By: Latonia Bellamy

How can one be judged by the human nature we all innately have? How can we separate being a human being and an incarcerated inmate? To assert that Minor is a security threat to the cisgender population is to essentially state that all women who are trans are a security threat to the cisgender population. To exhort that one is a threat is stating that there is an intent to harm. No one was HARMED in this situation. While this is a peculiar situation to blatantly ship Minor out of state and/or to another prison is to make an example out of her and every other woman who is trans. Despite consensual sex being prohibited it should be dutifully noted that no one was ever RAPED! By displaying such consequences to her actions is utterly stating that no woman who are trans should have cisgender females as a friend. We can not fault ourselves as mere human beings for craving social interactions with one another because it is our human nature alone. What is being implied is that no woman who have male genitalia should have or be friends with women who have a vagina. Now fear is being instilled in every other woman who is trans with male genitalia, while this is unfair and not even practical, you cannot discourage the connections between human being because they naturally happen. What is being scrutinized is not Minor the trans woman, an advocate, an individual this institution has continuously denied substance abuse treatment and housing to, the inmate who begged for help relentlessly because of her drug addiction and was unable to receive the proper help, the individual who was treated indifferently because of her transgender status alone, a friend to many, but an inmate with male genitalia to this institution. Being a woman is not solely defined by ones biological, however it is ones psychology that assert they are transgender. Although biology and psychology are a combination they do not always align to what society deem as the natal man or woman.

To ship Minor out of state/prison will not solve any problem that higher authorities believe lies here at Edna Mahan. Please note that such conditions have existed before the entrance of any trans woman. Now they are being publicized and treated with indifference because it is no longer two cisgender women having sexual relations but rather a woman who is trans and a perceived cisgender woman. While I am not asking to congratulate the actions that were done here but to somehow find an inkling of compassion for our innate human nature. What is prohibited in prison, yet it is natural to human beings. We cannot simply separate being a human being and inmate. To blatantly ship minor out of state will not fix any sexual threat that this institution believe she imposes here because we as human beings will never be stripped of our human nature.

While there are so many people getting backlash from this situation it is surely inevitable that all women, as well as trans men residing in Edna Mahan will some day if have not already have social interactions with another individual because it is our human nature to do so. Yes what has happened here has set precedence and should not be promoted, encouraged, or condoned what need to be noted is that several pleas and cries for help were ignored. Treatment and housing proposals were denied several times. The environment at Edna is a revolving door of toxicity. If this institution fail to address internal issues then how can we simply hold one individual accountable for the embedded toxic environment that lye dormant here at Edna. How can we hold one individual accountable for simply coping the best way we know how to as human beings. How can we question our human nature? Love will always find a way and thus we are truly incapable of separating being a human and an inmate.