something I want to say as a personal statement, speaking for me, Shelby Donahue:
It always troubles me when people talk about trans women (like Meagan and Autumn Hill, my partners who I talk to every day) in men's prisons, describing them as "rape concentration camps" and emphasizing the sexual violence there. Both Meagan and Autumn Hill have told me, explicitly, that the vast majority of their fellow prisoners respect them and respect their gender, and while some prisoners have been threatening (particularly to Meagan), that the violence against them has primarily come from the institutional systems of the guards, wardens, etc. I know this in part because of their actions: Meagan and Autumn Hill have consistently helped their fellow prisoners, with little things like getting artwork to help a prisoner draw a birthday card for his child, or bigger things like helping someone get back in contact with their family. And a lot of prisoners have been supportive to Meagan and Autumn Hill, especially when they know about the Prairieland case. They make snacks to share, trade books, and comfort Meagan when she's feeling particularly sad.
I say all this for two reasons. The first is that prisoners are not all rapists or bigots, and in fact many of them are not even guilty of the crimes they're arrested for. They're an oppressed class of people, even the worst of them, and they deserve to be understood as individuals, not a nameless and faceless mass of violent threats. And, as individuals, a lot of them have been good comrades to Meagan and Autumn Hill. I want people to keep that in mind when thinking about prisoners. There's a lot of racial stereotypes and bigotries in the way people think of prisoners in the USA, and we need to unlearn those things and understand prisoners as people, as our equals.
The second reason is that you, and me, and everyone we know may end up in jail, or prison. I think about that a lot - getting raided by the FBI will have that effect on you. If we end up in prison, we have to understand the risks and dangers realistically, without excessive fear or unrealistic optimism. And I think it's important people know the facts about what prison is like, and what prisoners are like. Not everyone is violent in prison - but everyone there is the victim of a lot of violence. There are potential friends and allies everywhere.
