{"id":38076,"date":"2025-02-05T03:16:37","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T09:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=38076"},"modified":"2025-02-05T03:16:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T09:16:41","slug":"judge-blocks-transfers-of-3-transgender-inmates-to-mens-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=38076","title":{"rendered":"Judge blocks transfers of 3 transgender inmates to men\u2019s prison"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 A federal judge agreed Tuesday to temporarily block prison officials from transferring three incarcerated transgender women to men\u2019s facilities and terminating their access to hormone therapy under an executive order<\/a> signed by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, D.C., granted the inmates\u2019 request for a temporary restraining order. He issued a written ruling several hours after a hearing where a plaintiffs\u2019 attorney argued that Trump\u2019s order discriminates against transgender people and violates their constitutional rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge is presiding over a lawsuit<\/a> filed on behalf of three transgender women who were housed in women\u2019s facilities before Trump signed the order on Jan. 20, his first day back in the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Jan. 26, a federal judge in Boston issued a restraining order in a separate challenge<\/a> to the same executive order. That order was limited to one transgender woman in a woman\u2019s prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s order requires the federal Bureau of Prisons to ensure that \u201cmales are not detained in women\u2019s prisons.\u201d It also requires the bureau to revise its medical care policies so that federal funds aren\u2019t spent \u201cfor the purpose of conforming an inmate\u2019s appearance to that of the opposite sex.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Department attorney John Robinson said prison officials have \u201cbroad discretion\u201d to decide where to place inmates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving the women to a men\u2019s prison would jeopardize their safety and expose them to psychological harm, plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s order would disrupt the plaintiffs\u2019 access to hormone therapy for their gender dysphoria, the distress that a person may feel because their assigned gender and gender identity don\u2019t match. The medical condition has been linked to depression and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lamberth noted that there are only about 16 transgender women housed in female penitentiaries, including the three plaintiffs who sued in Washington. The judge concluded that \u201cthe public interest in seeing the plaintiffs relocated immediately to male facilities is slight at best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoreover, the balance of the equities and the public interest favor the plaintiffs,\u201d wrote Lamberth, a senior judge who was nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plaintiffs, who are identified by pseudonyms in court filings, are represented by attorneys from the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights and Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, also known as GLAD Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plaintiffs were housed in women\u2019s units for months or years until January, when they were removed from the general population of women\u2019s prisons and segregated with other transgender women to await transfers to men\u2019s facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were terrified at the prospect of these transfers given the serious risk of violence and sexual assault that they face in these men\u2019s facilities,\u201d GLAD attorney Jennifer Levi told the judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers argued that Trump\u2019s order violates their clients\u2019 constitutional rights to equal protection of laws and to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no way to keep these women safe outside of a women\u2019s prison,” Levi said. \u201cWe are just asking this court to maintain the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robinson said the plaintiffs haven\u2019t been denied any medical care since Trump signed the order. The Bureau of Prisons hasn\u2019t decided where to transfer them yet, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to get out ahead of BOP interpreting this executive order,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 A federal judge agreed Tuesday to temporarily block prison officials from transferring three incarcerated transgender women to men\u2019s facilities and terminating their access to hormone therapy under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, D.C., granted the inmates\u2019 request for a temporary restraining order. He issued a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38077,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[32262,7582,32263,31271,1230],"class_list":["post-38076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-executive-orders","tag-judges","tag-mens-prisons","tag-trans-women","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38078,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38076\/revisions\/38078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}