Spotlight Report: Detained Participants
OUR VOICE IS OUR POWER: In 2022, Lambda Legal, in partnership with Black and Pink National, launched the Protected and Served? community survey. With this project, we aimed to learn more about the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) people and people living with HIV with the criminal legal system, to assess these communities’ levels of trust in government institutions, and to create a new resource for community members, advocates, policymakers, and researchers.
The 2022 Protected and Served? community survey includes, for the first time, responses from people who were detained in jails and prisons across the United States at the time they took the survey. This includes many Black and Pink members who participated. In addition to the online survey, a paper survey with modified questions was available for detained people to take, which also provided an opportunity for qualitative responses. Completed paper surveys were mailed back to the team, and the data were entered and included with the responses from the online survey.
Of the total 2,546 Protected and Served? survey participants, 421 (16.5%) were detained in jail or prison when they completed the survey. This means that roughly one in every six of the total survey participants were detained participants. This spotlight report focuses on who they are and their experiences in the courts and in detention.
We hope that hearing from our community members who are detained will support advocacy efforts to address discrimination, bias, harassment, and violence against LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV who are in prisons, jails, immigration detention facilities, and juvenile detention facilities. The data presented here can equip community members and advocates with the knowledge necessary to help protect people’s rights while detained and hold government entities accountable.
