On Tuesday, a federal judge heard oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by a transgender female inmate challenging the D.C. Department of Corrections’ policy for housing transgender inmates, saying that the policy is discriminatory and relies too heavily on a person’s anatomical makeup. She demanded that she be transferred to a women’s housing unit and that the department change its policy to better accommodate transgender individuals based on their gender identity. Under the department’s previous housing policy, inmates were placed based on their anatomy, unless they were able to obtain a recommendation for alternative housing from DOC’s Transgender Housing Committee, comprised of corrections staffers, a doctor, a social worker, a mental health clinician, and members of the local transgender community. But opponents of the new policy change say it still does not eliminate the problems raised in Hinton’s initial lawsuit. The ACLU of DC and the Public Defender Service have since identified three additional transgender prisoners who never received hearings before the Transgender Housing Committee and were never reassigned to gender-affirming housing, even after the new policy was instituted.

Source: MetroXpress August 26, 2021 15:22 UTC