US prisons are set to receive a major overhaul as transgender inmates will be sent to jails corresponding to their sex at birth.
The move could happen as early as next week, NPR reports, according to federal inmates and a source familiar with the policy.
The new plans would mean transgender women currently imprisoned in women’s facilities would be moved to men’s facilities and vice versa.
It is understood that this would impact trans inmates regardless of whether they have received gender transition surgery.
The new plans would mean transgender women currently imprisoned in women’s facilities would be moved to men’s facilities
GETTY
This is a move that has been anticipated since US President Donald Trump signed an executive order prompting the Bureau of Prisons to change their policies.
The decision is already being challenged, with a lawsuit filed late last week by a dozen transgender women inmates, attempting to block the BOP from moving the trans population.
Kara Janssen, the lawyer representing the transgender women, said: "If transferred, these people, some of who are post-surgery, would be at an incredibly high risk of assault."
In an email to NPR, Janssen said that Trump’s executive order, which states the government only recognises two sexes (male and female), "provides no room for individualized determinations or discretion, does nothing to further safety and security, and these continued attempts to transfer people and put them in direct harm appear to be motivated by nothing more than hate and cruelty towards this population".
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The lawsuit claims that after weeks of warnings that they would be transferred, the transgender women were told on Thursday that they were on an official list to be moved.
On Friday, they were put into segregated housing and removed from the general population of the prison.
They reportedly fear sexual assault if moved to a male prison, with some of the plaintiffs claiming they had already been victims of assault when previously housed in male facilities.
Until the signing of the executive order, the BOP went on a case-by-case basis to determine where to house transgender inmates.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order prompting the The Bureau of Prisons to change their policies
REUTERSIt is unclear how many people will be moved, however previous data from the BOP website indicated there are 1,529 transgender women and 744 transgender men in custody.
It is not known how many of these are serving their sentence in prisons according to their birth sex versus their chosen gender identity.
The agency has now removed any references to its transgender inmates.
Transgender inmates are also worried their hormones will soon be taken away, with one transgender man telling NPR: "It's not just a physical withdrawal. It's mental anguish."
"I understand we broke laws. However, we are still humans. We are still people," the inmate said.
