Transgender women are being moved to men’s prisons despite court rulings against Donald Trump’s executive order demanding it, according to a report.
Trump’s “gender ideology” order, which he signed on his first day in office, directed the attorney general to make sure “males” — which he defines as including trans women — are “not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers.”
The order also prohibits federal funds from being spent on gender-affirming treatment or procedures for people in custody.
There are roughly 1,200 transgender inmates in the Bureau of Prisons’ custody. The agency first started allowing inmates to receive gender-affirming care in 2023.
Federal judges in three separate lawsuits have ruled that the agency cannot withhold inmates’ medical treatment, and has barred them from moving trans women into men’s facilities, citing “irreparable harm.”
Yet trans women are being moved into men’s prisons, reports The Guardian, citing accounts from civil rights attorneys and prisoners.
Seventeen trans women are plaintiffs in the cases. The ruling prevents their transfers to men’s prisons —but not the transfers of other inmates in federal custody, notes The Guardian.
The Trump administration last month officially rescinded guidelines meant to protect transgender inmates in federal prison, part of the White House’s larger attempts to eliminate all government recognition of trans people.
The Bureau of Prisons will rescind the Transgender Offender Manual “effective immediately,” stated a memo from the bureau’s acting director, William Lothrop, obtained by The Intercept.
One attorney who spoke to The Guardian said she knew of two trans women who had been transferred to a male facility, including one who had already undergone gender-affirming surgeries before her sentence.
Under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, federal officials are to consider sexual assault risk and LGBTQ+ status when deciding where to place inmates. Legal experts told The Guardian that Trump’s directive is likely violating the law.
“This is incredibly unnecessary and cruel,” attorney Kara Janssen, who represents trans women, told The Guardian. “Our clients are desperate and scared.”
The Independent emailed the agency for comment.
Internal memos seen by The Guardian reveal that officials are now requiring staff to refer to trans residents by their legal names and incorrect pronouns, in addition to denying requests for gender-appropriate clothing accommodations. Trans women can no longer choose to have their pat-down searches conducted by female guards, the newspaper reported.
Another attorney told the outlet inmates were forced to hand over their bras and underwear.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Friday targeting the administration’s decision to withhold gender-affirming care on behalf of 2,000 transgender people incarcerated in federal prisons across the U.S.
“Since his first day in office, President Trump has singled out transgender people for discrimination, persecution, and erasure from public life,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.
“This policy injects politics into the provision of health care for people in custody, putting the ideology of the president over the best medical judgement of the Bureau of Prisons’ own officials, as well as the rights and lives of incarcerated transgender people themselves.”
