TRANSgression behind bars: Factors of vulnerability in Barcelona´s prison system

Abstract

The following research analyses the factors of vulnerability which trans women undergo within the men prison system in Catalunya, as well as the different mechanisms and measures exerted by the institution itself. Within this context, social interactions take place which reflect the experience of dissidences in the sex-gender binary system, and the conception of that which is transgender by the prison system. In a disciplinary system such as the prison, in which discipline and punishment constitute themselves as the primary interaction, to do a social intervention results in contradictions and additional difficulties. Therefore, as a final contribution and considering trans women in jail as individuals with a capability for action and social transformation, intervention guidelines which attempt to solve the origin of the problematic detected, the transphobia and sexual harassment; and in long term to modify the penitentiary logics and the sex-gender binary system.