Elton John (Photo : Reuters)
Sir Elton John and Michael Stipe issued a statement as they call on better protection for transgender inmates jailed inside male prisons and are suffering from sexual assaults.
According to the statement released to E! News, the two musicians called the sexual assaults as horrific injustices and they cited two transgender women assaulted in jail. The transgender women jailed in Georgia were identified as Ashley Diamond, who is in jail due to burglary, and Zahara Green, who was jailed for shoplifting but was freed last year.
Both Diamond and Green wrote lawsuits that they were sexually assaulted while in prison, BuzzFeed reported.
The Georgia Department of Corrections stated that they have zero tolerance regarding sexual misconducts so transgender inmates should be protected from other inmates.
John and Stipe noted that transgender women in male prisons should be given equal rights to be protected from violence and abuse from their fellow inmates. The two pointed out that the case of Green and Diamond are underlining the brutality and horrible conditions inside the prisons of Georgia as transgender inmates are 13 times more likely to be assaulted than a non-transgender inmate.
For John and Stipe, the United States Justice Department should do more to end the culture of assault and violence inside jails. Not only did they highlight that but they also said in their statement that the discrimination against people who want to express their gender identity freely should be given importance.
The musicians ended their statement saying that Georgia should already embrace the changes needed to correct the judiciary system.
