Trump Rescinds Obama-Era Rules Protecting Trans Inmates: Prisoners To By Housed By “Biological Sex”

Buzzfeed News reports

The Trump administration on Friday rolled back rules that allowed transgender inmates to use facilities that match their gender identity, including cell blocks and bathrooms, thereby reversing course on an Obama administration effort to protect transgender prisoners from sexual abuse and assault.

The Bureau of Prisons now “will use biological sex” to make initial determinations in the type of housing transgender inmates are assigned, according to a notice posted Friday evening that modifies the previous policy. “The designation to a facility of the inmate’s identified gender would be appropriate only in rare cases,” the new Transgender Offender Manual now says.

While the policy says a transgender inmate’s safety should be considered, officials also must “consider whether placement would threaten the management and security of the institution and/or pose a risk to other inmates in the institution.”