SIGN UP FOR OUR By Wendy Anders
Many suspects awaiting trial are housed alongside convicted criminal in Costa Rica’s La Reforma Prison, pictured. (ICR/CRS Archive)
La Reforma Prison in La Guácima, Alajuela was ordered this week by the Costa Rican Constitutional Court to ensure clothing requested by and sent to an inmate be provided.
The inmate submitted an appeal to the court alleging guards at La Reforma were not providing him with the female clothing sent to him. He claimed that he prefers to use female clothing as it expresses his chosen sexual identity.
Prison social worker, Reynaldo Villalobos, said such requests are respected throughout the prison system, in an interview with Monumental Radio, saying several court decisions in the past have clarified prisoners’ rights to freedom of sexual expression irregardless of their sexual orientation or sex.
The high court’s spokesperson, Vanlly Cantillo, said it was guards who were responsible for intercepting the prisoner’s clothing, not prison staff, who she said are aware of the constitutional obligation to uphold prisoners’ rights to sexual expression and who do respect such needs.
In May, the country’s ombudsman’s office made a public statement urging prisons to respect the rights of transgender prisoners as part of the celebration of the World Day to End Homophpbia, Lesbophobia, and Transphobia.
