BA Sociology and History

In the context of incarceration in the United States, V-coding is the common practice of subjecting trans women to sexual assault by placing the woman in the same prison cell as an aggressive male inmate in order to placate the male inmate. This practice has been known to have caused the daily rapes of multiple trans women, and the sexual assaults of 58.5% of them. V-coding is done to pacify the male inmate, with the goal of reducing their propensity for violence against other inmates, according to prison authorities and one inmate. The term has also been used to refer to the broader systemic sexual abuse of trans women in male prisons.