Judge renews block on Trump administration moving trans women to men’s prisons
Donald Trump. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty)
A federal judge in Washington, DC has once again blocked the Trump administration from transferring transgender women in federal custody into men’s prisons, extending emergency protections for several incarcerated trans women who say they faced rape, assault and ongoing abuse in men’s facilities.
Judge Royce C. Lamberth renewed a preliminary injunction on Tuesday (19 May) in the Doe v. Blanche case, ordering the Bureau of Prisons to continue housing the plaintiffs in women’s facilities and maintaining their gender dysphoria treatment while the case moves forward, as per The Advocate.
The lawsuit challenges portions of Trump’s Executive Order 14168, which directs the federal government to recognise only sex assigned at birth and bars trans women from being housed in women’s prisons.
Court filings include harrowing testimony from multiple plaintiffs. According to attorneys, one woman alleged she was sexually assaulted in every men’s prison where she was housed, while another said she suffered repeated assaults after prison officials placed her in “protective custody” with a man she described as dangerous.
A third plaintiff described being raped and repeatedly harassed by incarcerated men who mocked her gender identity.
The ruling comes after an appeals court narrowed earlier protections, saying each plaintiff must demonstrate individualised risks rather than rely on broader arguments about the dangers trans women face in men’s prisons.
Advocates warned the decision could open the door for transfers to resume, but Lamberth’s renewed injunction temporarily preserves protections through 8 June as the next phase of the legal fight unfolds.
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