On October 8, 2019, Senior Staff Attorney Bennett Klein delivered testimony at the Massachusetts State House in Boston in support of S.905 and H.1341, an act to collect data on LGBTQ incarcerated people held in restrictive housing.

LGBTQ people, particularly low-income LGBTQ people and LGBTQ people of color, are disproportionately incarcerated and unduly subjected to solitary confinement (referred to as restrictive housing), a profoundly harmful practice that the United Nations has categorized as torture. It is imperative that Massachusetts end the discriminatory treatment of LGBTQ people in restrictive housing and the criminal justice system.

Once incarcerated, LGBTQ people face discrimination, humiliation, abuse and assault at disturbingly high levels. The unwarranted and discriminatory use of restrictive housing with respect to LGBTQ people is among the most harrowing of these disparities.

The full testimony can be downloaded here:

Restrictive Housing Data Bill Testimony