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'It's a question of dignity,' said Vladimir Luxuria, a former MP and Italy's best-known transsexual
Behind bars
Italy's prison for transsexuals opens soon
Italy will shortly open its first prison designed to cater exclusively to transsexual inmates.
Guards will receive training in the treatment of transgender prisoners when the building, a former medium-security prison for women, opens near Empoli, in Tuscany, in late March. The new facility includes a sports field, a library and an allotment producing olive oil and wine.
It will house around 30 transgender detainees, most of whom were convicted for drug or prostitution-related offences, currently being held in a special section of a prison near Florence.
The governor of Lazio, the region which includes Rome, had to resign late last year when it emerged that Carabinieri officers had been planning to blackmail the married man with a video reportedly showing him with a Brazilian transsexual prostitute.
Campaigners said they welcomed the initiative, because transsexual prisoners often have to be segregated for their own safety in Italy's mainstream prisons due to discrimination and rejection by both male and female inmates.
"It's a great idea. It will not be a ghetto but a way to avoid the experience of isolation in ordinary prisons," said Regina Satariano, the head of the Italian Movement for Transgender Identity.
Vladimir Luxuria, a former MP and Italy's best-known transsexual, said the new facility would enable prisoners to serve their time without persecution, adding: "It's a question of dignity."
