Andy spent nine months in a jail in San Diego awaiting trial for breaking and entering, theft and violating parole. He knows the system well. Or, at least, he knows it well enough to know that the worst part of the waiting isn’t fear of what’s going to happen in court – in fact, he knows that’s the safest he’ll be. It’s what happens in jail that is the real punishment, he says.

“People have no idea what goes on inside jail, man,” Andy said. “The other [inmates] would call me shit that would shock most people on the outside.” Andy says he was called “pussy meat,” “faggot,” and “cockspert boy.”

Andy said he was sexually assaulted his first day in jail. Following his trial and conviction, Andy was transferred to a state prison where the “living hell” continued.

“In prison, man, you’re lucky if it’s only the first jump that gets you,” Andy said, referring to the frequent gang rapes that occur when a new inmate arrives.

“When I was in, it was, like, once a week, maybe, but that was just the rent outs,” he said, referring to inmates who were “owned” by others who guaranteed protection. “I ain’t even counting the times when my man used me.”

Despite the abuse – the sexual, physical and verbal abuse at the hands of other inmates, as well as the verbal and physical abuse by the guards – Andy never approached the authorities. The only time it was mentioned was when he received medical treatment for injuries sustained while being assaulted.

“But you just tell them you slipped or tripped,” Andy said. “They don’t question it, but they know.”

Andy’s case is not unusual. In fact, the Human Rights Watch estimates that 22 percent of all male inmates, or 150,000 men, have been raped during their incarceration. The number is consistent with other studies of inmate-on-inmate sexual assault, such as the Prison Journal’s 2000 findings in Nebraska, which estimated about one in five male inmates was sexually assaulted.

One of the primary reasons for the high numbers of male sexual assault in prisons is the lack of intervention by the prison guards. In fact, Helen Eigenberg’s groundbreaking 1989 study of Texas correction officers’ attitudes toward prison rape indicated that 46 percent of the prison officers believed that some inmates deserve to be raped and 34 percent believed rape victims are weak. A 1996 study of Nebraska corrections officers had similar findings.

Attitudes are no different today. When the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Roderick Keith Johnson against six correctional officers for failing to protect him, the jury voted 10-2 not to hold prison officials accountable. Johnson says he was raped up to 100 times during his 18-month sentence and sold as a sex slave to prison gangs for as little as $3 per service. He said one of the guards told him to “fight or fuck.” Some members of the jury said they didn’t believe the abuse was “as bad as Johnson said it was.”

Charles Carbone is an inmate rights advocate and attorney in northern California. Carbone works with California Prison Focus, a non-profit organization that represents inmates.

“There is a real homophobic mentality in California – or really, in all of our facilities,” Carbone said. “We’re dealing with a population of prison guards who haven’t had a lot of experience with the LGBT community and have little to no sensitivity training. There is a high toleration of ridicule and abuse, of homophobia. And it’s a testosterone-ridden environment, so this just breeds a homophobic environment.”

While prison rape is an issue for all male inmates, it is particularly an issue for gay inmates who are often perceived as willing participants in sexual assaults.

“As soon as word gets around you’re a fag, you’re basically fucked,” said Raul, who served time in several jails and prisons in California. “And word gets around. The prison grapevine is huge, man.”

One solution for San Diego County’s largest sheriff detention center, the George F. Bailey Detention Facility, is segregated housing for gay inmates. At George F. Bailey, as well as three other county detention facilities, inmates can self-select protective custody and be housed away from the general population.

“It’s not mandatory segregation, it’s self-selected,” said Captain John Ingrassia of the Detention Services Bureau. “Gay inmates can self-select to be housed in an administrative segregation environment along with other inmates who may have a high potential for victimization, such as inmates who are testifying against other inmates, inmates who look really young, or the elderly.”

Not all gay inmates choose to be housed in administrative segregation. Some choose to remain in the general population.

Dr. James Adams is a physician at the George F. Bailey Detention Center.

“People who identify as LGBT don’t have to go into separate housing,” Adams explains. “Many gay men who are housed in regular population are happier there, just because the segregated housing can be loaded with drama.”

For those who do decide to enter the general population, they often keep their sexuality a secret.

“We would never disclose someone’s sexuality,” Adams said. “We would never speak about it in front of other inmates or staff. That could be a major safety issue for them.”

The primary reason for a person to choose administrative segregation, Ingrassia says, is “the obvious fear that they would be forced to perform sexual acts, or be victimized sexually by other inmates.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, only 1,533 incidents of inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse were reported to correction officers in 2004. That statistic is nationwide. It was the bureau’s first report since the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 went into effect, the first federal legislation to address prison rape.

According to Ingrassia, the actual reported incidence of sexual assault in San Diego’s facilities is low.

“There are few reported incidents of sexual assault,” Ingrassia said. “I don’t want to speculate on whether that is under-reported or not.”

That being said, Ingrassia did say that the fear of being victimized and assaulted is considered a reasonable reason to request administrative segregation at George F. Bailey.

One of the larger concerns that the GLBT inmates face is HIV, Adams said.

“Inmates with HIV need to be able to continue their medications promptly and must have medical access promptly,” he said. “Inmates are triaged immediately upon their arrival to obtain medical history, etc. Our nurses do a great job of getting those who need medical attention exactly what they need.”

Adams also explains that counselors from the University of California-San Diego’s Owens Clinic are also available for inmates living with HIV at the George F. Bailey Detention Facility.

Inmates with HIV face additional fears beyond just medication when it comes to incarceration. Because there are no condoms distributed in California detention facilities, the rate of HIV infection in jails and prisons is estimated to be four to five times what it is in the general U.S. population.

Raul was HIV negative when he entered prison for the first time. He left prison HIV positive.

“People got to understand that when someone gets jumped inside, it’s just all raw,” Raul said. “There’s no one to preach safe sex and all that because no one is talking out about the sex.”

Only Mississippi and Vermont distribute condoms in prison.

“The Corrections Department tries to desexualize the individual,” Carbone said. “Even masturbating is a serious rule violation. But it is particularly difficult for gay men who are in a prison environment [such as the segregated population] when you’re surrounded in close confines with the same grouping. Even in the general population, there are multiple opportunities for sexual encounters.”

And with no way of engaging in protected sex, the spread of HIV goes virtually unchecked. While some inmates improvise using plastic bags, garbage bags, and latex gloves as surrogate condoms, the overwhelming majority of sexual encounters behind bars occur are unprotected.

In fact, HIV is one of the leading causes of death among inmates in the U.S.

Alexis Giraldo was sent to Folsom State Prison for shoplifting and a parole violation in January 2006. Giraldo, a 30-year-old transgender male-to-female was placed, as are virtually all transgender inmates in California, according to her birth sex. Specifically, Giraldo was placed in a male prison, even though she had been living as a female for a number of years, and was taking hormones accordingly.

While several counties in California, including San Diego County and San Francisco County (where Folsom is located,) offer separate units for transgender prisoners, initial placement is always based on the inmate’s genitalia.

Giraldo is suing the California state prison system and several guards for failing to protect her when her male cellmate repeatedly raped her. Giraldo testified that while she initially had consensual sex with her cellmate, Jorge Villavacencio, it stopped being consensual a few weeks later and instead became violent and possessive, at which point it legally became rape.

Lawyers for Giraldo are arguing that she was caused undue emotional stress and that the California system of placing her in a male prison violated her constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

“On the transgender side, the Department of Corrections has a complete and utter disregard and failure to protect those whom they know will be a target of attacks, both by inmates and guards,” said Carbone, of California Prison Focus. “There is a grotesque insensitivity and disregard for transgender persons in California prisons, as if we were still living in the Stone Age.”

Giraldo’s attorney, Greg Walston, issued a statement that reads, “Prisons are violent places, and male prisons are especially violent places. You take that boiling cauldron and you put one woman in there – which is exactly what happened here – and it’s like throwing a fresh piece of meat into a lion’s cage.”

According to University of California-Irvine criminologist Valerie Jenness, 59 percent of the state’s transgender inmates report sexual assault.

Calls to the governor’s office and the California attorney general’s office were not returned.

Kari Sundstrom, a 41-year old transgender woman in Wisconsin was taken off of female hormone treatments when the Wisconsin Legislature passed a law banning hormone treatments or sexual reassignment surgeries for prison inmates. Sundstrom, who had been on treatments for more than 15 years, suddenly found herself facing a whole host of medical issues associated with ceasing hormone therapy, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, and osteoporosis.

Along with two other women, Sundstrom successfully asked a federal judge to reinstate hormone treatments until the courts determined the constitutionality of legislation.

Transgender inmates, like gay inmates, have the option of being segregated in San Diego County, and a handful of other counties in California. But segregation comes with a price.

Because transgender inmates don’t always affiliate with the gay community, they are subject to their own form of abuse.

“Being housed with gay inmates isn’t a walk in the park, either,” says Andrea, a 36-year-old male-to-female transgender former inmate in a San Diego County jail facility. “The girls weren’t sexually abused, but we aren’t exactly welcomed with open arms.”

In fact, Andrea says, the comments sometimes hurt more because they came from within her community.

“I don’t think the boys even knew that I was there because of a DUI,” Andrea said. “I think they just assumed it was for turning tricks, and you know, that hurts, you know, ’cause, honey, I ain’t a hooker. You got to weigh the good and the bad. You don’t want to end up like Alexis [Giraldo], or, God forbid, Vanessa [Facen].”

Last November, Facen, a 35-year-old pre-operative transgender in San Diego, died while in the custody of the San Diego Sheriff’s department. Facen was arrested for breaking and entering a neighbor’s home. During the arrest, Facen struggled with deputies, who beat her with a number of blunt objects, tazered, pepper sprayed, restrained, and sedated her.

Facen was transported by ambulance from her home in Spring Valley and officers or medical staff failed to use gender references consistent with her identity as a woman. At one point during the transport, Facen became violent and smashed out one of the ambulance windows.

Facen, who was taken to the hospital and released to Sheriff’s deputies to be booked in jail, again became agitated on the way from the hospital to the jail, and broke through a squad car window.

Finally, in the “sally room” of the jail, Facen was forced into the prone position with sheets wrapped around her head. She became unresponsive. After being rushed to the hospital, where she was revived, the damage to her brain was irreparable and she was pronounced dead.

Facen’s family sued and filed wrongful death charges. Facen’s family argued that the rage was brought on by Facen’s fear of being transported to an all-male facility and being treated as a man, and that this fear for her personal safety overwhelmed her. However, the District Attorney’s office concluded the Sheriff’s department acted “reasonably under the circumstances” and “bear no criminal liability for their actions.”

Ultimately, the tragedy speaks to a disturbing truth: often transgender inmates are at the mercy of harmful guards and staff as much as they are vulnerable to other inmates.

California is one of six states that allow overnight family visits for inmates, which often take place in separate housing on prison grounds. But the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s recent decision to comply with the 2005 registered domestic partner law requiring state agencies to give the same rights to domestic partners that heterosexual couples receive makes it the first state to allow overnight visits for gay and lesbian partners of inmates.

The policy shift was prompted by Vernon Foeller in Vacaville when he requested that his same-sex partner be allowed to visit. Foeller and his partner had registered their domestic partnership prior to being incarcerated.

These visits, commonly referred to as “conjugal visits,” are an opportunity for families to stay connected during one partner’s incarceration and prepare inmates for eventual reentry into society. The policy does restrict visits to registered partners who themselves are not incarcerated, and the partners must have been registered prior to one of the partners going to prison.

Mexico City also made headlines recently when the city’s prison system began allowing conjugal visits.

A statement issued by the government-funded National Human Rights Commission reads, “The Mexico City department of prisons and rehabilitation has allowed the first conjugal visit to an inmate with sexual orientation other than heterosexual.”

Same-sex conjugal visitation rights are not the only headlines for gay rights.

On August 1, federal Judge Marvin Katz issued an opinion allowing a long-term gay couple to resume contact with one another during a period of supervision imposed on them as part of a drug sentence. According to the ACLU, while it is customary for the U.S. Probation Office to bar people on supervision from associating with other felons while on supervised release, exceptions are made for close family members. Judge Katz’s ruling is the first to include same-sex relationships as “close family members.”

The possibly broad-reaching decision stems from a case in which partners Daniel Mangini and Steven Roberts were both arrested for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to sell. Each received sentences with supervised release. Upon release, they advised their probation officer that they were in a committed relationship of more than 20 years, having raised Roberts’ niece and built a home together. Mangini and Roberts are both sober and have expressed a strong desire to return to their lives together.

The couple was prohibited from coming into contact with one another and turned to the ACLU for help.

Citing the Supreme Court’s 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision, Judge Katz not only granted their request, but further issued language that it is unconstitutional to treat same-sex couples differently than heterosexual couples.

The implications, says Paul Cates of the ACLU, may extend well beyond the correctional system.

“I think the interesting thing is, and why it is so significant, is because it goes beyond just incarceration, or supervised release,” Cates argues. “It’s one of the first times, if not the first time, that a court says, ‘Gay relationships must be respected.’ It’s using the language of Lawrence v. Texas, and saying more than just gay people have the right to privacy, but also saying gay people have the right to form intimate relationships, and that those are to be treated the same as heterosexual couples. It’s not answering the question of gay marriage, but the court went a long way beyond just the sodomy law issue and applied that decision to show respect for all relationships. Essentially, the court said, ‘Look at this 20-year relationship. It has to be treated with the same respect as any other couple.’”

As for Mangini and Roberts, their response was slightly more specific. In a statement issued by the ACLU, Mangini said, “This opens possibilities. Finally, we get to resume our lives together and dream for the future.”

“The thing is, you see, we don’t really get taken seriously when we speak up,” Raul said. “I mean, it’s like, who are we, anyway? It ain’t like we have a lot of say in things. We don’t even get to vote, so who’s gonna listen to us?”

It is clear that few inmates are speaking up, either because they believe others will not listen or they believe that the wrong people might be listening. Instead, the responsibility may fall on community members today more than ever to be the ones to speak up for those who are afraid or resigned to accept current conditions.

So, if no one is listening to the inmates, then perhaps people like Carbone at California Prison Focus and Cates at the ACLU can help give a voice to stop what is happening behind bars.

Captain Ingrassia does offer this analysis for the future in San Diego facilities, however, one that appears to have an element of hope.

“Over the last several years, we have worked with members of the community regarding the treatment received and programs offered,” Ingrassia said. “We are engaged in listening to the concerns of the community, being cooperative, and providing successful reentry into society for all of our inmates.”

And in the process of seeking justice for a small group of incarcerated brothers and sisters – as we have seen with Judge Katz – we may just find justice for the community at large, as well.