A new transgender policy in the U.S. requires federal prisons to consider the safety of trans inmates when deciding where to place them. The Biden administration's transgender policy for prisons will also require prison staff to use a trans inmate's chosen name and preferred pronouns. This policy is a reversal of one that President Donald Trump rescinded in 2018.
According to Government Executive, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) reissued its Transgender Offender Manual, which now includes an Obama-era policy that upholds transgender individuals' rights. The Trump administration's policy required federal prison to house inmates based on their biological sex alone. Biden's policy not only rescinded Trump's order, but also went a step further by requiring prisons to use the trans inmates' lived name and preferred pronouns.
"After reviewing our policy regarding transgender inmates, we have made several updates to meet the community standard of medical and mental health care, appropriately manage and support the offenders, and meet legal requirements as determined by case law, statutes, and federal regulations," BOP said in a statement.
The transgender policy for prisons fulfills another of President Joe Biden's promises to combat abuse against transgender individuals who are incarcerated. However, the new policy will be effective in a few prisons, as there are only about 1,300 transgender inmates in custody.
Biden once said that "in prison, your sexual identity is defined by what you say, not what the prison says," the National Review reported. In the U.K., a prisoner who "identifies as female but has male anatomy" and went by the name Karen White was housed in a women's prison and then assaulted two female prisoners. The report warned, "This is not a problem Biden should want to replicate in America."
The problem is that it's already happening in the U.S. The Daily Signal reported in November 2021 that the Women's Liberation Front filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for "endangering women by housing biological males in women's prisons." The lawsuit argued how a biological male who identifies as female sexually assaulted a biological female prisoner at the women's facility.
The biological female prisoner filed a complaint witht he women's facility, which responded by referring to her abuser as a "transgender woman with a penis." Woman II Woman founder Amie Ichikawa decried Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act, or SB 132, which allowed biological male inmates to be housed in women's facilities, calling it an "anti-woman law" that was "overwhelmingly accepted" by assembly members, representatives, and senators in the state.
"California is home to the largest women's prison in the world, where being degraded and humiliated is now part of the daily routine," Ichikawa lamented.
SB 132 was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2020, ordering the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to "house transgender, gender-nonconforming and intersex (TGI) individuals in a manner that matches their gender identity while supporting health and safety."
It also requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to ask all incoming prisoners to state their preferred personal pronouns, gender identity, and whether they identify as transgender, nonbinary, or intersex.
