A federal judge has issued an injunction protecting transgender women in federal prisons from an executive order that would have mandated their transfer from all-female to all-male units and terminated their hormone treatments.
The executive order, signed by President Trump on January 20, directed the federal Bureau of Prisons to house transgender women according to their sex at birth and to cease any gender-related medical treatments.
Legal challenges arose after several transgender prisoners filed lawsuits, claiming that transfers would expose them to a heightened risk of physical and sexual violence and that discontinuing their treatments could lead to severe physical and psychological harm, including an increased risk of suicide.
Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia initially granted an injunction preventing the transfer of three inmates earlier this month and subsequently expanded it to include ten additional transgender plaintiffs.
Courts have consistently ruled that prison systems are required to provide gender-related medical treatment to transgender prisoners. Furthermore, the Supreme Court, federal law, and prison regulations recognize that transgender individuals face a higher risk of violence, which must be taken into account when making housing decisions.
Critics of housing transgender women in women's prisons argue that it compromises the privacy and safety of female inmates.
On Friday, the Bureau of Prisons announced new restrictions affecting transgender inmates while clarifying that Trump's executive order does not override its obligations under federal laws and regulations, including the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
Currently, only about two dozen of the 1,500 transgender women in the federal prison system are located in women's facilities, primarily due to the lengthy and complex process required for such transfers.
Judge Lamberth, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, stated that the plaintiffs presented a compelling case that the proposed transfers would infringe upon their rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, while the government failed to provide substantial evidence to refute this claim.
The government maintains that housing decisions are at the discretion of the Bureau of Prisons, which has identified low-security men's facilities for the transgender women that it claims would reduce the risk of victimization.