways that HIV and transgender stigma in particular are linked to two harmful correctional practices. First, participants revealed that the ‘layering’ of these different forms of stigma resulted in institutional coercion to suppress their gender identity and to the inappropriate use of solitary confinement, both of which led to increased mental and emotional distress during their period of incarceration as well as after they were released from jail or prison. Second, participants were also frequently denied access to or had irregular access to their HIV medication and hormone replacement therapies (HRT), which can have significant mental and physical side effects. In carceral environments, the manifestation of intersectional stigma influences how individuals are treated by staff, where they were housed and how their institutional time is managed; in other words, it contributes to mapping their carceral experience.

Keywords:

• Medication disruption
• HIV
• prison
• segregation
• stigma
• transgender

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a 2016-2017 Fulbright Research Chair at Kennesaw State University, Georgia USA.

Notes on contributors

Jennifer M. Kilty

Jennifer M. Kilty is Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa. Author of numerous articles and book chapters, her edited and authored books include: Demarginalizing Voices: Commitment, Emotion and Action in Qualitative Research (2014, UBC Press), Within the Confines: Women and the Law in Canada (2014, Women’s Press), Containing Madness: Gender and ‘Psy’ in Institutional Contexts (2018, Palgrave), and the Enigma of a Violent Woman: A Critical Examination of the Case of Karla Homolka (2016, Routledge).