The Adams Center Presents: Valerie Jenness, Ph.D.

Agnes Goes to Prison: Transgender Prisoners in Prisons for Men and the Olympics of Gender Authenticity Professor Jenness is Dean of the School of Social Ecology and Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. Her research interests are organized around the politics of crime and criminalization; the nexus between law and marginalized communities; and public policy related to social control. Professor Jenness is the author of three books, including Making Hate a Crime: From Social Movement to Law Enforcement Practice (2001), Hate Crimes: New Social Movements and the Politics of Violence (1997), and Making it Work: The Prostitutes\u27 Rights Movement in Perspective (1993), and a vast array of articles published in top-tier academic journals. Over the years, her work has been recognized with awards from the American Sociological Association, the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems, among others. She is frequently invited to speak at universities and governmental bodies both in the United States and internationally. In addition to her extensive record of cutting-edge research, Professor Jenness has recently undertaken work with an array of public officials to develop evidence-based policy related to crime and justice. Most recently, she has worked with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to develop historic policy mandating engagement with transgender people in a respectable and fair way during encounters in public as well as in local jails. This work was informed by her research on transgender prisoners, including the first systematic empirical study of transgender inmates in men’s prisons. To do so, she worked with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to identify all transgender inmates in all California prisons. This was no small task, requiring Professor Jenness to work both collaboratively with, and independently from, the CDCR’s Director of Adult Institutions (to whom all 33 California prison wardens report). To do this, she developed an innovative interview schedule specifically designed to be sensitive to transgender prisoners and to capture a wealth of information on their lives inside and outside of prison. When contacted, 95% of the transgender population in California’s prisons agreed to participate in the study, a stunning participation rate that clearly speaks to Professor Jenness’s unique ability to work with transgender people caught up in the justice system. The Adams Center is proud to present a scholar of this stature to the campus community both as a speaker and as an instructor in the classroom. Indeed, beyond delivering what promises to be an engaging and provocative talk tonight, Professor Jenness has agreed to teach a number of classes at SU, including a senior seminar session in sociology on methods of research involving vulnerable populations and a session on violence against sexual and gender minorities in the Psychology Department. In addition, the Adams Center will offer students and faculty opportunities to meet and interact with Professor Jenness in small groups during her two days on campus

"We're like community": Collective identity and collective efficacy among transgender women in prisons for men

Recognizing that prisons house diverse populations in equally diverse types of environments, we utilize a unique data set and employ two well-known sociological concepts—collective identity and collective efficacy—to examine overlapping communities in which transgender women in prisons for men are situated and experience prison life. Findings from our mixed-methods analysis reveal that despite their considerable diversity, transgender prisoners embrace a collective identity and perceive collective efficacy as transgender prisoners more so than as prisoners per se; their collective identity and perceptions of collective efficacy are predicated on social-interactional factors rather than demographic characteristics and physical features of the carceral environment; and the more time a transgender inmate spends in prison, the more likely she is to identify with a community of transgender prisoners, but the less likely she is to feel an affective commitment to the transgender prisoner community or to expect other transgender prisoners to act on her behalf in prison. This novel application of dynamics generally understood to operate in social movements and residential neighborhoods—collective identity and collective efficacy, respectively—to the transgender community in California’s prisons sheds insight into the ways in which transgender women in prisons for men experience prison life, the loyalties around which prison life is organized, and the complexities around which communities in prison are structured

Challenges and opportunities for gender-affirming healthcare for transgender women in prison.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to briefly address three interrelated areas of concerns - victimization, housing placement and healthcare provision - related to the health and welfare of transgender women in jails, prisons and other types of detention facilities. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a growing body of research on health risks for transgender women who are detained in facilities in California and elsewhere, the authors provide recommendations for policy and practice that constitutes gender-affirming healthcare for transgender women behind bars. Findings Policymakers, correctional leaders, and prison-based clinicians have a number of opportunities to address the welfare of transgender women in jails, prisons and other types of detention facilities. Originality/value This policy brief offers concrete steps government officials can take to better meet their professional and constitutional obligations, provide higher quality care for transgender women involved in the criminal justice system, and effectuate positive changes in transgender women's health and welfare both inside and outside of carceral environments

Challenges and opportunities for gender-affirming healthcare for transgender women in prison.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to briefly address three interrelated areas of concerns - victimization, housing placement and healthcare provision - related to the health and welfare of transgender women in jails, prisons and other types of detention facilities. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a growing body of research on health risks for transgender women who are detained in facilities in California and elsewhere, the authors provide recommendations for policy and practice that constitutes gender-affirming healthcare for transgender women behind bars. Findings Policymakers, correctional leaders, and prison-based clinicians have a number of opportunities to address the welfare of transgender women in jails, prisons and other types of detention facilities. Originality/value This policy brief offers concrete steps government officials can take to better meet their professional and constitutional obligations, provide higher quality care for transgender women involved in the criminal justice system, and effectuate positive changes in transgender women's health and welfare both inside and outside of carceral environments