Federal Court Stops Trump Policy that Deliberately Exposes Transgender Women in Prison to Extreme Risk of Sexual Assault 

Doe v. Blanche Ruling Halts the Transfer of 14 Transgender Women  

A federal court has blocked the Trump administration’s Bureau of Prisons from transferring 14 transgender women into men’s prisons where they would be at extremely high risk of rape, violence, and sexual assault. 

The new ruling from the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia grants a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of a Trump Bureau of Prisons policy requiring that all incarcerated transgender women be housed in men’s facilities regardless of individual safety assessment and risk of assault. The Trump policy contradicts the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) which has for years required an individualized safety assessment for placement decisions because, as federal data demonstrates, transgender people in prison are sexually abused or assaulted at nearly 10x the rate of the general prison population. 

The court issued the new injunction after new Motions filed in Doe v. Blanche  provided detailed evidence of the severe harms faced by each woman if they were to be transferred, and the government’s unconstitutional and deliberate indifference to their safety.  

Jennifer Levi, GLAD Law Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights said: 

“This ruling could not be more consequential. The women protected by this order face the most horrific consequences imaginable if transferred: violence, sexual assault, and grave harm to their physical safety and well-being. This case sits at the center of some of the most brutal attacks this administration has launched against a vulnerable group of transgender people who are among those least able to protect themselves. These women are serving their time and do not deserve the double punishment of knowingly putting them in grave danger. Deliberately placing vulnerable people in harm’s way is not strength, it’s cowardice.” 

Shannon Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights said: 

“This decision reaffirms a bedrock constitutional principle: the government cannot knowingly place people in grave danger and simply look the other way. Officials are not free to ignore documented risks of rape and violence because of who someone is. These women have the right to serve their sentences without being subjected to assault, and the court has rightly held that the law requires the government to assess and respond to the real dangers they face—not look the other way.” 

The plaintiffs are represented by Jennifer Levi and Sarah Austin of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), Christopher Stoll and Amy Whelan of National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR), Eve Hill of Goldstein & Levy LLP, and Jennifer Fiorica Delgado, Alexander Shalom, Natalie Kraner, and Wayne Fang of Lowenstein Sandler LLP.