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Cases of Arrested Ladyboys
Since 2013, Midnight Blue has reached out to arrested transgender sex workers in Hong Kong to better understand and address their needs. Up till June 2016, we have followed up on more than 40 cases. The majority of them involves ladyboys from the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and mainland China. They express their gender by keeping long hair, taking female hormones and having breast augmentation. With a few exceptions, most have not completed sex reassignment surgery, choosing to keep their male sex organs. Their home country either forbids them from changing their sex on their identity card, or makes it extremely difficult or complex to make the change. Therefore, their sex as displayed in their ID documents/passports remains male.
From what we gathered, the rights of transgender sex workers have been blatantly infringed by three law enforcement agencies in Hong Kong, namely the Hong Kong Police Force, the Correctional Services Department, and the Immigration Department. As they went through different stages of the criminal justice system – from arrest to imprisonment to the wait for deportation – they were subject to various levels of unjust and inhumane treatment, and suffered severe emotional and psychological damage as a result. We have and will continue to urge these departments to reflect on and reformulate their working guidelines with a view to enhancing gender consciousness within the criminal justice system.
Below are examples of what fellow ladyboys went through in the past. Click here if you want a step-by-step guide to your rights if you get arrested unfortunately.
How do the police plan an arrest?
So far police operations have mainly targeted ladyboys who look for clients in the streets. In an undercover operation, a police officer (usually a Westerner) would pretend to be a customer, approach a suspect, chat with her (in some past cases the small talk lasted for more than an hour - so be cautious!), and ask about services and fees. He would show the ladyboy a hotel key card and lure her onto a taxi. When they arrive at the hotel and get off the taxi, other officers would show up and arrest the laydyboy, charging her of "breach of condition of stay" and/or "soliciting for an immoral purpose". (Click here to learn more about the laws affecting your work.)
Body Search and Humiliation
At the police station, male officers are assigned to conduct body search on ladyboys whose sex is listed as male on their ID documents/passports. The humiliation is exacerbated when the officers gaze at the detained ladyboy and speak in a mocking or debasing tone as she undresses for a full body search. This arrangement glaringly tramples on the dignity of transgenders, and despite our repeated appeals to respect the will of transgender detainees, the police keeps on justifying this intrusive and inhumane practice with reference to the sex displayed in ID documents/passports.
Pathologization and Inhumane Confinement
Convicted transgender sex workers are regarded as patients with gender identity disorder (GID) or gender dysphoria. Instead of male or female prisons, currently they are sent to Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre to serve their sentence. Although there are doctors stationed at the Centre, most have a very limited knowledge of transgender people. The situation is worsened when the Correctional Services Department does not have a consistent policy committed to safeguarding the well-being of transgender prisoners – some ladyboys who have not undergone genital surgery were sent to the male unit at the Centre against their will, while others were subject to solitary confinement in a basement full of centipedes, deprived of the fundamental right to engage in social interaction that is granted to regular prisoners.
Gender-Blind Policies
The Correctional Services Department used to require ladyboys whose ID documents still list them as male to cut their hair, forbidding them to keep long hair in prison. They were also denied hormonal treatment, suffering the reappearance of male physical features as a result, such as voice change, breast shrinkage, mustache growth, etc. Some were even assigned male clothing and forced to share toilets and washrooms with male inmates. These gender-unfriendly practices lead to formidable stress and heighten the risk of sexual harassment for transgender prisoners. Although they were partly rectified after repeated complaints, it still takes a month’s time for current transgender prisoners to be able to start receiving hormonal therapy after making a request.
The Tortuous Wait for Repatriation
After finishing their sentence, ladyboys who are not local Hong Kong residents will be sent to the Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre. Usually there is a 14-day waiting period before repatriation. During this time, the Immigration Department subjects ladyboys to solitary confinement in a tiny cell with extremely poor hygienic conditions, leaves the lights on throughout the day, and only allows 10 minutes outside of the cell every day for a brief shower. Although the United Nations have condemned solitary confinement as a form of torture, the Immigration Department continues to punish migrant workers who have already finished their sentence in an inhumane manner, stripping away their right to engage in meaningful social activities, as well as the opportunity to have a good sleep. In one case, a ladyboy was even confined on her own for over a month, causing severe psychological damage.
