Improving Transgender Healthcare in the New York City Correctional System

Abstract

Our efforts to assess the quality of care provided to transgender patients revealed significant areas for improvement. Although we have made important gains in providing quality care through the implementation of policies and procedures rooted in community standards and the express wishes of our patients, we continue to engage this patient population to identify other issues that impact their health and well-being in the jail environment.

Exploring Healthcare Experiences for Incarcerated Individuals Who Identify as Transgender in a Southern Jail

“… 28 And last, a study conducted in the New York City Correctional System found that LGBT training was associated with a 50% drop in patient complaints 3 months after implementation, and that a follow-up transgender healthcare policy reduced complaints to none 6 months after implementation. 21 …”

“… 13 Furthermore, little is known about how treatment and healthcare access impact transgender individuals during incarceration. Of the studies that do explore transgender health issues during incarceration, many occur in the North-Eastern region of the United States, such as Pennsylvania 17 and New York, 21 or in California. 22 The political and cultural climate for transgender people—in particular transgender women of color—may be markedly different in the South.…”

Whole-incarceration-setting approaches to supporting and upholding the rights and health of incarcerated transgender people

“…Thinking through a visionary lens of what an inclusive, supportive, humane, and safe incarceration system would look like, we recommend the following suite of "best practice" strategies as a framework for implementing a whole-incarceration-setting approach. These recommendations emerged from the existing literature, including drawing on suggestions from other transgender health and rights scholars (Bartholomaeus & Riggs, 2017;Bouman et al, 2017;Dolovich, 2011;Jaffer et al, 2016;Sevelius & Jenness, 2017), organizations focused on protecting the wellbeing of incarcerated transgender people (American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU], 2014;Grant et al, 2011;International Commission of Jurists, 2007;James et al, 2016;Longo, 2017;Lydon et al, 2015;National Center for Transgender Equality, 2012, 2018a, 2018bNewcomen, 2017; United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime, 2015); dialog with formerly incarcerated transgender people (Br€ omdal et al, 2019a;White Hughto et al, 2018), as well as staff and healthcare providers currently working in incarceration settings (Clark et al, 2017), and reflection upon our work as transgender rights and health scholars.…”

Improving correctional healthcare providers' ability to care for transgender patients: Development and evaluation of a theory-driven cultural and clinical competence intervention

“…To our knowledge, only one other transgender-affirming educational intervention has been evaluated in a correctional setting. The study, which involved the delivery of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health curriculum, found that healthcare-related complaints by transgender inmates dropped by over 50% three months after the training; however, baseline data were not collected from providers, and the training focused on LGBT issues broadly, rather than specifically on the unique healthcare needs of transgender individuals (Jaffer et al, 2016). Transgender cultural and clinical competence interventions that are adapted to the correctional context and assess changes in provider knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors over time are urgently needed.…”