Sofia was sent to Coffee Creek on December 23rd, 2021. She’s been housed with women the entirety of her time served in prison. She has had little issue adjusting to prison, only haven fallen victim to the hands of a single sexual assailant. Sofia experienced a rough month-and-a-half denial of her hormones during the month of February, but does currently receive HRT.

She has a personal TV and is upset the Miami Heat lost their recent chance at the NBA finals. Every Saturday, she watches what anime is available on cable TV.
Currently, due to her previous housing-units temporary closure and Sofia’s insistence on remaining in a single occupancy cell, she resides in the ‘Mental-Health Unit’ — the prison psych ward. This is a somewhat frustrating experience, as some of the least stable individuals reside here, not that the staff suddenly grow more compassionate. She has tried to be placed anywhere else to no avail. Her placement here is further complicating her struggle for surgery.

From her comrade, Sofia learned as of June 10th the prison she resides in now offers breast forms to help alleviate dysphoria. Sofia is in touch with the comrade of hers, serving life-without-parole, who has already been approved for breast forms. She submitted her request on the 11th. Sofia and her comrade hope to use this small victory as leverage in the grander struggle to allow trans women comparable surgeries to their masculine cohorts. (mammaplasty vs mestectomy ). Sofia’s dysphoria is significant, and her comrade will never be allowed to receive surgery outside of prison walls. Her comrade is in the final phases of receiving vaginoplasty, and she largely has this brave black trans woman to thank for blazing the trail to her own future surgery.

Sofia has had trouble with navigating the bureaucratic nonsense to allow her vaginoplasty, by no account of her ability. It is difficult for her to be seen in person, as she is a high-functioning prisoner. One appointment to discuss vaginoplasty was falsified, amounting to wasted time and little progress. She’s recently learned of attempts to deny
further appointments through careful scheduling-then-rescheduling from medical personnel at this facility. Her main advocate, her counselor employed by the prison, has had COVID for the past month, further complicating things. She believes on the 15th or 16th she may finally be seen to discuss the severity of her dysphoria, and a treatment plan that puts vaginoplasty’s necessity in writing. Sofia does have a history of self-castration attempts, and her chest dysphoria is incredibly severe. We’ll see how this goes.

She is very much wanting an attorney on her side during this process, to hold the prison to standards and to document what occurs. She can’t rely on the prison to play nice or fair, as has been proven already. Surgery will reduce the suffering Sofia experiences in captivity, greatly.

Sofia has just mailed out the first transcript for her book ‘#MakeAmericaPay: How Anarchism Leads to a Designer Pussy’ and expects mongoose distro to aid in her pursuit of a publisher. It took her 3 days to handcopy the book.

She has already started planning a new book.

-Comrade Candle