A Peek Inside A Transgendered Prisoner's Cell

During a Lockup marathon on MSNBC, one story featured an unlikely, touching story between two inmates at a maximum security prison: Terry, a transgendered MTF serving time for prostitution, and Clarence, a Crip serving life for first degree murder.

Terry had been living with an abusive cellmate, who would repeatedly physically assault her. Each time they got in a fight, Terry’s parole was threatened. So Terry put in a request for Clarence to be her new cellmate. Terry had grown up in the same neighborhood with Clarence, a member of the Crips who had at one time dated Terry’s sister. Initially, the two said that they were just “homies,” and Clarence said he wanted to look out for Terry, who would get picked on for her transition into being a woman. However, after they were granted the request to live together, the two spoke frankly about how their relationship had evolved. Interestingly, the drawings of big-breasted women in sexually provocative poses in their cell were put up by Terry—not Clarence—because she wants to use them for inspiration.