Death of one of our comrades

By Kevin Weaver

May 2002

It is with regret that I bring you the bad news of the death of Jennifer Sutton.  Jennifer was a transgender woman living at Corcoran and I personally had the opportunity to meet with her twice, while Judy and the rest of the HIP committee had known her longer.  While Jennifer and I had only met face to face twice, I had corresponded with her frequently and sadly, I received her last letter early last April.

Jennifer, who also went by Jeffrey from time to time, died early Thursday morning of kidney failure.  She was both HIV and HCV positive and had been battling these diseases for years.  In her last letter, she was overjoyed with the news that her HIV was undetectable, but didn't mention anything about her liver, which she was having trouble with for the last 6 months.

Lastly, I want to say some good words about Jennifer.  Jennifer often had problems with the other prisoners and wasn't well liked, for a variety of reasons.  But Jennifer was a charmer!  She had a wicked sense of humor and she could be a very caring person.  The two times I had met with her, she had me laughing so hard I thought we would get in trouble with the guards!  Jennifer suffered a huge amount of harassment from the staff and the other prisoners, mostly because not only was she the only black person in her unit, but also the only transgender person too.  She had told me that she was often called "nigger" and "faggot" by the other prisoners.  She always faced the possibility that her cell would be ransacked by the guards whenever she came out for a visit or to take a shower.

To prevent her cell from being torn apart, she posted signs throughout her cell warning the guards to stay out for the sake of their own safety.  As Jennifer was telling me this, I thought I would die from laughing.  She had told me of this one particular sign where she pasted a picture from a magazine of a halloween monster mask and had written in big letters "WARNING! HIV and Hepatitis C infected cell!"  Other signs said things like "think about your family!", "you don't know what you could bring home to them!", and "watch out for sharp objects!".  She also told me she would let wet towels lay around her cell to scare off the guards.

I think this was Jennifer's greatest gift.  She could turn the abuse and harassment around and make it into something completely absurd and funny.  Jennifer was housed in the Protective Housing Unit and would often brag about being in the same unit as Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan.  In true Jennifer fashion, she would go up to these guys and ask them about their crimes.  She would ask things like "why did you kill Bobby Kennedy?" and to this guy who killed his entire family to get the inheritance, she would say "why did you kill your entire family?  All you had to do was wait!".  That was Jennifer, classic Jennifer!

Jennifer also would brag about how she would sometimes tease the boys by walking around the unit with her shirt rolled up and her tight shorts on.  Jennifer identified as a woman, not a transexual, and she was very proud of her breasts.  Towards the end of her life she was receiving hormones, although we never got around to asking her how frequently she was receiving them.

A lot of people also didn't know how talented Jennifer was with her art. She was always making things like bracelets and collages.  In her last package she sent to me, she had made beautiful envelopes using pictures she found in magazines.  She always sent me homemade greeting cards whenever she would write.  Jennifer was also deeply religious and had a very strong faith in God.

Right now I am very upset that Jennifer died while in prison.  It is a horrible act of inhumanity whenever any person dies in prison.  I am deeply troubled by Jennifer's death because she had done so much time already and was serving a life sentence.  Jennifer deserved to die around her family, whom she was successfully mending broken fences with.  Jennifer deserved to die in freedom, not captivity.

I want to end this by thanking everyone who helped Jennifer while we knew her.  These people are Suzanne Taviansky, Beth Feinberg, Tory Becker, and Judy Greenspan.  I want to especially thank Judy for fighting so many times to make sure Jennifer got the health care she deserved.

Lastly, Jennifer, our sister, our comrade, we will miss your humor and your hunger for life!  May you find the peace in death that you never were allowed in life.  Rest in peace.