Minnesota Correctional Facility – Shakopee, Shakopee, Minnesota
June 22, 2019
According to the Industrial Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), 100 of the 130 prisoners in the Anthony Unit of the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee wore blue to protest treatment of LGBTQ prisoners at the facility. The Shakopee prison is a women’s facility.
“When I got up for breakfast, my unit all wore blue. I was very happy, very gay. At lunch people went to work out so not as much of a showing but at dinner they all had their blue shirts again” said Joe Vanderford, a transgender prisoner who is advocating for hormone therapy.
The protest was organized to address the following demands:
“hormones for trans prisoner Joe Vanderford; support groups and an LGBTQ advocate; end to mail censorship and the practice of denying or stopping medical treatment as punishment – including hormones; sensitivity training for prisoners and staff; a trans person on the committee that makes trans-treatment decisions; and an end to the controversial “no-touch policy” which some say is using homophobia to undermine the wellbeing of all prisoners at Shakopee, and for which LGBTQ prisoners feel is a means of harassment”
Citations:
“100 Prisoners In Shakopee Wear Blue to Demand LGBTQ Changes this Pride“, Industrial Workers Organizing Committee, June 24, 2019.
“Trans inmate in Shakopee talks about why he’s pushing state for hormone therapy“, SW News Media, June 14, 2019.
