The unique problem for transgender women in prison is that our health and welfare are also the responsibility of those charged with overseeing us.

The fight for justice for the transgender community is largely invisible to our fellow citizens, despite the rampant systematic discrimination of trans people - those whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

I came out publicly as transgender and began hormone replacement therapy while in prison. When I was released, however, there was no quantifiable history of me existing as a transwoman. Credit and background checks automatically assumed I was committing fraud.

I began to fear that I was forever going to be living in a hot desert cage, living as and being treated as a male, disappearing from the world into a secret prison, and never facing a public trial.

This is going to help us immensely. It really helps our health and welfare financing situation, not only in California.

Our society's dependence on imagery says a lot about our values.