Hennepin County holding accused transgender murderer in solitary confinement
Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 12:17 pm
- 6 Comments
A transgender woman charged with murder in Hennepin County is currently being held in solitary confinement in the county jail, local LGBT rights activists say. The activists are attacking the county for using a measure criticized by many national transgender rights organizations as a flawed attempt to keep the accused safe while she awaits trial.
The prisoner, 23-year old Chrishaun McDonald, has been charged in the murder of 47-year old Dean Schmitz, of Richfield, outside the Schooner Tavern on the night of June 5. Despite identifying as a woman, McDonald is currently being held on $150,000 bail in the men’s section of the county jail in downtown Minneapolis.
Solitary confinement is an imperfect solution to a terrible problem, said Michael Silverman, Executive Director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.
“In jail, as in post-sentencing prison, transgender people are at great risk of harm from other prisoners,” Silverman told the Minnesota Independent. “We see high incidences of violence and sexual violence committed against them because they’re transgender.”
In a high-profile February report from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), researchers found that 37 percent of transgender inmates surveyed reported harassment by correctional officers, while only 35% reported harassment by fellow inmates. Sixteen percent reported physical assaults, and 15 percent reported sexual assaults while in a prison or a jail. Furthermore, black transgender inmates reported harassment rates 20–25 percent higher than their white peers.
“As a guiding principal, the safety and security of all inmates is paramount,” said Lisa Kiava, spokseperson for the Hennepin County Sherif’s Office.
Officials with the Sheriff’s Department could not be reached for comment on the county’s policies for holding transgender detainees, or why McDonald was being housed in the men’s section of the jail. However, several transgender rights organizations say solitary confinement is one way jails and prisons try to protect transgender prisoners from other inmates.
“It’s a terrible proposed solution that’s implemented too widely,” said Lisa Motett, an attorney with the NGLTF and an author of the Task Force’s recent report on anti-transgender discrimination.
While solitary confinement keeps a transgender prisoner and their assailant separated, Motett said, being kept in solitary confinement typically limits or eliminates a prisoner’s ability to use exercise yards, libraries and other prison facilities.
“Solitary confinement is incredibly punitive,” Motett told the Minnesota Independent. “It punishes the victim instead of the perpetrator.”
“Chrishaun McDonald’s case is a tragedy, but unfortunately it’s not a rarity,” said Katie Burgess, Executive Director of the Trans Youth Support Network. “Although none of us knows all the details about what happened on June 5, we do know that the deck is stacked against Ms. McDonald, and we ask concerned community members to support her in her trial.”
Burgess said at a press conference on Tuesday that she and other community members worried McDonald would not receive a fair trial because she is transgender.
McDonald reportedly confessed to stabbing Schmitz in a fight after Schmitz and others at the Schooner Tavern asked her, “Did you think you were going to rape somebody in those girl clothes?” The remark started a brawl, during which Schmitz was stabbed. He later died from his wounds.
Hennepin County attorneys say Schmitz was trying to break up the brawl when McDonald stabbed him, but McDonald’s friends maintain the attack was in self-defense. In a letter sent from jail, McDonald recanted her earlier confession, saying she was covering for unknown members of the group she was with at the Schooner Tavern.
Burgess suggested that transphobia could make a jury discount these and other pieces of McDonald’s story.
Meanwhile, friends of McDonald present at Tuesday’s press conference were adamant that she was not a murderer.
“That’s not CC,” said McDonald’s friend David Tomlinson. “That’s not who she was.”
6 Comments
Comment posted June 30, 2011 @ 8:22 pm
While she may have stabbed Mr. Schmitz outside the Schooner Tavern, I’m sure he was deserving of what he got.
All to often police blame the trans-person at the scene of any crime because the police associate trans-people with trouble. But this association is wrong. It rarely if ever is the transgender person that instigates the confrontation. When these perpetrators are taken down the police look at the trans woman because we readily admit that we were involved. We do so because we’re being honest.
So this guy Schmitz was involved in an altercation with Ms. McDonald and wound up being stabbed. If it were two straight appearing men this might well be a different story. All cops hold deep seated prejudice against transgender people. Cops are the ultra macho types that carry guns to prove their manhood so you know they look down on the trans-population.
The jail locks her in solitary confinement (admin-seg) for her safety? Bull crap! If they could run a safe jail she would be able to stay in the general population. But the corrections officers want to keep her out of sight AND they know they can mess with her at the same time.
Transgender people must demand equal treatment in jails, schools and other segments of society where we are regularly discriminated against in an institutionalized fashion. No more blatant discrimination against Transgender people!
Comment posted July 1, 2011 @ 10:17 am
@Lauravan,
I agree with your post but fear you may have buried the proverbial lead. So please let me repeat two of your sentences,
“If (Hennepin County) could run a safe jail she would be able to stay in the general population. But the corrections officers want to keep her out of sight AND they know they can mess with her at the same time.”
Our “correctional” facilities either fail to or choose not to prevent sexual violence in their system. As long as they condone rape as a legitimate form of crowd self-control LGBTs in general will be targeted and abused even more so than usual.
Praise Jebus, God hates the sinner, Amen
Comment posted July 4, 2011 @ 12:48 pm
Have you people been to jail? Ever? Because if you had, you’d realize that Ms. McDonald is a whole crap-load safer where they have her now than she would be in general population. As far as violence and rape happening in a jail? It wouldn’t happen if it was a safer jail? Yeah. Right. The ONLY way that stuff isn’t going down is if everyone were locked up in their cells for 23 hours a day, and only let out for air individually for an hour a day? Would THAT be more humane for everybody? The flap over this is fed by the hyperbole of the LGBT activists who consider EVERYTHING they don’t agree with as a slight to the LGBT community. Never mind that the staff at the jail is doing the safest thing for Ms. McDonald. Are they pricks about it? More than likely. They usually are….but that’s for everybody. Believe me. Guards are pricks. But then, I would be too if I was dealing with the crap coming through there every day for the pittance that I got paid. But! They are doing the safest thing for her whether you want to believe it or not.
Comment posted July 17, 2011 @ 8:16 am
Not true longstrangetisper, solitary confinement is punishment reserved for inmates, since confinement is punishment folks don’t have rec time or privileges so they choose not to go that route, imagine a conviction for a low-level crime and being there for a year.
It’s true that correctional facilities don’t get a rat’s ass to put it bluntly about issues.
Comment posted September 22, 2011 @ 2:58 pm
I have read what had been said here because i met Cece in jail… i believe as the rest of the world progresses the judicial system should also progress and make a safer place for gbltq people… Cece came into jail with a giant wound on her face from the fight and didnt get proper medical treatment right away as should happen when being contained. she was also being harassed by the deputies as are many people, more often than not the person is glbtq and the deputies feel they have the right to make inappropriate comments that wouldnt be aloud in any other workplace and what about innocent untill proven quilty… would an innocent straight man be held in solitary= i think not. which shows that she is being considered guilty untill proven innocent not visa versa.. and as far as being placed in the hole 23 out of 24 hrs a day =it is a punishment and just because others may feel its the best thing for the individual doesnt mean it is and doesnt mean they should be segregated based on their body parts! sorry such a run on sentence but Cece is a great person and i have no doubt of her innocents!!!
J
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
