May 1, 2011

A Brief Introduction
by Jennifer "BabyGirl" Gann

Greetings and welcome! :) My name is Jennifer, but friends call me "BabyGirl." I'm a young-looking 41-year-old, Irish and Cherokee, MTF pre-operative transsexual on a regimen of hormone (estrogen) therapy. I'm currently a "three strikes" political prisoners at a maximum security California state prison men's facility.

These blogs/letters/poems, etc. are intended to be posted online at Between the Bars website as a transgender journal and will include my original artwork, poetry, and writings. As a transgender woman, it is my sincere hope that people will find what I have to share interesting. I welcome your comments, criticism, feedback, and questions.

I was born October 6, 1969 in Riverside, California, assigned as a biological male, and given the name John David Gann by my parents. At age 9 or 10, I moved to Orange County with my mother, stepfather, and baby sister. We lived in the West OC suburb of Huntington Beach.

In 1988, I was convicted of a gang-related attempted robbery and was eventually sent to state prison for a parole violation. While in Folsom Prison, I was involved in the September 1991 Food Strike protest, for which I was sent to the administrative segregation unit (ASU). I was abused, assaulted by guards, brutalized, denied basic human rights, and my safety was deliberately jeopardized by having to defend myself in orchestrated gladiator-style fights while the guard shot at us with high-powered assault rifles at close range!

Eventually, I was charged and convicted for multiple assaults and possession of an inmate-manufactured weapon. For these acts of self-defense and lawful resistance against my oppressors, I received a total sentence of 105 years-to-life! The weapon possession normally carries a statutory maximum penalty of 2 years, the battery: 6 years, and assault with a deadly weapon: 6 years. However, under the draconian "three strikes" law, I received three consecutive 25 years-to-life terms, without having received a fair trial or assistance of counsel, as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.

I now regret some of the choices and mistakes I've made in the past, but I have never raped or murdered anyone. Nor do I deserve to spend the rest of my life in prison. For the crime of robber, which I was originally sent to prison for 7 years, I have been imprisoned for 21 years now!

I appreciate the opportunities I've had to educate and rehabilitate myself, but what good is it if I'm never given another chance to become a productive member of human society? So many people are kept in prison unjustifiably, it's simply a waste of human life and public resources.

As a transwoman, my physical appearance and preferred gender identity is unmistakably femme. I hope to someday undergo sex-reassignment surgery (SRS). At the very least, I am inappropriately housed in a men's facility around known sexually violent predators (SVPs), where I am forcibly strip-searched by male guards and sexually harassed on a regular basis. I continue to experience the most hateful and vicious forms of sexual discrimination!

I would be much better off, safer, and "at home" in a woman's facility with my sisters.

I am an Amazon, lesbian, transwoman with dreams and hopes for the future. I am a revolutionary Amazon Queen! I have a lot of positive things to offer the world for my freedom. I am ambitious, creative, friendly, honest, motivated, original, respectful, sincere, spiritual, and unique.

I am an activist, aspiring artist, blogger, college pre-grad student, fashionista, feminist, humanitarian, environmentalist, jailhouse lawyer, poet, singer/songwriter, volunteer, worker, and yogini.

I like animals, the beach, cooking, Lady Gaga, Mexican food, people, reading non-fiction, socializing, traveling, and the Wendy Williams Show. My dream is to work in the beauty/fashion industry and/or become a musician, as well as being a full-time activist for Native American/Indians, women's, and LGBTQ rights, and travel to India.

Finally, I am grateful to my beloved mother, Peggy Ann, and to divine Mother Nature for all that I am and could be—for the joie de vivre.
Viva las Amazonas!
Viva the Revolution!

Write to me at:
Johnny Gann, E-23852
California Correctional Institute
P.O. Box 1902
Tehachapi, CA 93581-5902
http://myspace.com/johnny1006