Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Policy on Transgender Prisoners

A federal judge has blocked a policy from the Trump administration that would have transferred three transgender women to men’s prisons. The women are currently housed in women’s facilities at federal prisons.

US District Judge Royce Lamberth has issued a decision that runs against an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office. The order had mandated that transgender women in federal prisons be placed in men’s facilities and that the Bureau of Prisons not provide gender-affirming care to inmates.

Three transgender women filed a suit claiming the policy discriminates based on their sex and infringes on their rights by subjecting them to danger of violence or sexual assault if they were in men’s facilities. Jennifer Levi, an attorney for the trio, informed the judge that confinement in men’s facilities would represent cruel and unusual punishment in this case due to the dangers such confinement poses for them.

Judge Lamberth ruled in favor of the women, ordering a temporary restraining order. He agreed that sending the women to men’s prisons would put them at serious risk. He further added that the women were most likely to win their case in the later process of law.

The judge referred to government reports that indicate transgender persons are more vulnerable to violence when housed in a prison contrary to their gender identity. He directed that the women stay where they are currently housed and receive their medical treatments as they did before January 20, 2025.