In each of these articles, a trans woman named Gia Abigaill Valentina has been desperately trying to get people to help her.
Her words in the 2023 article: “There is no programming for the transgender women here. The only counseling provided is routine mental health services, in which someone from mental health comes around every two weeks. In this lock down unit I am made to stay in my cell for 23 hours a day. I am allowed out for kiosk and shower.”
Her words in the July 2024 article: “When you asked me what my typical day looked like, they [really] don’t differ from day to day when it comes to dealing with my mental anguish of not getting my vaginoplasty surgery (having this ‘thing’ still on my body) and being in this men’s prison. The moment I wake up I am faced with having this penis! It’s a brutal reminder of how I am being held captive in this body that is not mine. Then I have to face all the discrimination, transphobia, misgendering, all the weirdos, perverts, creeps. This is the worst I have ever had it and the highest level of trans discrimination I have ever faced... I am supposed to be next for surgery. I wish I was confident in the broken system, but I am not. We shall see how things unfold.”
Her words in the December 2024 article: "Emotionally, they have broken my spirit to feel because of no treatment at all and they keep me locked in a cell 23 and a half hours a day. My fear of being raped or sexually assaulted overrides any type of emotion I could possible have. Each day all I can do is survive the day locked in my room. I can honestly express with truth and sincerity that I have never in my life encountered or felt such discrimination, hatred, and transphobic opposition as I have experienced since coming out here in the NJDOC”