OAKLAND, Calif. — A memo released by the Department of Justice under the Trump administration threatens to roll back key protections for transgender and intersex people under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, according to a recent report published by Prism Reports.
The Prism article reported that the DOJ memo, issued Dec. 2 and directed to “all DOJ-certified PREA auditors,” asserted that the Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA, does not fully align with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump at the start of his recent term. Prism stated that the executive order “bars the federal government from funding gender-affirming care, mandates that trans women be housed in men’s prisons, and instructs the federal government to remove protections for trans people from PREA guidelines.”
Prism highlighted the potential harm this change could cause to incarcerated transgender and intersex people if PREA protections are weakened or revoked. “The planned changes to PREA specifically target rules regarding how trans and intersex people are screened for their risk of sexual abuse at a facility, as well as how facilities use that information to determine where trans and intersex prisoners are housed,” the article asserted.
The article referenced a response from Just Detention International, an organization that works “to end sexual abuse in detention,” following the release of the memo. JDI Executive Director Linda McFarlane argued that “the Department of Justice would rather see incarcerated people, including children, be sexually abused than allow trans people to express their gender identity.”
Prism reported that it contacted the Department of Justice after obtaining the memo but received no response. The article further asserted, “The planned changes take advantage of the fact that PREA itself does not explicitly protect trans or LGBTQIA+ people and would cement plans by the Trump administration to severely roll back policies that have provided crucial protections for trans and intersex people in federal prisons, jails, and youth facilities.”
According to Prism, the memo states that institutions operating under PREA “‘shall not be held to subsections of the PREA Standards that may conflict with’ President Donald Trump’s anti-trans executive order until the updates are finalized.” The article emphasized that, as a result, transgender and intersex people who were previously afforded protections under PREA now face heightened risks within an already dangerous system.
Prism also highlighted statements from Shana Knizhnik, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, LGBTQ & HIV Project, responding to the memo. “‘PREA is still the law,’ Knizhnik said. ‘Standards that are in place are still the law, and so this is essentially a directive to disregard the law,’” the article reported.
The Prism report concluded by returning to comments from McFarlane, who warned, “It was already clear that the Trump administration does not think that transgender and intersex people have basic rights, let alone the right to exist. These changes are a green light for predators to sexually assault incarcerated adults and children who are already disproportionately at risk.”
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Another way to look at this is the DOJ memo protects women in prison from incarcerated men who say they’re women.
Meanwhile the Trump administration focuses on imagined dangers to women incarcerated rather than real ones – https://davisvanguard.org/2024/06/alameda-county-federal-dublin-prisons-abusive-shut-down-after-extensive-sexual-abuse-of-incarcerated-women/
So actual incarcerated women will just have to deal with getting raped by men who say they’re women because it’s just their imagination? Is that going to be the answer? – https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/man-posing-as-transgender-woman-raped-female-prisoner-at-rikers-lawsuit-says/5067904/
“Even after warnings and complaints, the victim said correction officers failed to remove the alleged perpetrator from female housing, despite allegedly propositioning the victim sexually and groping her in the shower. Days later, the victim claims she was sexually assaulted in her sleep by the perpetrator ”
This was entirely preventable had the staff done their job. Meanwhile the real biggest threat is in fact staff not transgender women or people posing as transgender women.
In addition the complaint is about protections for transgender women in MEN’s prisons, that’s the real threat to safety, so you are actually ignoring the two biggest safety threats by going to your trope.
Yeah we all have tropes, don’t we?
Mine just happen to be the opposite of your tropes much of the time.
Back to the actual issue in this piece… protection of trans incarcerated people…
Got to meet these women at San Quentin – yes, transgender women at a men’s prison, which is what most of this issue actually looks like. Since then, a number of them have been assaulted. If you look closely the trans woman who organized this is spotting a black eye. This is the real danger and what the DOJ is trying to make worse.
According to a recent report by The Marshall Project, of “more than 1,000 transgender women” in federal prisons, only 10 were incarcerated in women’s facilities.