CT Department of Children and Families Commissioner Joette Katz feels victimized by the response she's received after sending a 15-year-old trans girl to serve 18 months in solitary in a women's prison.
Jessica, identified as a trans girl of color by the CT ACLU has had a very rough before being placed under the care of the DCF, but it only got worse. After being remanded to an institution in Massachusetts Jesica, allegedly tried to walk off campus. When a male staff member bear hugged her from behind, she did what any 15-year-old would do who had been repeatedly raped, she fought back.
The DFC version of the incident indicates that Jessica broke the jaw of one staff member and blinded the other. The state police report according to her public defender said the staff members suffered minor injuries. One of the staff members was fired for the incident, and all charges were dropped.
However, according to Commissioner Joette Katz, that incident was 'the straw that broke the camels back' which necessitated her transfer to a high-security prison.
Jessica's attorney seeking to free from this wrongful incarceration has filed an affidavit embedded below, in which Jesica describes in detail how she was sexually abused not only by her family, but by staff members of the DCF as well.
Cross posted from planetransgender.blogspot
Jessica gets a chance to tell about her life via this affidavit which her attorneys will present when they petition to have her removed from solitary and placed in CT DCF's new age appropriate locked facility. This facility was built specifically for youth who have endured a horrific childhood, just like Jessica. The only possible difference being that Jessica is transgender.
You can read her heart wrenching affidavit by clicking here.
Commissioner Katz, a former CT. Supreme Court Judge told NPR that she has received hate mail since Jane Doe was imprisoned. She says the criticism she has been forced to endure is "abusive" especially since of her recognition of these issues when she was on the supreme court before it was 'fashionable' to do so. Katz told NPR anyone who says she has targeted Jane Doe because of her being transgender is insulting and wrong and should stop.
You can listen to Commissioner Katz interview on NPR here.
York Correctional seen from above on google maps if you search for it. The location Google maps take you to first be an idyllic store front. As a youth, I used to deliver potatoes and cabbage to CT prisons, and I will tell you this. YORK is no place for a child.
What can we do? You could email Commissioner Katz
commissioner.dcf@ct.gov and call her office at 860-982-9600, but please remember as outragous as this is to keep it civil.
You can also sign a petitioncalling for her release from York.
Across the web:
New Haven Register Editorial: Connecticut wrong to imprison transgender teen
Mew Haven Current Talks Begin Privately To Move Transgender Youth Out Of Prison
Feministing How the Connecticut Department of Children & Families is failing a trans girl of color
CT Mirror Advocates seek investigation into DCF treatment of court-involved youth
CALL TO ACTION: 16-year-old Transgender Teenager Incarcerated Without Criminal Charges
CT News Junkie OP-ED | An Open Letter to ‘Jane Doe,’ The Transgender Girl in an Adult Prison
CT Mirror Op-ed: One girl’s tragedy reveals flaws in state care
New Haven Independent Transgender Teen Decries Solitary Confinement