Trans Inmate Fights For Justice Against Corrupt NJ Prison System

The mainstream press has recently been full of fear-mongering hyperbole and cleverly worded implications about Demi Minor, a transgender inmate serving 30-35 years for a manslaughter charge. During her time in prison, Demi became entangled with another inmate, Latonia Bellamy, and the two conceived a child. Subsequently, the New Jersey department of (in)justice has transferred her to a men’s prison and has used Demi’s case to make an attack on the rights of trans inmates in general. In a case of extreme media bias, Demi’s case has repeatedly been publicized with titles that read something like “Trans prisoner who impregnated two female inmates is ‘psychopath’: foster mom” (as in the NYPost). These articles serve a dual purpose: to support the carceral (in)justice system that serves to protect capital, and, second, to attack trans people by insinuating predatory behavior. In order to get to the bottom of things, we reached out to Latonia for a word and managed to schedule an interview with Demi herself:

In speaking with them both, numerous facts came to light about Demi’s case:

• While Demi is, indeed, guilty of killing her foster father–the crime for which she was convicted–but the abuse she faced both inside and out of the foster system paints a picture of a child so desperately failed by society and so traumatized that anyone in her position could have made the same mistake.
• Not only did Demi face discrimination in the foster system, but through out the so-called justice system as well. The incompetent public defender she was assigned made her agree to a plea deal in which she waved her rights as a juvenile and accepted a prison sentence for over three decades–over three times higher than the average manslaughter sentence in New Jersey! This is a classic case of the inherent class, race, and anti-queer bias in the (in)justice system.
• Everyone, including the Department of Corrections (DOC) itself, acknowledges that the relationship between Demi and Latonia was both loving and consensual, and yet the both of them are being punished (at the expense of the soon to be born child). Misleading “journalism” by the mainstream press has knowingly made this point vague in order to portray Demi as a dangerous predator.
• Demi faces descrimination inside the prison system. First she was denied access to healthcare, then the DOC lied about her “no longer identifying as trans” to get around anti-discrimination laws. Now those very laws are under attack.

In short, having spoken with both Demi and Latonia, we can confidently put to rest accusations of sexual misconduct or any myths about abusing self-ID laws. In our email correspondence, Latonia told us that: “There is nothing that I would not do for Demi” and “They do not want us to communicate at all, it is very unfair and done just because they have the power and ability to do such a thing.” Demi and Latonia had even requested that the prison administration allow them to marry–but instead the administration filed a “keep separate” order. The real story here is threefold: the particular discrimination faced by trans people in the prison system, the terrible crime of separating parents both from each other and from their child, and the foster-to-prison pipeline which sets children up for failure in life before they ever even get a chance to start.

Before being transferred out of the women’s prison, Demi was abused by another inmate, but instead of punishing the perpetrator, Demi was placed in solitary confinement “for her own safety.” Later, Demi’s request for a “keep separate” order was denied under the pretense she wasn’t in danger–so why was she put in solitary? Then, after being transferred to a Men’s prison, Demi was put on suicide watch and placed in a dimly lit cell in detention housing. There she was misgendered, humiliated, and threatened by guards, and continually attacked by other inmates. In our email correspondence, Demi elaborated about her struggle accessing healthcare in prison:

“Health Care has been tough for me. Its as if the DOC has created so many barriers for me to obtain medical services related to my gender identity, this includes Gender affirming surgery, I have had to fight hard week after week to get the evaluations and things that I need to obtain surgery. As current though I am engaged in hormone therapy and approved for gender affirming surgery. Yet DOC has delayed treatment.” 

In a later email, Demi explained to us that transition got even more difficult after being transferred to the men’s prison, because none of the doctors on staff are trained or knowledgeable about transgender health. Furthermore, in a letter published online, Demi had this to say about the violence she’s been exposed to:

“I pray that someone hears my voice I pray that punishment ends and that something takes place to stop this abuse … I would have rather stayed in EMCF’s lock up than to have to endure this, I am not safe and would rather be a close custody inmate at EMCF than to stay here. They want to protect my safety….they said that I was removed for my safety….At what point does anyone truly consider my safety?”

Among the various tragedies of the situation is the fact that Demi’s child is likely to end up in the very same foster system that had failed her in the first place. What sort of justice is that? This system is clearly not designed for rehabilitation, let alone crime prevention–how could it be when the system actually creates crime? This reproduction of crime and its subsequent punishment is not for our safety, but a tool by the ruling class to keep us scared and subservient, to protect capital, and in many cases to directly provide private profit through prison slave labor. In a different letter, Demi conveyed her own fears about her child: “The reality is that [the] administration is doing everything to ensure that this unborn child has a difficult life and absent parents.”

This tragedy must end. It WILL end, but only if we all stand up for what’s right, stand up for each other, and stand up for Demi! For more details about Demi Minor’s story, her and Latonia’s letters, and primary source documentation from the department of corrections, please visit: justice4demi.org. There is also a twitter page: @justice4demi. To support Demi’s fight against the prison system, please sign up for email updates on her website, follow her socials, share her story, and, if you can, consider donating to her defense fund: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/justice4demi.

The fight to get Demi back into the women’s prison is not just her fight alone. If this case goes uncontested, it may provide a precedent to subject all trans inmates to such discrimination. Furthermore, once this is successful, as it will be if we all stand up behind her, we will continue to fight to get her sentence reduced and for her right to see her child along with her mother. In the words of Ms. Bellamy: “We don’t stop living because we are incarcerated. We live, love and keep fighting for freedom with a deeper purpose… within every struggle there is indeed a blessing.”