Soros Justice Fellowships
Soros Justice FellowshipsApplication Guidelines | Grantee List
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Dan Hunt and Janet Baus
2005 Hunt and Baus will complete and distribute the documentary film Cruel and Unusual, which tells the stories of transgender women—biological males who have lived as women on the outside—incarcerated in state and federal prisons for men. Although corrections officials are reluctant to place anyone who is biologically male in a women’s facility, placement in a men’s facility puts transgender women at risk for excessive harassment, humiliation, and sexual violence. It is estimated that 500 to 600 transgender women are incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons, where they are forced to live as men, among men, and without the hormone therapy, which those who have begun transitioning physically rely on. Though some advocates have argued successfully that these conditions add up to excessive punishment for the crime committed—a violation of the 8th amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment—the voices of the vast majority of transgender women in prison are not heard. Cruel and Unusual will take us into the lives of this much marginalized and misunderstood population, in order to better understand their experiences and struggles. Monson, MA | |
