Thai transsexual prisoners being denied hormones, says activist

By The Nation

 

Photo credit: Northern Illinois University

 

A transgender advocacy group has lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) on Monday, demanding that transsexual prisoners be allowed access to hormonal therapy behind bars.

 

Sirisak Chaithes asked the Commission to convince the Corrections Department to immediately resolve the issue, either through rewriting the rules or granting immediate access, so that transsexual inmates can continue to take hormones while in detention.

 

People undergoing sexual transition before or during their imprisonment need hormones regularly to ensure they can continue to function well physically and emotionally, he said.

 

Sirisak explained further that male inmates who had undergone surgical gender reassignment by having their testes removed also needed to undergo hormonal therapy. If not, they would endure emotional and physical impairment, just as women do when going through their menopause, he said.

 

He told the HRC that prisons still bar inmates from accessing or taking their hormones because they labour under an outdated view that they only want them for cosmetic purposes.

 

There are now 4,362 transgender inmates out of the 364,000 transsexuals across the country. Many of them are forced to bribe wardens to buy birth control pills for them, used as ad-hoc hormones, at the rate of Bt500 per tablet.

 

Sirisak's group also told the HRC that one university’s faculty is barring transgender students from wearing the outfits that match their adopted sexual orientation.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30373019

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand  2019-07-15

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And I thought if a man thinks he is a woman he does not need drugs for that.

In jail nobody needs breasts and who cares if they grow a beard or whatever.

I think sometimes these minorities are a little too demanding.

12 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

And I thought if a man thinks he is a woman he does not need drugs for that.

In jail nobody needs breasts and who cares if they grow a beard or whatever.

I think sometimes these minorities are a little too demanding.

Everybody knows that if someone commits a crime serious enough to land them in prison, that person loses almost all his or her (or somewhere in the middle) freedom and privileges. It doesn't sound like not having access to their estrogen is life-threatening, so taking it is a privilege they've lost. If taking estrogen is so important to someone for their comfort and appearance, behaving properly and not committing crimes should be a big priority so they can be free to do what they legally wish to do.     

WhooHooo!Out of the sin bin!How do you make a hormone?

2 minutes ago, Inn Between said:

Everybody knows that if someone commits a crime serious enough to land them in prison, that person loses almost all his or her (or somewhere in the middle) freedom and privileges. It doesn't sound like not having access to their estrogen is life-threatening, so taking it is a privilege they've lost. If taking estrogen is so important to someone for their comfort and appearance, behaving properly and not committing crimes should be a big priority so they can be free to do what they legally wish to do.     

Not all who go to prison commit crimes.

10 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Not all who go to prison commit crimes.

True enough. And for those incredibly unfortunate people who have been wrongfully convicted, I have a great deal of sympathy, but my comment is obviously intended for the vast majority of inmates who deserve to be there. 

 

The wrongfully convicted obviously shouldn't lose any freedom, but I'm pretty sure there isn't a system of identifying those who shouldn't be there, so I don't really see your point. Are you saying that because it's very likely innocent people are in prisons that we should give all inmates more freedom because perhaps they're actually innocent? 

38 minutes ago, Inn Between said:

Everybody knows that if someone commits a crime serious enough to land them in prison, that person loses almost all his or her (or somewhere in the middle) freedom and privileges. It doesn't sound like not having access to their estrogen is life-threatening, so taking it is a privilege they've lost. If taking estrogen is so important to someone for their comfort and appearance, behaving properly and not committing crimes should be a big priority so they can be free to do what they legally wish to do.     

You are advocating denying medication.

Bravo!

What a fantastic human being you must be.

2 minutes ago, Inn Between said:

Are you saying that because it's very likely innocent people are in prisons that we should give all inmates more freedom because perhaps they're actually innocent?

That's a bit hard to answer as although I have taken people to visit those in gaol I haven't actually been inside and am definitely not aware of the freedoms they currently have none the less I'm sure standards could probably be improved considerably in Thai gaols.I say this with notions of rehabilitation rather than punishment alone in mind.

Don't know why this report is so important apart from for the PC leftie brigade. Well, guess what snowflakes, perps should be sanctioned on many fronts for their misdeeds regardless, even if they are confused about their gender and think they are special for some reason.  

23 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

That's a bit hard to answer as although I have taken people to visit those in gaol I haven't actually been inside and am definitely not aware of the freedoms they currently have none the less I'm sure standards could probably be improved considerably in Thai gaols. I say this with notions of rehabilitation rather than punishment alone in mind.

The debate of whether prisons actually rehabilitate people has been going on for ages. We've heard the paroled convicts telling us that they went into jail with a HS certificate in petty crime and came out with a master's degree in felonious activity, along with the contacts to get into some very serious trouble. 

 

Unfortunately for US citizens, prison has become a private-enterprise with local governments actually guaranteeing the prison-building businesses a high fill quota with it being 100% capacity in some cases. In other words, the legal system has to be sure to incarcerate enough people or they will face financial penalties. I believe that in such a terrible system, there are a lot of people who shouldn't be there due to the severity of their crime or shouldn't be doing as much time as they were given, which is typically about 3 times longer than other developed nations.

 

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Sirisak explained further that male inmates who had undergone surgical gender reassignment by having their testes removed also needed to undergo hormonal therapy. If not, they would endure emotional and physical impairment, just as women do when going through their menopause, he said.

I guess they wanted to be women, right? My wife have her period every month and can live with it. Guess some should not ask to be something they can´t handle.

Another thing is also, that they do not need to land themselfs in jail. Then they would have no problem. Just like we should demand to get Bangkok Post if we happens to land ourselfs in IDC. 

13 minutes ago, Brigand said:

Don't know why this report is so important apart from for the PC leftie brigade. Well, guess what snowflakes, perps should be sanctioned on many fronts for their misdeeds regardless, even if they are confused about their gender and think they are special for some reason.  

Why don't you know why this report is so important?Don't you have a brain that works properly?Did you get short changed in that regard?

3 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Why don't you know why this report is so important?Don't you have a brain that works properly?Did you get short changed in that regard?

Anymore BS you want to contribute to this silly thread?

 

3 minutes ago, Brigand said:

Anymore BS you want to contribute to this silly thread?

 

Not really.How about you?

34 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

I guess they wanted to be women, right? My wife have her period every month and can live with it. Guess some should not ask to be something they can´t handle.

Another thing is also, that they do not need to land themselfs in jail. Then they would have no problem. Just like we should demand to get Bangkok Post if we happens to land ourselfs in IDC. 

So by your reckoning someone with diabetes who finds themselves on the wrong side of the law should be denied insulin. 

I'd like to hear some doctors opinions on the physical and psychological impact of denying these hormones to transgender women that have been on them regularly. Then we could understand better how serious this is for the people being denied. I presume it's a different situation if a person that is not on them already but wants to start in jail.

 

I'm on another kind of non sex related hormone therapy which I definitely need for medical reasons for the rest of my life.

 

So perhaps because of that I can appreciate the seriousness of going cold turkey on a hormone that you regularly take.

 

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2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

by having their testes removed also needed to undergo hormonal therapy. If not, they would endure emotional and physical impairment

sounds like a few expats i know. one is buying his Thai girlfriend a house right now.

Interesting topic. Would they go to a male or female prison? 

And yes, I think they should provide the necessary medication.

3 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

sounds like a few expats i know. one is buying his Thai girlfriend a house right now.

Geez, he’s got some balls doing that ????

Well, that's too bad.  

Whatever next? Drug addicts will feel emotionally unstable if they don't get some opiods?

Alkies need a daily beer?

 

 

 

4 hours ago, pornprong said:

You are advocating denying medication.

Rubbish! theyre  not going to die without it

1 hour ago, Chazar said:

Rubbish! theyre  not going to die without it

Are you a doctor?

They have access to an abundance of protien...????

9 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

WhooHooo!Out of the sin bin!How do you make a hormone?

 

Too old now. Its usually just roll over and except that its finished.

10 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thai transsexual prisoners being denied hormones, says activist

My guess is that Thai prisoners in general are being denied a whole lot more than hormones.  Should perhaps start with basic human rights then worry about hormones.

41 minutes ago, connda said:

My guess is that Thai prisoners in general are being denied a whole lot more than hormones.  Should perhaps start with basic human rights then worry about hormones.

 

Do they get any nutritious food or any real medical care?  Or dental care? Or even beds? Those might be a good places to start.

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, pornprong said:

Thanks for your post. Obviously, not much empathy here. 

Definitely hard time in a Thai jail