Update from CeCe in St. Cloud: July, 2012

The call-in campaign for CeCe to get her correct dosage of hormones was an incredible success!  The prison’s health administration were so “inconvenienced”, they were compelled to clear the issue immediately.CeCe is doing fine and looking fabulous.  She is steadily devouring the books that everyone is sending – currently she is reading Angela Davis and is totally inspired.

She spoke a bit about the push from some supporters to launch large-scale campaigns to get Gov. Mark Dayton to pardon her, and/or to have her moved to a women’s facility.  She talked about how these campaigns would not only not benefit her, but how they exceptionalize her in a way that she doesn’t want.

The pardoning process would not only be painful for her, but were she even to get considered, it wouldn’t be until after she served her sentence.  She thinks about people incarcerated for much longer terms than she, and for incredibly minor offenses (mostly drug related). Even if the emotional hardship of the process was something she felt up for, and even if the slim chance of it working actually succeeded, the outcome of her getting a pardon while others sat in prison is antithetical to her values and the whole reason she is struggling against this racist system in the first place.

As for being transferred to a women’s facility, her thoughts are:  Prison sucks.  Period.  CeCe is not safe in any prison, women’s or men’s.  Prisons are not safe for anyone.  Period.  CeCe asserts (as do we) that incarcerated individuals should be able to decide for themselves where they would be safest within the system.  For now, CeCe is fine being in a men’s facility.  For supporters to push for her to be transferred from one hell to another only serves the purpose of misdirecting energy away from the real problems of incarceration in the U.S., and the problem of the Prison Industrial Complex as a whole.

To sum it up:  CeCe does not want supporters to launch long-term campaigns on her behalf that exceptionalize her situation..  Also importantly, these specific campaigns: a pardon from Gov. Dayton and getting transferred to a women’s facility, wouldn’t actually be beneficial to her at all.  Short term campaigns such as call-ins to administration, and media blasts, are targeted efforts that let the DOC know that CeCe has widespread support, and it sends a message that we are watching them and will respond to prisoner’s needs – CeCe’s today, and other incarcerated trans people tomorrow.

CeCe sends her love and gratitude to everyone who called-in on her behalf.  She wishes that every wrongly incarcerated person had the same incredible support that she has, and prays for a world without bars, a world without cells.