Trans Women in the Prison Industrial Complex
“Trans women of color are also targeted by the police state, and we have the highest rates of incarceration and violence. Millions of other people also get caught up in this system that evolved from the slave trade and is still maintained through racism, imperialism, patriarchy, and every other form of hierarchy.”
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CeCe McDonald speaks on the Transgender Day of Remembrance at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center. - Pax Ahimsa Gethen
McDonald’s story highlights many instances of discrimination based on many different intersecting aspects of identity. What makes McDonald’s story most unique is the consideration of her gender and sexuality. Already discriminated against because of her race, McDonald faced further retaliation for simply existing in a space because she is transgender. Not only that, but this crucial aspect of her identity that defines a major part of her life and daily experiences was essentially denied by the judge. By denying expert witnesses who could speak to their transgender experiences and the violence that comes with that to testify in McDonald’s defense, the judge put McDonald at a disadvantage in court by overlooking this crucial aspect of her identity. Especially in McDonald’s case, where she was attacked because of her identity in the first place, the American justice system failed CeCe McDonald, allowing her to fall victim to the overcrowded American prison system.
On June 5th, 2011, 23-year-old African American transgender woman Crishaun “CeCe” McDonald spent a night with friends at Schooner Tavern in Minneapolis. Walking past the venue, McDonald and her friends began being harassed by at least 4 white individuals who called them by racial, homophobic, and transphobic slurs. One of the men, Dean Schmitz, was with his ex-girlfriend Molly Flaherty, who eventually went up to McDonald and hit her in the face with a glass of alcohol, slicing McDonald’s cheek open in a wound that would later require stitches. Both groups broke out into fighting. As McDonald attempted to leave the scene, she was followed by Schmitz. Out of self-defense, McDonald took a pair of scissors from her purse and turned around to face Schmitz, which led to him being stabbed in the chest in a wound that would prove to be fatal. Although she only acted out of self-defense, McDonald was eventually arrested and then charged with second-degree intentional murder. ​
“In the beginning, I was scared– I was a trans woman surrounded by so many men, but they were really inviting and sincere. They wanted to know who I was as a person, as a trans woman, and they wanted to know my struggles as a trans woman. This surprised me because the media portrays people in prison as angry, evil, and deceiving. For me it was the opposite– those behaviors came from the staff more than they did from the other inmates”
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At first, McDonald refused to accept a plea deal of first-degree manslaughter. However, prosecutors then charged her with second-degree intentional manslaughter, which could result in up to a 40-year sentence. After that, McDonald accepted a plea deal of second-degree manslaughter, which was only a 4-month prison sentence. However, by accepting the plea deal, McDonald had to give up her claim that she had killed Schmitz by accident or self-defense. During jury selection, Judge Moreno denied several motions from the defense to submit details about Schmitz’s past to use as evidence, including photos from an autopsy report revealing a swastika tattoo and his criminal record. This was because the judge ruled that his criminal history was “sufficiently different” from his actions on June 5th, and thus could not be shown to the jury. The judge also ruled that the defense could not call expert witnesses who could testify to transgender people’s experiences of violence in their everyday lives. Eventually, McDonald’s sentence led her to serve 41 months in Minnesota Correctional Facility-St. Cloud, a men’s prison, because she is transgender.
“... advocates for transwomen's human rights struggle with neoliberal institutions, such as the prison, because they often employ a human rights language but ironically discriminate against the rights of trans people.”
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