Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1999)
may 7. 1999' J u s t <Mrt i g always room for improvement in the treatment of their brothers with HIV and AIDS. HIV-positive inmates who spoke to Just Out said they receive all FDA-approved drugs consis tent with community-hased treatment protocols. But still they fear the ignorance of other inmates. Andrew Boyer shudders as he recounts a recent experience in the O SP infirmary where he says inmate orderlies wouldn’t touch his sheets and sprayed surfaces he touched with disinfec tant. Knox says Boyers fears are “legitimate,” but adds “those attitudes are unacceptable and con stitute grounds for firing." Increased funding for inmate job training and supervision, along with the creation of an O SP hospice, provide some hope of improved condi tions for ailing inmates. “Systemic changes have happened because of these guys,” says Jack Cox with the HIV Advo cacy Council of Oregon. “They’ve brought awareness of the stuff happening in prisons to the larger AIDS community. Before they began orga nizing, there was no interface between these par allel systems, no voice for inmates.” Cox first visited H AAP on World A ID S Day in 1997 as a guest speaker. Since then, his orga nization has provided fiscal sponsorship for dona tions to H AAP and is now representing the pro gram at policy and planning forums. White welcomes the involvement of commu nity volunteers and supporters. A base of support “ It was always all about me before . I had lost many friends and loved ones to A ID S, but it w asn ft until prison that I became personally involved . Now I see myself as an organizer and an activist — Charles White PHO TO BY HOLLY PRUETT independent of DO C is crucial to a program that, as White says, “walks a fine line between the con fines of what staff permits, and building trust and credibility with a recalcitrant prison population.” Queens behind bans by A H olly P ruett hite and other H AAP leaders are known for getting things done. “These guys are great,” says one peer educator. “They don’t recog nize barriers.” W When your every move is monitored and much of your time is spent locked down, when you’re preaching behavior modification to a population used to breaking the rules, you might be forgiv en if the barriers become overwhelming. Says White: “ It takes devoted individuals with a lot of strength.” At the same time, HAAP gives hope to participants by creating a sense of communi ty among those who might otherwise be isolated. And it stirs a spirit of self-worth that in many cases has been dor mant for a very long time. Just look at White. He has already lined up a post-release job as a case manager for HIV positive prisoners transition ing back into the community. “It was always all about me before. I had lost many friends and loved ones to AIDS, but it wasn’t until prison that I became personally involved,” he says. “Now 1 see myself as an orga nizer and an activist.” If inmates fear for their own safety, they can request housing in Administrative Segregation. Johnson knows of one transsex ual woman who did so because “she thought everyone would rape her up here.” Johnson also recalls Linda, a preoperative transsexual woman with large breast implants who was first assigned to the Oregon Women’s Correctional Center but then transferred to OSP. Johnson says despite discriminatory treatment by prison staff, Linda, like Jeri, was “well accepted” by the general inmate population. Catherine Knox, an administrator with the Oregon Depart ment of Corrections, regrets that there weren’t “more enlight ened options” for housing Linda. Knox maintains that each transsexual prisoner is approached individually. Surgical status is not the sole criteria for assign ment in the men’s or women’s prison, she says. “We look at their psychological condition, how they’ve been treated by other institutions," she says. At one peer education Once housing is settled, sex-reassignment therapy is session attended considered elective. Hormones are made available if the inmate can pay for them. Like the Oregon Health Plan, during research for D O C classifies sex-reassignment therapies as “preferable this article , Just Out’s and beneficial to some but not medically necessary.” He attributes the change, in part, to a protest by gay inmates at another correctional facility in the late 1980s. (State officials in the departments of Corrections and Jus tice could not confirm this report.) But tolerance still seems scarce at other facilities. Jo h n son, who had never been east of Mount Hood, was trans ferred briefly to the Snake River prison. “My hair was all whipped up”— he uses toilet paper rolls to set it— “and girl, they sent me back! There are queens who were in drag on the street that wear big old butch mus taches out there.” Even at OSP, a gay inmate who stood up for the rights of the gay community several years ago says he “got set up." Billy Kennedy, H A A P coordinator at the time, used outside contacts to call attention to discriminatory practices. s a boy growing up in a nice middle-class family in Salem, Charles White drove by the manicured lawns and picturesque duck pond of the Oregon State Peni tentiary every day. “Never in a million years did I think I would end up on this side of the wall!” says White, 39, with a flick of the wrist and arch of a well-plucked eyebrow that shows he’s not afraid to be gay in prison. “We’re taken care o f in here. We’re the closest thing they’ve got to having a girl around.” White is joined by his “sister” Charles Johnson. They are friends from the streets, co-workers at the HIV/AIDS Awareness Program, and live in adjacent cells. They estimate there are about 20 out gay men at O SP— just enough for their own softball team, the Stray Cats. “When we’re playing, honey, the bleachers are packed. Everyone wants to see a bunch of queens play ing ball,” White says. What about the stereotype of prison as the worst reporter encountered ccording to O SP ’s Rita Chase, discrimination on possible place for a gay man? an inmate with longt styled hair and feminine the basis of sexual orientation is illegal; still, it Sure, there’s homophobia inside, just as there is on *1 happens. the streets. But at OSP, with its high population of lif features . Although she was unavailable to “If you’re gay and weak, people will prey on you," says ers and “old-style convicts,” there’s a prevailing code comment personally , others say Jeri lived as a Kennedy. “But if you stand up for yourself, they won’t." of honor, explains White. Even greater power comes from inmates standing up Gary Haugen, a heterosexual lifer, stops by the woman on the streets . A prison hairdresser , for each other. H AAP office. He has spent half of his 36 years behind she was the subject of a Statesman Journal article White introduces Andrew Boyer, a gay man with bars, and recently tried to donate part of his liver to his AIDS who is incarcerated for exposing two minors to ailing sister. The H AAP staff organized a letter- several years ago that dubbed her the disease. When Boyer first arrived, his photo was writing campaign and used the opportunity to educate uthe only woman in O SP .” posted in the chow line and he took heat from both staff inmates about hepatitis C. and inmates. “These guys helped enormously,” Haugen says, Stxin others— who abhorred the crime but had compassion Immediately afterwards, he says, contraband was found in though his quest ended when his blood type failed to match. his cell. He lost his job and was placed in solitary confine for the man— began to come to his defense. “They get respect because they give it," he says, adding “It makes us kx)k bad to defend him but we can’t see him ment. that, while White and Johnson are “out and loud about it,” harmed," White says. “We told people on the yard to back off. What about transsexual inmates? they are “able to communicate with all facets” of the prison’s He’s already got a death sentence.” A t one peer education session attended during research population. (Just Out also attempted to interview members of LcsBi- for this article, Just O ut’s reporter encountered an inmate Even a guard confirms that the duo are highly respected. Honest, an inmate-initiated group at the Columbia River C or with long, styled hair and feminine features. Although she It wasn’t always this way. rectional Institution. C R C I counselor Lee Shaw describes the was unavailable to comment personally, others say Jeri lived Johnson recalls the standard practice in earlier years of sin group as “very active in the community” and “successful in as a woman on the streets. A prison hairdresser, she was the gle-celling prisoners thought to be gay. If you were “red meeting homophobia head on, both inside and outside the facil subject of a Statesman Journal article several years ago that tagged," you would have to use separate shower and bathroom ity.” Access was not granted prior to this issues deadline.) dubbed her “the only woman in OSP.” facilities and would have a tough time getting a decent job. A