THRISSUR: The arrest of 11 transgenders on Friday midnight in Kochi gave rise to a perplexing question: Do we need special blocks in Kerala jails for transgender prisoners?
Under the rules, the police cannot put transgenders in any of the jails which at present have only two separate blocks - for males and females.
Finding no vacant blocks at Kakkanad sub-jail, police were forced to lodge the transgender prisoners in Viyyur Central Jail - in one block without considering their gender divide. Experts said it was better to keep transgender women and transgender men separately for the sake of their privacy and security.
In the current scenario, Kerala is ill-equipped to deal with the situation even though it is the first state which implemented a transgender policy for the welfare of sexual minorities, they said.
The jail authorities have decided to keep them in a segregation block so as to “respect the privacy of transgenders.”
“Anil Kanth, Director General of Prisons and Correctional Service, instructed us that the transgender prisoners should not be in touch with male inmates,” said Santhosh, jail superintendent, Viyyur Central Jail.
Never had the Kerala jails come across a large group of trangenders. “This is the first time the authorities are handling too many transgender persons at a time. Now the sexual minorities are ready to express their identity. So, in future police and jail authorities will have to deal with similar situation,” Santhosh said. Since transgenders are the most vulnerable section, they face huge threat from inmates and prison officials. Amnesty International reports incidents of transgender women being abused in male prisons and transgender men in female jails.
The Prisons Department is constructing a high security prison in Viyyur for the imprisonment of UPA, CAPA and prisoners from other sensitive groups. “The new prison, which can house 250 inmates, will have a facility for transgender prisoners too,” said DIG of Prisons (Central Zone) K Radhakrishnan.
“Implementation of electronic security system is going on there. The rest of the works are almost done,” Radhakrishnan explained.