Judge Blocks Transfer of Trans Inmates to Men’s Prisons

metroweekly.com:

Defying an executive order from President Donald Trump, a federal judge blocked the U.S. Department of Justice from transferring 12 transgender female inmates to male prisons.The Bureau of Prisons was slated to relocate the inmates to comply with a Trump executive order stating that the U.S.

government will only recognize two sexes, male and female, as valid.That executive order also pledged to ban people assigned male at birth from accessing female-designated spaces, including single-sex accommodations in prisons.The executive order also prohibits federal funds from being used for any medical treatment, procedure, or drug that would assist an inmate in transitioning or changing their outward appearance in a way that would not align with their assigned sex at birth.To ensure compliance, the Bureau of Prisons issued a memo, obtained by The New York Times, outlining how transgender inmates were to be treated.The memo requires prison staff to refer to inmates by their legal name or pronouns matching their assigned sex at birth.The memo also stated that transgender women may be subjected to pat-down searches by male guards and would no longer be permitted to buy bras or other women’s clothing at prison commissaries.Transgender prisoners would also not be allowed to purchase items that bind breasts, remove hair, or, in the case of transgender men, allow them to use urinals.Neither the Bureau of Prisons nor the Justice Department have yet to officially adopt the memo’s guidelines.The 12 inmates set for transfer filed a lawsuit Friday, Feb.

21, to prevent the Bureau of Prisons from forcibly transferring them from the female prisons where they are currently housed to male facilities, reports USA Today.