Kanautica Zayre-Brown
Transgender prisoner fighting for gender-affirming surgery
When Kanautica Zayre-Brown was transferred to Anson Correctional Institution in 2019, she became the first incarcerated transgender person in North Carolina to move from a prison designated for one gender to one designated for another. But that hasn’t solved all the problems of navigating a state prison system that seems ill-prepared for the realities of incarcerating transgender people.
Transgender woman transferred to women’s prison
Kanautica Zayre-Brown was transferred to Anson Correctional Institution in Polkton Thursday, a medium security women’s prison with about 1,000 inmates. She is the first transgender prisoner in North Carolina to be moved from a prison designated for one gender to one designated for another. “I am just so happy and feel so much better,” Zayre-Brown […]
Perspective from other states as NC prisons struggle with transgender policies
This month the Department of Public Safety will transfer Kanautica Zayre-Brown, a transgender woman it is holding in a men’s prison, to a women’s facility. Though the decision was announced in late May, the department delayed the transfer in order to “continue researching and implementing best practices from the states that have transferred transgender women to […]
State will transfer transgender prisoner to women’s prison
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety will transfer Kanautica Zayre-Brown, a transgender woman it is holding in a men’s prison, to a women’s facility. The department, which has for months been under public and legal pressure to make the transfer, announced its decision in a Friday afternoon letter to the ACLU of North Carolina, […]
All day call-in planned for transgender woman held in men’s prison
Supporters of Kanautica Zayre-Brown, a transgender woman being held in a men’s prison in Warren County, are holding an all day call-in Wednesday to secure her transfer to a women’s facility. Last month, as the deadline to avoid a lawsuit from the ACLU approached, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety transferred Zayre-Brown from the Harnett County Correctional […]
Groups press governor to transfer transgender woman from men’s prison
Activists, human rights groups and LGBTQ community members gathered outside Gov. Roy Cooper’s office Friday morning to demand the transfer of a transgender woman from a men’s prison in Harnett County. Kanautica Zayre-Brown has been in solitary confinement since Saturday, in the aftermath of her case getting wider public attention. This week the ACLU of […]
ACLU demands transgender woman be moved to women’s prison
The ACLU of North Carolina is demanding a transgender woman be transferred from where she is held among male prisoners at Harnett Correctional Institution in Lillington. Kanautica Zayre-Brown is a 37-year-old transgender woman serving a sentence for insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses. She and her husband Dionne Brown have been trying to get […]