Prisons that deny trans-identifying prisoners hormone therapy could be guilty of cruel and unusual punishment, according to the newest ruling of a federal judge against the Trump administration.
Senior Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a request from a group of trans-identifying prisoners on Tuesday for a temporary restraining order against a ban on hormone therapy.
‘Neither the BOP nor the Executive Order provides any serious explanation as to why the treatment modalities … should be handled differently.’
The Federal Bureau of Prisons was ordered to provide the therapy to the group of trans-identifying prisoners as well as 2,000 other prisoners who were certified under the ruling as belonging to the same class who would suffer irreparable harm otherwise.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 that banned federal funds for treatments provided “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”
The lawsuit from the inmates in the case argued that the order to categorically withdraw “gender-affirming health care” from trans-identifying prisoners “regardless of their individualized medical need” is a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That amendment prohibits the government from subjecting prisoners to cruel and unusual punishment.
“Neither the BOP nor the Executive Order provides any serious explanation as to why the treatment modalities covered by the Executive Order … should be handled differently than any other mental health intervention,” Lamberth wrote in the opinion.
Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prisons Project, said in a statement to Newsweek: “This is a critical ruling for our clients and all transgender people in Bureau of Prisons custody. This administration’s cruelty towards transgender people disregards their rights under the Constitution.”
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Photo by Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Taxpayer-funded surgery for trans-identifying prisoners became a key issue in the 2024 election when it was discovered that Kamala Harris had indicated on a survey of candidates that she supported the trans prisoner surgeries. Trump lambasted Harris with the policy, and her campaign could not refute the accusation.
Neither a spokesperson for the Justice Department nor the Bureau of Prisons responded to a request for comment from Politico.
Lamberth was nominated to the court by former President Ronald Reagan.
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