LGBTQ Point Person Named at NYC Corrections
Elizabeth Munsky jumps into the fi re created by trans inmate Layleen Polanco’s death
BY MATT TRACY
In the midst of controversy
engulfi ng the city’s Department
of Correction following
the death of a transgender
woman in its custody, an out lesbian
has assumed the new post of
director of LGBTQ+ initiatives.
Elizabeth Munsky, who has
seven years experience serving
in a variety of queer-specifi c roles
and most recently worked in the
Mayor’s Offi ce to End Domestic
and Gender-Based Violence, was
tapped to serve in the new DOC
role. She is tasked with addressing
the treatment of LGBTQ people in
custody, the training of staff members,
and more.
Munsky told Gay City News during
a July 24 interview that she
accepted the position in April and
started her job with the DOC in
“late June,” which came after Layleen
Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco
died while being held in restrictive
housing at the Rose M. Singer
Center on Rikers Island on June
7. Polanco’s family, LGBTQ community
activists, and many others
have demanded explanations
about her death from the DOC and
the city as a whole, but answers
have been frustratingly scarce. An
attorney representing Polanco’s
family has vowed to fi le a federal
civil rights lawsuit.
Questions about Polanco’s death
asked in connection with this story
were referred to the offi ce of Bronx
District Attorney Darcel Clark,
with the DOC citing an “ongoing
investigation.” A spokesperson for
Clark told Gay City News that the
death is under investigation by
the DA’s Public Integrity Bureau,
which investigates deaths of those
in custody on Rikers Island.
As the DOC continues to weather
controversy regarding Polanco,
Munsky is settling into her position
and has begun work on a variety
of LGBTQ issues.
“My role encapsulates both individuals
in custody as well as staff
members here at the Department
of Correction,” Munsky explained.
“I see my role in an assessment
Elizabeth Munsky started her new job last month as the Department of Correction’s out lesbian director
of LGBTQ+ initiatives.
stage to see what is currently in
place, where some policies are,
where those gaps are, and to fi ll in
those gaps.”
Munksy summed up her current
“assessment stage” in four different
areas: to review programs for
both people in custody and staff
members, gain an understanding
of how data is being collected,
examine “buckets” of policy, and
train and educate staff on LGBTQ
issues.
Munsky has started touring jails
to engage with LGBTQ inmates
and develop an understanding of
the issues they are facing while behind
bars.
“If there are detainees that have
already acknowledged that they
are LGBTQ, the staff ensures I
speak with those individuals directly
to hear what their needs
are,” she said.
Among her immediate goals, she
said, is to develop programs to assist
LGBTQ individuals currently
in custody as well as other initiatives
related to re-entry programs
tailored for LGBTQ inmates preparing
for life on the outside. She is
also working with the Gay Offi cers
Action League (GOAL), a group of
LGBTQ law enforcement offi cials
in the city, including DOC staff, to
support their initiatives.
Her duties are expected to include
working with elected offi cials,
NYC DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION
other city agencies, and organizations
in local communities. To that
end, she has started organizing a
resource fair for LGBTQ organizations
to go to the facilities housing
queer inmates in an effort to make
them familiar with support available
to them after their release.
Issues surrounding the housing
of LGBTQ inmates — especially
trans folks — will undoubtedly
continue to be contested during
Munsky’s tenure. Prior to Polanco’s
death, the incarceration of transgender
people had already emerged
as a national issue after the deaths
of several trans women held in the
custody of the federal Immigration
and Customs Enforcement.
The DOC has a housing unit
in its female facility that is available
to transgender women — who
make up the vast majority of the
trans population in city custody
— but when asked about that effort,
the agency said there is currently
no dedicated housing unit
for trans men.
“To date, transgender males in
our custody have ultimately preferred
to reside in general population
in the female facility, but the
department remains open to alternative
housing placements should
the request arise,” a department
spokesperson said in a written
statement.
Munsky will have her work cut
CRIME
out for her in that area. In a clear
sign of discontent over the DOC’s
practices, multiple attorneys representing
transgender inmates have
challenged the agency’s narrative
on its approach to that issue.
Deborah Lolai, a criminal defense
attorney and LGBTQ crime
specialist with the Bronx Defenders,
said during a City Council
hearing on May 1 that “the majority
of trans women who I represent
who have been incarcerated have
been in a male facility. Contrary to
what has been testifi ed to, they are
not there by choice.”
And Queens District Attorney
candidate Tiffany Cabán, who has
worked as a public defender, told
Gay City News in April that one of
her trans clients “was thrown into
a holding area with men as she
awaited a hearing.” Cabán said her
client was growing facial hair for
the fi rst time in a long time — a
clear sign she was suffering medical
mistreatment from the withholding
of hormones. Cabán also
said that the Manhattan Detention
Center can hold 50 to 60 people in
its housing unit for trans women,
and that many trans women are
thrown into solitary confi nement.
When this account was mentioned
during this interview, a
DOC spokesperson jumped in and
denied such things take place, saying,
“The only way anyone ends up
in a punitive segregation situation
is a result of serious infraction.”
Those kinds of concerns prompted
the City Council to pass a series
of measures in June — the same
month Munsky started her new
job — bolstering protections for
trans inmates. One bill establishes
a task force on issues facing transgender
and gender non-conforming
people in custody, while another
piece of legislation requires the
DOC to report on housing decisions
regarding TGNC inmates.
Lawmakers also passed bills requiring
facilities housing TGNC
people to provide mental health
treatment and access to comprehensive
substance abuse treat-
➤ ELIZABETH MUNSKY, continued on p.13
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