A transgender man arrested Saturday as part of the Occupy Wall Street protest at the Brooklyn Bridge was verbally and physically humiliated by the New York Police Department (NYPD), including being inappropriately patted-down, segregated from other arrested persons, refused repeated requests for food — despite the fact that other prisoners were fed — and chained for eight hours to the wall of a restroom in an NYC jail, according to a statement he released.
“The NYC police department needs to have a protocol and train its officers on how to treat transgender people. No one should experience the blatant discrimination and embarrassment that I did,” writes justin adkins (who spelled his name in all lower-case letters) in a statement he released that includes the following:
They took me away from the cellblock where they had all of the protestors locked up and
brought me to a room with 2 cells and a bathroom. One small cell was empty and the
large cell had about 8 men who had been arrested on charges not related to the protest.
Unlike me, these men had been arrested for a variety of crimes, some violent. When I
entered the room they had me sit down in a chair on the same portion of the wall as the
restroom, and then handcuffed my right wrist to a metal handrail. I thought that this was
a temporary arrangement as they tried to find me a separate cell as part of some
protocol regarding transgender people, which I later discovered does not exist in New
York City. After about an hour I realized that they had no intention of moving me. I
remained handcuffed to this bar next to the bathroom for the next 8 hours.

The cells, on the other side of the precinct where they had locked up the other 69
protestors, did not have working toilets so every person who had to use the toilet was brought to the one next to where they had me locked to the railing. This was not only
disgusting but also embarrassing. The smell of urine was so strong that I, and the men
locked up in the cell in the room that I was in, mentioned the odor on more than
one occasion.

Once they started bringing women in to use the bathrooms, a short young female officer,
who was in charge of people locked up in the room where I was handcuffed, harshly
turned my chair around with my arm still locked to the railing but now pinned behind my
back. She said that she knew it hurt but that they were bringing in women to use the
restroom and she could not have me watching. I had no interest in watching anyone use
the bathroom, and every-time a male had come into use the restroom I had respectfully
turned away. This process of people coming in and out to use the restroom went on for
the full 8 hours.

I was distinctly treated differently than the other protestors during my entire time at
Precinct 90 in Brooklyn. At one point in the night all of the protestors were given a
peanut butter sandwich and water. I asked for a sandwich three times but of all of the
officers who came in and out of the room where I was handcuffed never acknowledged
my request. I think this was because when I asked for a sandwich the men locked up in
the room I was in asked for one too. I do not know when or how long those men were
being held but I was there for eight hours and had sat on the bridge for about 2 hours
and was never once offered water or a sandwich when my fellow
protestors received both.
The New Civil Rights Movement has reached out to Speaker Quinn’s office for comment.
In an unrelated statement, NY1 reported yesterday on  Saturday’s protest:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the Wall Street protests “misguided” on Friday, and on Sunday, in the wake of hundreds of arrests the previous night, the mayor said the New York City Police Department is handling the demonstrators the right way.
“The police did exactly what they were supposed to do,” said the mayor. “It’s very easy to get a permit to protest, to parade in New York City, as long as it doesn’t interfere with other peoples’ rights.”
Organizers at Zuccotti Park did not want to respond to the mayor’s remarks.
Protesters claimed NYPD officers led them onto the roadway on the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday night, then detained and arrested more than 700 demonstrators.
Police said the protesters were warned beforehand.
It was the latest confrontation between the anti-corporate group and police. A week ago, police pepper sprayed some protesters during a march in Manhattan.
If the demonstrators were expecting much support from local elected officials, they had not received much of it. On Sunday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a leading mayoral candidate, agreed with Bloomberg’s assessment of the latest event.
“We all have the right to protest. The police, when it spills over into civil disobedience, have the right to arrest individuals who are engaging in civil disobedience, as has happened to me a few times,” said Quinn.
Additionally, adkins also states he is “a trans activist and website developer living in Williamstown, MA. He works at Williams College as the Assistant Director of the Multicultural Center where he coordinates LGBTQ programing, advises students and advocates for LGBTQ-inclusive policies on campus and beyond.”
(Hat tip: Towleroad)