A transgender prisoner is suing the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services for her right to simply be herself while in prison.

Jade September, 36, says that the prison system has singled her out and harassed and unfairly discriminated against her for expressing her gender identity, contrary to the Promotion of Equality and Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000.

September is being represented by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) in the matter, which goes to the Cape High Court, sitting as an Equality Court, on 26 November. September is currently serving a 15 year prison sentence for murder at the Malmesbury Correctional Centre for men.

As is often the case for transgender people in South Africa, she never had an opportunity to change the gender marker in her ID, nor has she ever had access to gender-affirming health care. For these reasons, she is incarcerated as a man.

According to September, prison officials have denied her the right to express her gender through her hairstyle, dress, and use of small amounts of make-up. She has also allegedly been subjected to verbal abuse and harassment from officials, and at one stage was placed in segregated confinement after trying to express her gender.

Officials are further been accused of arbitrarily confiscating her personal items and forcing her to cut off her braided hair, which is a marker of her feminine identity. LHR said that this treatment, in more than one prison facility, has traumatised September, and caused considerable damage to her mental health, resulting in a suicide attempt in December 2017. Read more via Mamba